QUOTE ... "It would be great if this could happen sooner rather than later, based on the fact that we dont want to place to go to ruin but there is a long winded public consultation and planning process that mcr city council is running and the expected date to even get a firm decision on whats going to happen on the site is not due until late 2012."
Sorry I don't meant to be pedantic but this is nothing to do with Mrc city Council, this is the link to the consultation document with regards to the future of the site ..
Future Woodford | Woodford Aerodrome - its past, present and future
I am a local resident, about 3 miles from my front door to the main gate at Woodford, I'm a life long aviation nutcase, I first visited the site in the early 70's, I currently work in the aviation fuel industry. as much as I would love to see something retained from the demise of the Woodford site I really can't see that happening in the current harsh reality of the economic climate we are living in.
Given the historic links to aviation icons such as the Lancaster Vulcan and more recently the Nimrod, it seems quite incredible that we should let these links with the past disappear, but in the harsh reality of today's economic climate there is no financially viable option to save and preserve any part of this iconic contribution to our aviation history. That is such a shame when you think of the millons that have been raised to keep one Vulcan flying; if the plan had been to leave a serviceable Vulcan to the public in the first place then it would have been so much easier to keep one airborne; but it wasn't thought of at the time.
The same is true now, it would cost to try and keep the runway out of the developers hands, but there is no cash to do that right now .... but in years to come someone might think that the preservation of at least part of Woodford would be a worthy cause; but it'll cost ten times more then than now ...
The current problem is that GA in the UK is on its backside, it is tough enough for existing operations to survive form day to day, the thought that anyone has the time (and certainly the money) to be forward thinking seems like something of a pipe dream ..
I sincerely wish that was not the case ... but I know form what I see at work every day ... to preserve any part of Woodford is going to be a monumental struggle ... I'm sure I'm like many others ... I have time and enthusiasm to offer but I don't have a bottomless pit of cash which I think is the most important aspect of preserving any future aspect of Woodford