Kemble & Rougham Airfield Under Threat Help Needed

[justplanecrazy]

Kemble Airfield in Gloucestershire and Rougham Airfield near Cambridgeshire are both under threat by the local councils.

Kemble is home to many companies including an ex-military jet restoration and flying company as well as flying clubs. This is an historical airfield, previous home to the Red Aroows. Some people purchased a house near by and complained about the noise. Now the council is saying that illegal flying is going on.

Rougham Airfield is home to an original WWII ATC Tower and gliding clubs. The council want to build a relief road right through it even though, as anyone whom has visited it, its in the middle of nowhere pretty much.

These are tactics by councils to get the businesses and and clubs to move (or go out of business) and then the airfield will serve no purpose but for houses.

Need help asap to stop this 'trend' occurring!!!

Rougham Airfield Under Threat

St Edmundsbury Borough Council is planning to construct a relief road through the middle of this former WWII USAF base. The airfield is still active, used by many clubs including a gliding club, PPL flying club and model aeroplane club. Please sign the petition to help save this airfield from destruction.. It is also home to many flying display events and the original Control Tower, in perfect condition. Petition: http://www.gopetition.com/online/13166.html

Kemble Airfield Under Threat

Cotswold District Council is attempting to severely limit flying at Kemble Airfield due to what it terms ‘illegal flying’. Please sign the petition to help save this historic airfield and all those whom rely on it for work and pleasure.
Petition: http://www.gopetition.co.uk/sign.php?petid=11860

[UAV689]

done!
this endless closure and threats to airfields has to stop!!

[Foxy Loxy]

Signed the Kemble one a few weeks ago.... Just signed for Rougham.:ok:

Foxy

[justplanecrazy]

many thanks!!!

[Cusco]

Oh , come on!

Rougham Airfield is in Suffolk just on the eastern fringe of Bury St Edmunds:

A good 15 miles from Cambridgeshire.

I just hope you've never tried to fly there 'cos it's not even in Rougham..........
interesting to see it's your petition website, Mr Naji: are you a pilot yourself, and have you visited Rougham Airfield.

Indeed do you know anything at all about the local development of the Rougham industrial estate?

Or is this just a 'shoot from the hip' petition?

Cusco:ugh: (Resident not 2 miles from Rougham Airfield)

[justplanecrazy]

Cusco, what is this abuse?
1. Yes I set the petition up on behalf of the Rougham Control Tower, they have their own petition but there was a fault with it when I went to sign and put it on my website. So I created another
2. Yes I have been to Rougham to the Air Display as a Trader a couple of weeks ago...point being?
3. 15 miles is good enough, not many people know where Bury St Edmunds is, sorry to say, but everyone has heard of Cambridge.
4. What is a 'shoot from the hip' petition???
5. Yes I am a pilot...point being? (Again)

[Cusco]

Just interested in accuracy and fair reporting:

Unfair to Bury St Edmunds which is 25 miles from Cambridge.

And BTW I've signed your petition.

The proposed road will only actually affect one runway: the other will remain in place and I don't think the airfield is threatened with closure

Cusco;)

[tmmorris]

I've commented on this - but couldn't remember the exact reference. Anyone know?

Basically the latest planning guidance for councils imposes an obligation on them to consider the importance of aviation infrastructure and to safeguard existing and potential airfield sites, including disused airfields. There was something on this in one of the magazines (Pilot? Flyer?) a couple of months back.

Tim

[justplanecrazy]

Jeeze Cusco, you know what, there is bugger all publicity about this, even when I was at the Rougham event, many locals did not even know about it. I am gaining nothing from this and I am only trying to help!!!!!!!!!

I did not measure the distance from Cambridge to Rougham Airfield, it was only an indication. From what I saw when I was down there, there is no need at all for a relief road, even the locals were bemused by this. What you fail to realise is that this is the first step for the council, as in Kemble...find someway of reducing activity there, the companies can no longer survive and so they move out, leaving the airfield empty...then the council can say that it is not being used for anything, 'we will keep the control tower' but build housing. If kemble is restricted even more, Delta Jets will close as to will the aircraft recycling there, leaving only a couple of flying schools and a restaurant that will not have enough customers etc.

If I had not posted this thread then you and many others would not have signed it and for a local who lives not 2 minutes away, what are you doing to help? I live west of london so it would not affect me nor those many people as far away as the USA whom have signed it, if Rougham did close. The people at the Rougham Tower & flying club were extrememly grateful for my help when I talked to them. So give me a break, I am only trying to help the people who rely and use Rougham & Kemble Airfields and future generations.

[thesandfly]

Would be terrible to lose either or any airfields, we have lost enough in the past.Dont know Rougham but we visited kemble last month and from conversation with a couple of the locals we were led to believe there was more to the proposed closure than just the noise nuisance (if there is one) Last time we were in was a good few years ago and it was a busy place then it most certainly does not seem that way now, there was little visiting traffic and our guides said that was normal these days for what is a superb facility we were surprised. The view we left with was that those that run the place seem unable or un willing to get into bed with the neighbours and the local authorities but are intent on fighting rather than discussing issues. We were shown a local paper with a fairly entrenched stance shown by the owner which does not bode well. Just hope all gets resolved at both and that one day we may return to kemble or visit Rougham

[747CaptBA]

Signed the petitions, many thanks. I think the whole pilot community needs to come together on matters like this.

Also, ok so one runway will still be operational, for now, but it will affect flying activities considerably there. And as is pointed out, this is the first step to closure. I think every pilot would agree with jpc on this matter, apart from the few ODD ones

[Nibbler]

Signed but...

This trend of individuals buying property close to existing business sites then making complaints to the Noise Police has left me totally bemused.

