Future of The Aerodrome
Since the sale of the lease of the aerodrome speculation has been rife as to the new owner's intention for the site along with those of the Wycombe District Council. The current lease arrangement, under which the Air Park pays a nominal £42,800 per annum rent to Wycombe District Council, expires in 2014. A feasibility study is underway to determine if the site will be suitable for the development of a sports stadium to replace Adams Park, the home of Wycombe Wanderers and London Wasps. Steve Hayes, the owner of both clubs, has confirmed his plan for a 20,000 seat stadium on the site ready for the start of the 2013/14 season, which suggests the air park may need to close shortly to allow building work to begin. Recent negotiations between Wycombe District Council and the leaseholders have inserted a 'break clause' into the lease to allow the Council to end the lease in 2012 if it wishes.
The options considered for the Air Park range from a small-scale development of a stadium complex to house Wasps and Wycombe Wanderers, to a larger-scale Sports Village concept. A modified Air Park is believed feasible alongside at least one of the options. Under the Sports Village concept it is probable that the Air Park would close completely and the site given over predominantly to sporting activities. For their part, the Air Park management and owners are pushing for a stadium development with a large residential 'enabling' scheme plus hotel and conference facilities, but without the broader sports village. Under this option the Air Park could increase helicopter and fixed wing training, extend the runway, and expand into business jet operations. To allow this, current thinking suggests that the long-established Booker Gliding Club may be ejected from the aerodrome, to allow the expanded commercial activity while not increasing the reported total of aircraft movements.
A consultation process on the stadium development ran from September to October 2010 and resulted in 8,376 responses. The consultation was not restricted to local residents and half of the replies came from outside the district. Wycombe District Council has claimed 70%+ support for a stadium development at Booker but opposition groups claim the results are heavily distorted by non-representative voting patterns. In particular, the results identified by the Council are sharply at odds with a private poll run by the local newspaper at the end of the consultation, which found an overwhelming majority opposed to a stadium development at Booker.
Read more about this topic: Wycombe Air Park
Famous quotes containing the word future:
“Much that is natural, to the will must yield.
Men manufacture both machine and soul,
And use what they imperfectly control
To dare a future from the taken routes.”
—Thom Gunn (b. 1929)