Dave Wilson Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Another one under threat. http://www.flyer.co.uk/aviation-news/newsfeed.php?artnum=2179 There will be nothing left soon. Went to Wellesbourne today, it was a hive of activity, three aircraft in front of me in the circuit, loads of aircraft parked up and it's under consideration for sixty trillion houses. The whole country will be under houses soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellsprop Posted February 19, 2015 Share Posted February 19, 2015 :'( It better not go. It would surprise me if it did as the aircraft scrappers they have there (ASI) is one of the biggest in the UK isn't it? That's where I'm doing my PPL, so I'll be royaly effed if they do let it go. Ben 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyC Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 They just moved those two big MKAir 747's that have been there for a while off-site by road last weekend. It would be a shame and you can't fault the owner as he has been trying to engage the public and get use out of it other than private flyers without succss. People didn't turn up for his Cotswold Air Shows at the end, the Vintage fly-ins were blighted by weather and (what seemed to me) public indifference and I'm not sure how the Great British Weekend effort was attended the other year - I suspect not too good as there isn't one this year? A great shame as it's close to me and when on business in the area I always like to park up and eat lunch by the side of the road as it runs parallel to the runway and watch circuits and bumps - but I suppose this is progress (of sorts even though it's not my sort) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wafu Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 I went to the airfield two weeks ago for a CAA engineering exam. Seems to be ticking over but not exactly a bustling aerodrome. Great shame if it go but you can't blame the owner/s, if it's not being used then why should we moan, who would blame the owner selling up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Sad thing is that this country isn't very Aviation minded enough. Sure there are us lot and many PPL people etc but against the rest of the population, aviation doesn;t feature very high....only footie, boozing and land grabbing greedy so and sos seems the thing a lot of certain people prefer. Sorry if some of the latter comments upset some but purely my thoughts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyC Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 Sad thing is that this country isn't very Aviation minded enough. Sure there are us lot and many PPL people etc but against the rest of the population, aviation doesn;t feature very high....only footie, boozing and land grabbing greedy so and sos seems the thing a lot of certain people prefer. Sorry if some of the latter comments upset some but purely my thoughts. Simple economics I'm afraid. We are a relatively small island with an over-abundance of either WW2 remnants, or ex-RAF/USAF airfields which need to be returned to nature or made to pay. I would imagine paying to maintain Kemble in a usable state is very expensive - and in this case apparently unsustainable in the long run. I'm not sure we should mourn all these airfields going (Kemble, the soon-to-be closed US bases and possibly Wellesbourne) - their time shone brightly for 60-70 years but they will return to what they were before the middle of the 20th century. Most people aren't interested in aviation enough to part with their cash on a regular basis to support heritage aviation subjects/locations - of all the people I know, nearly all of them couldn't give a fig, or wouldn't even consider spending half a day going to Yeovilton, Cosford or Hendon. As for the last bit...Football is our national sport, boozing has been with us forever and is not a modern phenomenon and as for land-grabbing - I don't think any of that is done for free...most is paid for - we wouldn't have accused the railway pioneers of 'land-grabbing' - it's all progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellsprop Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 They tried to turn it into a commercial airport... My inner geographer screams that this is a RIDICULOUS idea - The Cotswolds has a very low population density and Kemble has no transport links other than a very small railway that's 2 miles from the airfield (there's no footpath there either). There is nowhere to go once you get there, other than Swindon. Bristol and Gloucester already have airports with good transport links. Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyC Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 They tried to turn it into a commercial airport... My inner geographer screams that this is a RIDICULOUS idea - The Cotswolds has a very low population density and Kemble has no transport links other than a very small railway that's 2 miles from the airfield (there's no footpath there either). There is nowhere to go once you get there, other than Swindon. Bristol and Gloucester already have airports with good transport links. Ben I think there is a plan here...that small railway has been doubled to Swindon at the costs of £50m - therefore the capacity for an increased population is available...nothing happens without a reason! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 There again, with the population growing there is a need for homes and airfields that close down become prime targets as they are, I suppose, brown field sites. But rarely relegated back to agricultural use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truro Model Builder Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 The problem is that the local authority has committed to building 2350 homes in the Cirencester area. Cirencester has a lot of restrictions due to the heritage angle and the nimby factor is likely to be huge. Here's Kemble airfield, a brownfield site only five miles away which the owner could do very well out of if he sold it for housing. I fear it is a done deal, and no doubt all those who have complained about aircraft noise in the area will instead enjoy all the cars that belong to the residents of the new development passing through their own villages daily. I do not have a problem with disused airfields being turned into housing; it is better than seeing them derelict, but in the last couple of years Plymouth Airport has closed and now Wellesbourne and Kemble. All of which are active airfields. Not good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Wilson Posted February 20, 2015 Author Share Posted February 20, 2015 There are others under threat too, Bagby, North Weald, Old Sarum and North Coates off the top of my head, I'm sure there are more. I wonder where the RAFFCA club at Kemble will go? They were moved there from Lyneham when that closed. My bet is they will amalgamate with Brize. There are also two very nice airfields on the edge of Kemble ATZ, Oaksy Park and Charlton Park, hope they will be OK. Mind you Charlton is the Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire's own strip so I'm guessing that at least that will be OK... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellsprop Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 There are others under threat too, Bagby, North Weald, Old Sarum and North Coates off the top of my head, I'm sure there are more. I wonder where the RAFFCA club at Kemble will go? They were moved there from Lyneham when that closed. My bet is they will amalgamate with Brize. There are also two very nice airfields on the edge of Kemble ATZ, Oaksy Park and Charlton Park, hope they will be OK. Mind you Charlton is the Earl of Suffolk and Berkshire's own strip so I'm guessing that at least that will be OK... It better not! That's the club I fly with! I reckon it'd move to Oaksey Park or Colerne (where it was going to move to). A lot of the members live in the Bristol/Bath area, making a commute to Brize not practical. I already have to commute to Kemble from Wells. All I can hope is that Kemble stays open Ben Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Wilson Posted February 20, 2015 Author Share Posted February 20, 2015 Wellsprop: I was there last year delivering birthday cakes to your club then! Waddo club was celebrating it's tenth birthday so we went to every RAFFCA club in the UK (any excuse for a flying exped!) with cakes. Hope everything goes well for you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy wood Posted February 20, 2015 Share Posted February 20, 2015 A some of you may already know, Kemble holds a huge place in my heart. It holds many special memories, and is inextricably linked to my child hood. It fills me with horror to think all that could be gone, and what upsets me the most it is my fathers final resting place (his ashes were scattered from a Yak over the airfield on fathers day in 2003.) I do not want that disturbed! Where will I go to pay my respects? Where can I lay some flowers? But, I am just one person whose argument against this proposed development is based purely on sentimental and aviation heritage grounds. In todays' world that counts for naught. So, in ten years time will G site become Hanna Close? Will the Control Tower become Éclat Way? There had better be a Pete Wood Drive!!!!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Truro Model Builder Posted July 11, 2015 Share Posted July 11, 2015 So, with the government announcement this week to grant automatic planning permission to build on brownfield sites, I think that could well be the beginning of the end for Kemble as an airfield. And probably many others as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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