Pete (SATCO Biggin),
Thanks for the clarification. You are, I guess, in a unique position because you have the ability to pre-empt the NIMBY's (Flightpath) inevitable reaction to any development that the airport will propose.
As we know, as is so often the case when a group like flightpath stir-up the local residents; the panic that they instil in the residents’ minds causes local people to not properly see the fuller picture. Often, airports spend so long trying to ‘justify’ their own actions that they fail to see that the best tactic to take is to blow their (flightpath’s) arguments out of the water before they have the opportunity to ingrain their views into the locals’ minds.
After an airfield closes (and, thankfully, I’m not saying that Biggin is under any immediate likelihood of doing so), the residents, inevitably, belatedly regret their actions. Nice cheap, flat land is great for industrial estates and housing.
They often forget that if an airfield like Biggin, is not given a fair chance to earn its keep, then they mustn’t be surprised if they soon find hundreds of houses, or industrial units built upon it. Which, in turn, will of course will be nothing like as peaceful as the huge areas of open space, with a few aircraft flying overhead that they have now. . . .
Regards,
BH