29 January 2018
Peter Day’s planning application to build five ‘live/work’ hangar homes on Solent (Daedalus) Airport was recommended for refusal by Gosport Borough Council’s Planning Department at their planning meeting on 17 January 2018.
However, seven out of the 13 Councillors ignored their planning department’s advice and voted in favour of the scheme.
One of the councillors supporting the application. Cllr Wayne Ronayne, said, “Having looked through the proposal I think it is both an innovative and unique idea. The development would really put Solent Airfield on the map and I would support the proposal without reservation.”
The other six councillors voted against the scheme mainly because of the safety and security concerns of the airport manager. These were comprehensively addressed in a report and response letter written by an independent aviation consultant, which was on the planning portal but clearly had not been read by those councillors.
The chairman decided to defer the decision on the application until the next planning meeting on 28 February 2018.
“In the meantime, my planning consultant will send all the councillors the report and response letter by the independent aviation consultant so at least any safety and security issues will not be a consideration,” said Peter Day, whose company, Hangar Homes, is behind the application.
9 comments
I want one, because I am planning to move to the area soonish anyway, and would be perfect for a disabled pilot such as myself
So the chairman deferred the decision? I wonder how this committee operates? I hope the chairman doesn’t have an ulterior motive in this announcement.
Democracy in action. 7 to 6 in favour, but it seems the Chairman doesn’t have to abide by that. Shouldn’t be surprised – it’s exactly what’s going on with Brexit!
Personally I think this is a grand idea. It is popular in the US and Australia so why not here in the UK?
As usual though, democracy seems to have failed again with the chairman appearing to personally wanting to shoot this down.
The idea is great, and we could do with something like an airpark in the UK, but being limited to the home/hangar designs put forward, and placing the homes on an existing airfield completely miss the point for me. The designs are quite ugly – I’d rather have the option of purchasing a plot and being offered several pre-designed home options, with the ability to bring my own architect if desired. See the airparks in France and the USA.
Airparks have been tried and failed to get planning permission because they require a new airfield or re-instating an old one, which inevitably draws objections from local residents. For that reason I have opted to build hangar homes on existing GA airfields which would co-exist with businesses and other activities on the airfield. The chances of getting planning permission for different designs on individual plots is virtually zero, so having a design with a small ‘footprint’ that works in a ‘mixed use’ environment is the only option.
It’s just what GA in the UK needs; innovation, investment, incentives. GA is under threat from several directions so anything that encourages investment in airfields is welcome.
You may not agree with the finer detail of schemes like this but it is a positive idea that would have advantages for the airfield owners, home owners, other pilots, and the wider community around the airfield.
A good number of small airfields are struggling to exist so this is a great opportunity to bring revenue and business development which can only be a good thing for the airfield.
Unfortunately, the decision was reversed by a new set of Councillors after the May 2018 local elections, which I suspect was the reason behind the delay. Anyway I’m now pursuing 9 mixed-use hangars on a site to the north of the runway, where there is plenty of room for hard-standing and the required ‘unobstructed strip’, which was not available on the previous site west of the control tower.