For example the MFN [a biker pub in Derbyshire] having been in existence for decades, catering for motorcycle types, was recently fined £150,000 and served a 'Noise Abatement Order' because a new resident to the area made a flood of complaints about the noise of er... bikes to the Noise Police.

My point is, who in their right mind buys a property without finding about about the local area first? Buy a house near an airfield = aircraft noise. Surely the solution would be for the complainer to learn from their right royal mistake and move on, leaving the others who've been there for decades in peace, to carry on as before.

As this makes complete sense [and surely would do so to a Judge] It's high time someone fought one of these Council 'anti logic' Noise Abatement Orders. Forcing and winning such a test case at Court would then allow existing businesses, who can prove the above logic, to get these complaining :mad: :mad: :mad: individuals gone.

I thank you
<<<climbs down from soap box>>>

[Cusco]

Hello Captain 747:

I agree wholeheartedly with the idea of saving Rougham: I too am a PPL and our aeroplane has flown into Rougham many times. I have also been in by car to numerous excellent displays.

My point is that, laudable as it may be to want to save every threatened airfield (and you will see by my post that I have signed the s*dding petition to show willing - I signed a paper one similar early this year), that jpc did not do his homework: he had no idea where Rougham was, has not seen the extensive correspondence in the local press about the subject, and will not even consider whether a compromise is possible with the developers.

Very few small grass strips have the luxury of two runways (mine doesn't) but manage very well despite this.

I hasten to add that I am nothing to do with the project but feel that if, with his lack of knowledge jpc were to be questioned about the petition his lack of such knowledge might do the petition a disservice.

So hold the abuse please.

Your posting reminds me once again why I very rarely visit this Forum and perhaps when you have worked through your probationary period (if you are kept on despite your personally abusive post) you may well find the same.

Cusco;)

[Gertrude the Wombat]

Heathrow and a few others besides, it is a simple fact of life that a piece of land is worth more for housing that it is as an airfield. This is because the people who use it as an airfield simply don't want to pay enough.

This means that if an airfield is owned by a company, as many are, and the planning process makes it clear that housing will be permitted, then the directors can either sell the airfield for housing or they will be sued to hell and back by their shareholders for failing to maximise shareholder value. Company law.

A private individual owning a piece of land used as an airfield but with permission for housing is under no such pressure. He can continue to indulge his ludicrously expensive hobby of running it as an airfield if he likes, with no danger from shareholders.

So, if anyone doesn't like the idea that an airfield is to be closed and developed for housing, all they have to do is buy the land and continue to operate it as an airfield. (Just like, if you like the view of open fields out of your window, the only way to keep that view for sure is to buy the land.)

You'll have to pay the going rate for housing land of course, so make sure you can afford it before embarking on this course of action. Something like £100k per plot round here, might be different round your way, and with modern densities a "plot" may be lots smaller than you think.

Oh, and if the local authorities are really feeling pushed to meet the government's targets for new housing development, as some in the south east will be, do make sure that you've saved up a little bit extra to pay lawyers to fight the resulting CPO.

[tangovictor]

i was told, that the Kemble problem, is an Ex civil airline pilot, who's causing
all the grief, why the council / gov can't have the sense to say, " look you moved here, there was an airfield here before you moved, so put up with it "

[Cusco]

Exactly, tv.
Many years ago a NIMBY neighbour put up a dangerously high high stack of hay bales at either end of Crowfield's (One of the few remaining 'gas station' strips for us in Suffolk) runway.
Eventually he moved away, the bales came down and some semblance of calm returned.
Next thing we heard, the same bloke had turned up somewhere up north (Scotland IIRC) and had started stirring the sh1t to try and close a local airfield there............
Makes you weep.
Cusco:ugh:

[justplanecrazy]

Cusco, what is your problem? I am not being paid for my time taken to promote the petitions...in fact everything that is stated comes from Rougham's own petition as is Kemble's. So do not insult me saying im doing a disservice. And my original post was edited by someone, so instead of saying near Cambridge, it said in Cambridgeshire. I said I went as a trader there a few weeks ago, I have not seen the local press as I do not live in the area and once again I am only taking what I learnt from the petition, what the estate, control tower and flying clubs have told me...Im not gonna go and do a full research into everything that is affecting the aviation industry. I am trying to help and everyone here seems only too willing to as it is part of our life, apart from you whom is looking at every specific detail and giving anyone with an opinion abuse. Get real would you

BTW, If you do infact live 'not 2 minutes away' then why do you need to travel to the airfiled by car???

[Cusco]

Read it again jpc: I live 2 miles from Rougham and at my age that equals a car journey.
Between you and Mr 747 you have made a total of about 7 posts to PPRuNe, several of them uncomplimentary if not abusive, tho' I see 747's post calling me an idiot has disappeared.
You need to realise that coming onto PPRuNe, you expose yourself to light joshing, criticism, and often downright abuse and part of posting on here is acceptance of that fact.
For that reason also it behoves you to make your postings as accurate as possible to save yourself being jumped on by nit-pickers like me.
I wish you well, as we all do, with your efforts to save Rougham, but I personally don't propose to say anything more on the matter.
Out.
Cusco;);)

[smithoag]

Just signed both petitions on behalf of Oxfordshire Aviation Group down here in Didcot

Colin

[justplanecrazy]

I only came on here to make the aviation community aware of this matter not to get nit-picked. I have not given you anymore abuse than you have given me, practise what you preach Cusco and expect people to get peed off with your abusive comments. Victor Meldrew, DO NOT talk to me nor other supporters, eg 747, anymore, I don't appreciate it

On a lighter note, thank you Colin and all those whom have supported this cause. Cusco,