Dunsfold
Pretty Dunsfold.
Yes a super airfield in a glorious location and there can't be anyone in GA who would like to see it developed into a housing and industrial estate.
The harsh fact is that there probably isn't a sports site anywhere in the UK that isn't worth millions more in houses. Football, rugby, tennis and cricket fields, athletic tracks (goodbye White City!) ... in fact any open space becomes worth zillions once the local planners give it the nod for houses. My old Grammar School where I played so many wonderful games of cricket ... now a mass of houses. The poor sods have to play their game a couple of miles away.
"Oh and you'll have to build one starter home for every half a dozen we give permission for." So we can sell it for one third of its value to some socialist voting no-hoper. And by the way, we'd quite like a new roundabout paid for out of the profit we could be handing you, and maybe a new library or two.
Joking ... See the madhouse roundabout at Purley, Surrey. Good old Tesco.
We flyers all know of the hundreds of acres of dead land all over Surrey that could be developed for young starting out couples. As my years roll by I've given up hope of ever seeing any common sense or fairness in local planning. Just profiteering. I've lost count of the lucky so & so's who happened to be sitting on an acre of suitable building land.
Take the couple of million from Bovis and retire to the south of France and leave hundreds of youngsters struggling to pay the inflated price of their building plot just to keep Mr lucky wealthy in retirement and happyin Pina Coladas!
Sorry for the Communist rant ... so how do we as an industry keep our aviation heritage sites safe. Any ideas out there before the developers home in on Old Warden?
I'll get on with my retirement knitting now.
Take care all,
Dennis Kenyon.