Gloucester Airport (Staverton)

Council approves Gloucestershire Airport plans

01.06.09   Tewkesbury Borough Council’s planning committee voted to permit the planning application
lodged by Gloucestershire Airport in relation to its Runway Safety Project.  
   see below

Staverton (Gloucester) runway bid given green light

 

4th December 2008         Controversial plans to extend the runway area at Gloucestershire airport have
been given an initial green light by city councillors.     See below
Staverton Airport – Some key information:
Airport Owner:       the joint Councils of Cheltenham and Gloucester   since 1936?
Airport Operator:       Gloucestershire Airport Limited

Airport website:       http://www.gloucestershireairport.co.uk/

Airport Master Plan:     ………… None

Current status of airport proposals:
(from  CASE website)         Last updated   Ma 2009

Before the airport can expand it requires planning permission from Tewkesbury
Borough Council and funding from it’s shareholders. Please let us know if you
can provide more up to date information.

We expect the four planning applications made by the airport to be considered
by the Tewkesbury Borough Council planning committee no earlier that March 2008.

As one of the two joint owners of the airport, Cheltenham Borough Council have
approved the airports plans.   The report by the Joint Airport Scrutiny Working
Group (JASWG), set up by Cheltenham and Gloucester Scrutiy Comittees, is available
on the Cheltenham Borough Council web site :

Airport Consultative Committee:


CAA figures:       CAA aviation statistics

Terminal Passengers:         CAA – Terminal Passengers

UK Airport Statistics: 2012 – annual  (Table 10.3)  Terminal Passengers  2002 – 2012

2012        15,245 (up + 3.4% on 2011)
2011        14,737
2009         20,220 (up   +2% on 2008)
2008         20,000 approx     (up + 272% on 2007)
2007         5,000 approx
2006         –

2005        –

2000         –

1997         2,000

Air Traffic Movements (approx – thousands):     CAA ATM statistics

UK Airport Statistics: 2012 – annual  (Table 4.2) ATMs 2002 – 2012

2012       1,402 ( up + 7.4% on 2011)
2011       1,306
2009       1,751       ( up +6 % on 2008)
2008        ? around 1,640 ?
2007        –
2006        –

2005        –

2000         –

1997        –

Air Freight (tonnes):       CAA Air Freight statistics

2012     none

2007       –
2006       –

2005      –

2000       –

1997       7

Airport destinations:     Isle of Man, Jersey and Belfast

Airport Contact Details:

Staverton, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL51 6SR
Telephone: 01452 857700

Contact details on website

 

Multimap:     map of GL51 6SR     Aerial view

 

Local community group:
CASE   (Concerned Residents Against Staverton Expansion)

 
Wikipedia page about Staverton   – Wikipedia
 
 
Runway:   09/27       1,419 m         4,656 ft     Asphalt
 
 
 
 
Some recent news about Gloucestershire Airport:
 
(News stories about the airport can be found at the UK Airport News website)
and at the Gloucestershire Airport website

Gloucester airport: light plane crashes five metres from road

24th June 2010       A 72 year old pilot narrowly escaped disaster when his light aircraft crash-landed
at Gloucestershire Airport. It smashed into a hedge, which cushioned the impact,
5 metres from the busy Bamfurlong Lane as it attempted to land at the Staverton
airfield – 50 metres from the main runway. The pilot was not seriously injured.
Staverton airport handle between 70,000 and 90,000 flights a year. The Air Accident
Investigation Branch will be investigating. (bnet)   Click here to view full story…

 

 

£2.4m AIRPORT REVAMP WILL BE ‘NO RISK TO THE TAXPAYER’

24th November 2009        Gloucestershire Airport’s boss has rubbished claims taxpayers
will pick-up the tab if its revamp fails. Mark Ryan has promised that the Staverton-based
operation will cover every penny of a £2.4 million loan, which is about to be
taken out on its behalf by local authorities.   Details here……
 
 
AIRPORT EXPANSION PLANS DISCUSSED
5th November 2009       Plans to lengthen the runways at Gloucestershire Airport and open them up to
the commercial business flights are to be discussed.   Details here…..

 

Council approves Gloucestershire Airport plans

 

01.06.09   Tewkesbury Borough Council’s planning committee voted to permit the planning application
lodged by Gloucestershire Airport in relation to its Runway Safety Project. The
application to demolish and rebuild a farmhouse and associated buildings at Bank
View Farm, adjacent to the airport entrance was deferred at last month’s meeting
at the Airport’s request, to enable Planning Officers to consider significant
amendments to the scheme, submitted at a late stage.

Airport Director, Mark Ryan said: We are delighted with the decision. This is
the final piece of the jigsaw and the culmination of two and a half years work
with the Officers at Tewkesbury. We can now move on to the delivery phase of the
project and are already working with to implement the conditions placed by the
Planning Authority and other outstanding issues. The Runway Safety Project is
essential to the future of Gloucestershire Airport. It will create local jobs
and bring long-term financial prosperity to the region.’         UK Airport News

 

 

 

TEWKESBURY BOROUGH COUNCIL APPROVES AIRPORT RUNWAY SAFETY PROJECT PLANS – UPDATE

29th May 2009       Tewkesbury Borough Council’s Planning Committee yesterday voted
to permit the one remaining planning application lodged by Gloucestershire Airport
in relation to its Runway Safety Project.     Details here…..

 
TEWKESBURY BOROUGH COUNCIL APPROVES AIRPORT RUNWAY SAFETY PROJECT PLANS

30th April 2009         Tewkesbury Borough Council’s Planning Committee today voted
to permit three of the four planning applications lodged by Gloucestershire Airport
in relation to its Runway Safety Project.   Details here.

