They have tenants in the hangars so not sure why they would want to demolish those. The terminal could be repurposed. They also apparently have no current plans to remove the runway or hardstandings and have recently been renegotiating lease agreements with the landowners upon which the approach lights currently reside.
I’ve never been the biggest fan of Peel or their MO. However we do have to concede that they do get things built when they say they will (DSA would be a prison now where it not for their commitment), and I fully believe that they currently don’t really know what to do with the site. My view being that a reasonably successful airport would have provided sufficient ROI with regards to land value in the vicinity of the airport, but they just cannot attract the airline/freight business they wanted to attract to make it viable. Perhaps some of the more financially attractive uses for Gateway East would not sit well near an active airport? Who knows, but if nobody wants to buy it for the right price, Peel are not going to sell it. Let’s face it, no airlines were beating a path to their door when it was open, so any attempts at growth in that sector would require a huge financial outlay from any would-be airport operator just to get them interested. It’s another thing ensuring that the seats get sold to sustain those flight and that there are enough passengers using the airport to generate revenue to cover the high and ever-increasing operating costs. DMBC of course should know all this if they have applied their own due diligence, which I suspect they have and may explain why there are no provisions in their budget for a CPO, not even the estimated £1.1million legal costs that Ros Jones shared in one of her updates late last year.
If the CPO did go through, but didn't include any of the buildings - then what?