HiFranc - great bit of info - never knew that was available. Had a trawl and found this:
"Mr. Henry Bellingham (North-West Norfolk) (Con): I do not know how much the Leader of the House knows about planning, but it appears that Her Majesty's Government are changing the planning status of airfields by characterising them as brownfield sites. Of course, we need more affordable housing in the countryside but surely such a far-reaching change should be properly consulted upon.
Mr. Hoon: I am sure that a far-reaching change would be consulted upon. Obviously, it is important that the appropriate planning rules should be applied to specific circumstances. I have no doubt that that will happen and I assure the hon. Gentleman that there is no significant change in Government policy on that."
So well done to Henry Bellingham, but it does seem to have been brushed aside rather quickly and easily.
If you follow this link:
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/ and type "airfields" into the search field, it does show that the issue has been raised quite a lot.