 

 

Gloucestershire airport is held to ransom
 

11th April 2009       The airport was plunged into darkness as Plane Stupid campaigners stole photovoltaic
lights in protest against a new green policy. They took the lights to ransom until
the airport becomes more eco-friendly. They said the lights highlight the stupidity
of the council’s position – the idea that fitting eco-friendly lights at the airport
can offset the huge environmental damage the planes will cause is an insult to
people who care about climate.     Click here to view full story…
LEAD GREEN SW EURO CANDIDATE ANGER AT MOVE TO EXPAND GLOS AIRPORT
20th December 2008             On 11th December Glos City Council Cabinet decided to endorse the recommendations
of the ‘Overview and Scrutiny Management’ committee and support the Airport’s
plans for expansion.Cllr Ricky Knight, the lead South West Green party candidate in next years Euro
elections who had written to all Gloucestershire councillors ahead of the vote
urging them to end plans for expanding Staverton Airport (i), said: “This is a
deeply disappointing decision. Staverton Airport’s plans may be small fry compared
with say Bristol Airport, but the principle is clear: if we are to make 80% cuts
in CO2 emissions as the Government now recognises then we all will have to play
our part. Why should other businesses in Gloucestershire have to make even deeper
cuts in emissions to accommodate these expansion plans?”     See full press release

 

Staverton (Gloucester) runway bid given green light

4th December 2008         Controversial plans to extend the runway area at Gloucestershire airport have
been given an initial green light by city councillors. They recommended that land
is handed over to the airport to make the expansion possible. The airport says
the 30-metre extension is critical to meet safety regulations and enable profitable
commercial flights to continue. Protestors oppose the scheme which they say is
really a plan to expand airport operations.(This is Gloucestershire)             Click here to view full story…

and  on the CASE     website.
19.02.08    Manx2 adds Isle of Man – Belfast and Gloucester flights
18.12.2007       “21 County groups call for Staverton expansion plans to be shelved”
            from     SW Air Action website
24.10.2007       Manx2 route to Gloucester Airport popular
16.10.07 Campaign group to hold ‘Camp Hope’ at Gloucester Airport

In an unprecedented move, groups from across the County have come ogether to
condemn plans to expand Staverton Airport.   Their letter is reproduced below.

Philip Booth, who helped organise the letter and has campaigned for over five
years against the airport expansion said: “The failures of the climate talks in
Bali to come up with any real action is deeply worrying. Locally twenty-one groups
have readily stepped forward to sign this letter: we could have found many more
groups. A lot of us find it very hard to understand how we can allow an airport
to increase emissions when we know that to avoid catastrophic climate change we
all need to cut emissions by 90% or more. What other sectors will need to cut
their emissions if we allow the airport to expand?”

Richard Conibere, Coordinator of Gloucestershire Friends of the Earth who lives
in Cheltenham said: “Britains’ emissions have risen by 19% since 1990. To reduce
carbon consumption demands much more radical policies. Airport expansions are
incompatible with tackling climate change.”

Neil Marshall, of the campaigning group Concerned Residents againstStaverton
Expansion, said: “As residents we are very concerned about many aspects of the
airport expansion like extra traffic, pollution and noise. We welcome the support
shown in this letter from groups across the County raising the issue of climate
change.”

The letter:

Dear Sir/Madam

The undersigned organisations write this open letter to councillors of Gloucester
City, Tewkesbury Borough and Cheltenham Borough in response to the disturbing
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

report released on the 17th November and the enormous implications it must have
on policy making.

The new report evidences an extraordinary position: CO2 levels in the atmosphere
are now higher than at any time over the available 650,000 years of ice core records.
The report confirms the worst fears of irreversible changes to the environment,
such as massive species loss, collapse of the ice sheets and tropical rainforests
and rising sea levels. Such horrors and their impact on communities in all countries
are hard to contemplate, but must spur us to action.

We need cuts of 90% or more in CO2 emissions to avoid runaway global warming.
Councils have taken a lead by signing the Nottingham Declaration to cut emissions,
but a significant step change is needed in policies and actions. This year’s floods
should be wake up call to all of us.

Staverton Airports’ plan to intensify operations and increase CO2 emissions is
one example which is completely counter to what is needed.

If councils support this they will be ignoring one of the most critical and clear
warnings that have ever been given on the perils that the planet faces. Furthermore,
this will be done in the face of a deteriorating situation where our country will
be struggling to handle the combined economic shocks of climate change and significant
oil price increases.

We call on councillors to take a lead to significantly cut our emissions and
help build the necessary economic and community resilience to cope with the challenges
ahead. We urge you not to support the expansion of Staverton airport.Yours sincerely.

Neil Marshall, Concerned Residents against Staverton Expansion

Richard Conibere, Cheltenham Friends of the Earth,

Robert Irving, Cirencester Friends of the Earth

Martin Rudland, Forest of Dean Friends of the Earth

Sophie Franklin, Gloucestershire Friends of the Earth Network

Steve Goodchild, Tewkesbury Friends of the Earth

Rene Meek, Gloucestershire Greenpeace

Kevin Lister, Camp Hope Organising Committee

Philip Booth, Gloucestershire Airport Action Group

Ian Lander, Cheltenham Environment Forum

Jimmy Garlick, Plane Stupid, Gloucestershire

Roger Creagh-Osborne, South West Air Action

Carol Mathews, Transition Stroud Transport Group

Sue Clarke, Transition Forest of Dean

Sheila Booth – Stroud Valleys Cycle Campaign

John Mallows, Cheltenham Cycling Campaign

James Beecher, Bicycology

Angela Paine, Shut Oldbury Campaign

Julian Jones, Water 21

Cathy Green, One Tonners

Kate Perkins, People and Planet

“Gloucester Scrutiny sees sense over Staverton airport”   (4.3.2008)        article