Airport sale collapse sparks fears over council’s recovery plan
Negotiations had been underway for more than eight months to sell the 375-acre site in Staverton.
There are serious questions over what impact the sale of Gloucestershire Airport falling through will have on the City Council’s financial recovery plan.
Negotiations had been underway for more than eight months to sell the 375-acre site in Staverton which is jointly owned by Cheltenham Borough Council and Gloucester City Council.
There has been growing concern in recent months and suggestions that the deal, worth more than £25m, was in trouble and would fail.
Suggestions that the deal was in trouble after missed deadlines and delays in completing the sale were repeatedly dismissed.
Council chiefs could not say earlier this month if they were optimistic or not that the sale would be completed.
But just over a week later, they finally announced in a joint statement that the deal had fallen through.
Council chiefs said they were disappointed they were unable to accept the terms from Horizon Aero Group, their preferred bidder.
They said it had moved significantly away from the original bid prospectus, and recognise that this news will be disappointing for many people who had hoped for immediate certainty about the future of the site
Reacting to the announcement, Conservative group leader Stephanie Chambers (C, Quedgeley Fieldcourt) said the collapse of the sale at such a late stage is “devastating”.
“Especially when the council was relying on the cash injection to help protect local services,” she said.
“Council leader Jeremy Hilton has previously argued that delays reflected a very detailed process that would deliver the best outcome. The result speaks for itself."
“This has dragged on, missed deadlines, and ended in failure, creating uncertainty for businesses, staff, and the wider local economy.
“Now we need answers, not excuses. What changed, when did it change, and why were opposition councillors not properly kept informed as the deal unravelled."
“Residents deserve facts, not spin, and a clear plan for what happens next.”
She said her group will be calling for a wide ranging public consultation to shape the future of the airport.
“This is the moment to be bold, bring forward fresh investment and jobs, and make the airport a true catalyst for growth, innovation, and pride across our whole region,” she said.
Councillor Terry Pullen (Moreland), who leads the Labour group in Gloucester, said he does not know why the airport sale fell through but is concerned about the “awful lost of time and money” wasted on the process.
“I understand that consultants fees alone were in excess of £200,000 and I expect the final figure allowing for legal fees to be considerably more than that,” he said.
“This money could have been far better spent on essential council services.”
He also says the implications for the council are “serious and long reaching” with no “single plan B but a series of plans”
“No one is saying what they are,” he said.
He said what is most worrying is the expected income from the sale was a significant factor in paying off the £15.5m emergency bailout loan the City Council has secured to avoid becoming effectively bankruptcy.
“This will now put the council in an even more precarious financial situation and may have an effect on public services,” he said.
“Gloucester City Council now needs to have a serious rethink about its plans for the future of the airport.
“A full economic impact assessment needs to be carried out to determine the best use of the airport site in future. It’s time for some more radical thinking.
“The airport is running at a loss and it is unfair to expect council tax payers to keep bailing it out.”
Meanwhile, Community Independent leader Alastair Chambers (Matson, Robinswood and White City) said he believes council chiefs have been aware the airport deal would not go through for at least a month.
He also believes information was withheld until after the City Council secured its bailout from the Government.
“If ministers had known the airport deal had collapsed, there is a real possibility that the financial support request could have been rejected,” he said.
He also asks how the council intends to balance its finances going forward if it was relying on its share from the airport sale.
“Residents deserve honesty and transparency. Instead, they appear to have been kept in the dark while critical financial decisions were being made,” he said.
“Once again, public trust in the council’s leadership has been damaged.”
In Cheltenham, People Against Bureaucracy Councillor Stan Smith (Prestbury) said the collapse of the airport sale came as no surprise to him as the process was taking so long.
However, while he sits on the overview and scrutiny committee which looks into airport issues, he said he was kept in the dark.
He said he was not directly informed about the sale falling through but found out about it reading Gloucestershire Live.
“I’ve been waiting for it to collapse, to be honest,” he said.
“But I didn’t get notified. I didn’t know anything about it until I read about it on your newspaper’s website."
“They didn’t let me know. I have a problem with them letting me know anything."
“I get rather frustrated about it. I’ve had my say to the council and said I may as well talk to a wall."
“They’re restricting me from doing my job but it isn’t going to get me down.”
However, he believes the sale falling through will affect the City Council more than the Borough Council.
“I anticipate that it was money they were looking for to bail them out,” he said.
“The council will do what the council does. The Lib Dems will do what the Lib Dems want to do and everybody else can be told what they want to be told in snippets. It’s a bad way really.”
Borough Council leader Rowena Hay (LD, Oakley) said they are disappointed they couldn’t reach an agreement on a sale of the airport after a long period of time.
But it is their duty to deliver best value on the sale of the airport.
‘’We fully appreciate the concern this will cause, particularly for those employed at the airport who will have worked hard to support the sale process,” she said.
“As we move forward, we are committed to continued engagement with staff, operators, tenants and key stakeholders to discuss the future and reach a positive outcome for Gloucestershire Airport.’’
City Council leader Jeremy Hilton (LD, Kingsholm and Wotton) said the news is clearly disappointing as it would have provided a strong future for the site.
“I fully recognise that people hold different views about the potential uses of the site, but our responsibility is to take a measured, evidence‑based approach that leads to the right outcome for the long term,” he said.