Building more nice houses, I'm assuming it won't be Coronation Street, will attract buyers, if not Mancunians, then Chinese/Singaporean/Malaysian buying off-plan in some expo in the Far-East as has happened thousands of times in the South-East of the UK these last few years. The developers will be happy, the local council happy, but in the middle to long term who else ? The truth is no-one gives a sh1t about aviation except enthusiasts and more importantly those employed in the industry, so to appeal to Joe Bloggs on the basis of aviation is a lost cause. As long as people can go on holiday by air and not have them flying over their heads all is well….
Someone said to me the other day that the UK seems to exist on banking, specialist hi-tech and people buying houses, as all the normal producing industries have essentially gone with the wind. Woodford was an existing sanctioned, legitimate airfield and as to why no one decided to use the existing buildings or to build adjacent either aerospace pertinent businesses such as Dowty who have suffered a fire at Staverton recently or Dunsfold and it's various inhabitants, is a mystery ? A few maintenance companies, a few FBO's, other hi-tech businesses and some private flying would have sustained a healthy local economy to my mind.
SHJ