Bourne Airfield

[phnuff]

I have just seen a news report about new houses being built on Bourne airfield. I may be a lapsed PPL and out of touch, but I still have great memories of Bourne, not least of which being my first solo. It isn't closed now is it?

[Ds3]

Presuming you mean Bourn in Cambridgeshire?

It's certainly not closed at present, or at least it wasn't on Saturday when we took the 150 aerobat up to Tatenhill and back!

There's been plenty of talk about building houses there over the last few years, but I wasn't aware of any definitive plans. In fact there was some discussion of this whilst there and I don't think any of the club's staff are either, unless they were keeping quiet. It would be a real shame if they did, it's a great little grass-roots place to fly from albeit a little run down these days...

EDIT: just had a poke around the council website. It seems it's been considered as a potential site as part of a study of around 300 potential sites in the area but from what I can gather, which isn't clear by any means, it's currently down as a site with limited potentitial which I guess means it's probably safe for a while.

[chevvron]

Yes but I seem to remember from the PFA magazine years ago that South Cambs Council have a 'bad attitude' towards recreational flying so it may be a ruse to get flying at Bourn curtailed.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

I wasn't aware of any definitive plans
Not definite plans, but included in the Issues and Options 2 consultation for the review of the local plan.

[Evanelpus]

Cambourne is expanding at an alarming rate and I suppose this news is inevitable.

There goes the bank Holiday market as well.

[rkgpilot]

Scroll down to Site Option CS9:

Planning policy (http://cambridge.jdi-consult.net/ldf/readdoc.php?docid=166&chapter=10&docelemid=d31759#d31759)

[taxistaxing]

I hope it survives. Definitely a characterful, if quiet, airfield which I have enjoyed visiting.

Last time i visited there was a crane a few hundred metres from short final on runway 24 :sad: . The land is owned by an awkward local farmer, apparently. Has it been moved yet?

[phnuff]

Yes indeed, a fine little airfield with really friendly people as I recall. Quiet, well compared to some, but generally just enough clear space for a nervous debut solo to go ahead (albeit mine was not totally straight forward but that is another story).

Long may it remain !

[Ds3]

The crane has been moved now, although it was there for a long time. Certainly kept ya focused though! There's no windsock either at the moment which adds to the fun too ;)

It is pretty quiet there at the moment, but you all know what you need to do to sort that out - anywhere with a hard runway is worth a visit at the moment!

There's a similar thread running over on the dark side with a little more info on the planning policies, worth a read.

[Gertrude the Wombat]

hard runway
That's being slightly generous :)

[Ds3]

:p Well most of it's hard still, just a little crumbly in places so the hard bits are somewhat smaller than one might desire!!

[Sir George Cayley]

You talking about me?

SGC