Plans to improve aerodrome site

The owners of Sywell Aerodrome want a 1,000 metre hard runway

The owners of an aerodrome in Northamptonshire have applied to improve the site in case planning permission for a new runway is granted.

There is currently just a grass runway at Sywell Aerodrome, but the owners want to build a 1,000 metre hard runway because of water-logging in the winter.

A previous application was withdrawn because of a procedural error.

Nearby residents have been campaigning against changes, saying the quality of village life would deteriorate.

The applications to improve the site, submitted to Wellingborough Borough Council, are to widen the road and to provide drainage to serve a paved runway, taxiway and apron.

Campaigners against the all-weather runway say they are not against the aerodrome as such, but against changes that could affect quality of life, and there are worries it could become a busy airport.

Campaigners against the runway are worried it would affect village life

Permission for the Sywell development was formally granted in June 2002.

But in 2003, an administrative blunder set back the plans for a concrete runway when the council conceded in the High Court a report on the proposals had not been made available to the public before planning permission was granted.

A public inquiry into the proposed changes for the aerodrome is due to begin in July.