New runway rules threaten airport

The airport's future could be at risk if the obstacles are not removed

The future of Gloucestershire Airport is under threat because of new rules about its runway.

The Civil Aviation Authority says a road, embankment and derelict farmhouse at the eastern end of the Staverton airfield runway pose a risk to planes.

It wants the road closed and the other obstacles removed, at a cost of £1.5m.

But critics say the airport's owners, Gloucester and Cheltenham councils, are being too slow to agree to the changes, putting the site's future at risk.

The hazards, which include a brook at the other end of the airfield, have been there since the airport was built, but the CAA is raising safety standards.

It wants pilots and their planes to have greater clearance at both ends of the runway to allow them a larger landing area.

At present, some small planes are unable to take off from Staverton in bad weather because the obstacles effectively shorten the runway.