Lets peel back the Peel Holdings layers...
........and reveal the nature of the beast with whom LAC @ Barton are dealing.
Under the umberella Holdings Company are a number of operations.
The Trafforrd Centre Shopping Megaplex is the public's most visible incarnation of Robert Hough's empire. But there's more to them than that.
The Manchester Ship Canal Company was bought to give accesss to the land surrounding. Salford Quays and the like. They've just bought Clyde Port the Glasgow equivalent.
Many people in the north live in a Peel Homes Tudorbeathan box on an estate. A lot of ex coal industry land went their way in the '80s.
Then there's Peel Aviation. Now how they got the idea of buying airports up to release unused development land I don't know. And how it was they then saw a business case to continue operating the airport would make fascinating reading.
But that's what they did,starting at Liverpool, and continue so to do.
Finningley isn't just about a Yorkshire regional gateway airport. Just look at the freight interchanges nearby. Docks at Immingham, car distribution and freight consolidation using the excellent motorway links.
Peel intend the same with Teeside (MME) renamed last week Durham Tees Valley. The development plan shows a huge area set aside for commercial development whilst retaining the airport. Just like they did at Speke.
The runway at Sheffield City is to be shortened to 650m making it effectively a helicopter FATO whilst the other bit is going to be Industrial Units.
So if I tell you Barton is not going to shut down as an aerodrome can you see where that notion comes from? Given that Peel thru the Ship Canal Co own all the land around, their planners are painting with a much broader brush. From the Leisure park and race course to the north at Boothstown, to the rail head interchange and the Salford Reds Stadium on the banks of the canal just south of Barton, Peel have it sown up.
You dont apply for a million pound hangar on an airfield that's about to close do you?
Barton will survive. The Lancs Aero Club will survive. It's just that their two futures are now not inextricably linked. There is already a steady trickle of a/c leaving or up for sale but these owners may have been too quick to bail.
Yes, it will cost more but Barton has had historically low charges for the private owner. What has already been lost is the intangible atmosphere unique to the place. (And I don't mean the Daveyhulme sewerage works!)
Sir George Cayley
Last edited by Sir George Cayley; 12th September 2004 at 16:25.