In the flurry of smiles that announced the dour Scot was going to be friends with all of us if/when he is PM, it was annouced that HMS Daedalus is to be one of the new Eco-towns built over whatever open land is left in Southern England.
This does not come as a surprise at all, read the previous posts, as the local council has been desperate to build on this for ages it is exactly that they wanted. The "we want to develop this as a regional airport" was the most callous attempt at massaging public opinon that I have ever seen.
A questionnaire has gone out to local residents and it makes interesting, frustrating and annoying reading. It is written with that "Do you still beat your wife?" presumptive edge. All of the questions relate to the increase in local services that could happen if the place was built over, there is no option, as far as I could see, for anyone to say "Actually I would rather it was not built on because the local infrastructure and road system cannot deal with the increase in people and we would prefer it to remain as it is". It is a fait accompli.
Please no one come on here and say "it is no great loss, it is unfriendly" as I have seen elsewhere. Lee is on the way out, Dunsfold has a very limited time and what else do we have in the south that can take any development as an airfield? It is a great shame this has been allowed to happen and the council and landowners have been able to destroy what is an ideal GA airfield in an area where development is going to adversely affect the lives of people nearby. Getting into and out of Gosport and Lee on Solent is bad enough now without Brown's Eco-monstrosity on the site. Even gravel extraction would have been preferable.
I gave it five years in an earlier post. I now give it two.
If you are in business selling Helicopters to police forces you might want to contact Hampshire. I am sure they are in the market.