"Why heli's only?"
Because they say so. Some of us might not be overly concerned at 400m of tarmac (aeroplane willing) but not everyone usually flies from Netherthorpe
"Toy Town?"
What makes you say that? It's actually a very good GA airfield with good facilities and a nice runway with a A/G service that's not usually too big for its boots. The climb out on 28 might be woeful and there's not much parking but it's cheap, there is a dual carriageway right into the city centre, it's next to the motorway, and it's as good a GA airport as I can think of. Evidence of that is the number of bizjets, turboprops and biz-helis that come in and out. Nowt (much) wrong with it.
The politics of its demise is another story.