I don't see what "licensed" has to do with it. It is no more than a CAA measure which presumably arose partly from CAA inbred elitism and partly from pressure put on the CAA by training industry interests / restrictive practices.
A perfectly good GA airfield would have a hard runway so you have all weather operation, lights so it can be used after dark (ideally pilot controlled
), hangarage, a hut with a kettle, and a car park. And a GPS approach of course, with some remotely located controller scheduling it
And a common frequency one can talk on.
But hang on.... aren't I describing a very common American situation here??? No, that can't work; the American GA scene is on its knees and airports are surrounded by wreckage.
Welshpool (and many others I've been to) is kind-of close... but hang on, they charge £10 to land which 99.43% of UK GA will not pay. Perfectly understandably too, since they spent only 12.5p on mogas on the flight, and they can get their Rotax overhauled for £10.
If
Planning was not an issue, the UK would have loads of strips but with tarmac, and the existing licensed airports would become irrelevant to most GA (except for the few people who live on their doorstep). It costs only about £300k to tarmac a 800m runway (well enough for a plane up to a 421C or similar) well within the means of a sizeable owning syndicate.