Has the sale of Gloucestershire Airport hit political turbulence?
We began this story as an update on the airport sale to talk about it as an asset and about the challenges it’s facing - then we were unable to confirm the sale from one of the current owners.
Dear reader,
Straight to today’s main story.
Some of you with long memories will remember the days when Gloucestershire Airport was involved in a perpetual tug of war between its two owners - Gloucester City Council and Cheltenham Borough Council.
Should it be kept as an airport? Did the county need an airport? Should it not be sold to build houses on? A decade ago it was estimated 3,500 would fit on the site.
The decision to create an arms length company, Gloucestershire Airport Ltd, was an attempt to move out of the mire and see if it could be developed as a business, with the councils overseeing and taking their cut of the income for the public purse.
When we started this story we thought all that was settled because the next big step was to handle the sale of the airport, announced jointly by both local authorities last year. It was to be a story with a happy ending after all. Two local authorities united.
Or at least we thought they were united!!!!
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Your briefing notes
🏭 Four hundred and fifty jobs have been lost after a Gloucestershire-headquartered engineering firm serving the oil and gas industry world-wide went into administration. Alderley PLC, based in Wickwar near Wotton-under-Edge, has confirmed administrators from Grant Thornton are now overseeing the “affairs, business and property of Alderley Plc (APLC), Alderley Systems Ltd (ASL) and Specialised Management Services Limited (SMS)”. Founded by Bristol businessman Tony Shepherd in 1989, Alderley operated primarily in the oil and gas markets, designing, manufacturing, and servicing control systems and had offices in India, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
📈 Safran, which has a landmark building at Staverton manufacturing and servicing landing gear for many of the world’s biggest plane makers, has reported soaring sales in the first half of its financial year. The French-owned operation, which also jointly owns jet engine maker CFM International with GE Aerospace, has reported a 41 per cent rise in turnover to 1.97 billion euros and an increase in sales of 19 per cent to 13.05 billion euros. Olivier Andriès, Safran’s chief executive officer, said the firm had made a ‘strong start to the year... primarily to the growth of aftermarket activity for engines and aircraft equipment’.
City centre team’s partnership with charity blossoms
What started as an act of generosity – simply agreeing to let the Alzheimer’s Society charity and the NHS Managing Memory Together Team distribute information in its city centre retail spaces – had an unexpected payback for its staff.
Colliers, which manages Eastgate Shopping Centre, King’s Walk, Kings Square and St Oswalds, let volunteers from both organisations into its city centre spaces during Dementia Awareness Week to promote awareness about the condition and the support available.
That quickly led to its employees from across the four sites being invited to three dementia awareness training sessions to help them learn how to champion inclusivity and support individuals experiencing an ongoing decline of brain function, with everyone being awarded a Certificate in Community Dementia Awareness by One Gloucestershire.
Jason Robinson, senior destination manager for Colliers in Gloucester, said: “The team were eager to get involved and it was fantastic that the training was supported by Gloucestershire Constabulary, Kier Construction and Gloucester City Safe – all of whom have a presence in the city centre and can be on hand to assist should the need arise.”
Steve Lindsay, Gloucester City Safe manager, said: “The CPOs do at times come into contact with people who have dementia, therefore this training will help them understand better how to deal with incidents as and where they occur in the city centre,” he said.
Has the sale of Gloucestershire Airport hit political turbulence?
We began this story as an update on the airport sale to talk about how it is an asset for Gloucestershire and about the challenges it’s facing - and then we were unable to confirm that sale from one of the local authorities.
It has been, at regular intervals over many years, a political hot potato – but it seemed as if the county has begun to realise the value of the ever-developing asset that is Gloucestershire Airport.
Even when it was put into the hands of arms-length company Gloucestershire Airport Ltd in 1993 the ‘will they/won’t they sell the 300-acre site for housing?’ question was asked frequently of its owners, Gloucester City Council and Cheltenham Borough Council.
And then came last year’s ‘shock’ announcement.
Taking everyone by surprise, apparently also those running the business itself, both local authorities announced they had agreed to sell their 50 per cent stakes.
Speaking in November last year as part of the announcement, Jason Ivey, Gloucestershire Airport Ltd’s director, said: “The timing’s right to seek new investment, expertise and resources – it makes commercial sense for everyone.”
Ivey and his team are now refusing to comment, but Raikes understands they are still very much focused on the job in hand – running what is as times the UK’s busiest airport (by movements alone), and readying it for sale.
At least that’s how this story began.
Raikes is now wondering if the change of leadership at Gloucester City Council has put that sale in doubt, and whether the airport is once again entering a period of confusion and turbulence.
Coun Richard Cook (Conservative), the man who headed up the city authority until the recent council elections, endorsed the sale when it was announced in 2023.
The local authority is now in the hands of Coun Jeremy Hilton (Liberal Democrat), and despite Raikes’ best efforts over a period of days – including delaying publication – we have been unable to get confirmation the city council will go ahead with any sale.
In the meantime, up the other end of the Golden Valley, commercial property agents Savills has been appointed and a ‘comprehensive marketing campaign’ is being prepared for a ‘big splash’ launch when the Staverton site is released to the market later this year.
Cheltenham Borough Council has confirmed it remains committed to selling its share of Gloucestershire Airport, in line with the full CBC council decision.
“Minor adjustments have been made to the timeline for the sale, with the marketing campaign going live this autumn,” it told us.
Paul Jones, deputy chief executive at Cheltenham Borough Council said: “Whilst it’s regrettable that we are slowing things down a little for now, what an autumn date does allow for is more time to create a thorough, detailed marketing pack, containing site plans, financial information and covering off granular detail that will clearly support both the intention to sell our share of the airport, and the bidding stage, encouraging stronger and more defined bids.
“At this stage, we would rather do more than less, so that we reach the whole of the market and all parties involved have full confidence in the process.’’
However certain Cheltenham Borough Council is of a sale many invested in the airport are holding their breaths, not least because of what they perceive as ‘other issues’ that might affect the asking price for what is a business with a £5 million-plus turnover, despite it returning to profit in its last financial year too.
In 2022 it recorded a multi-million pound loss and since 2017 has borrowed at least £2.25 million in loans from the two authorities. Champions of the airport would point out it brings in more than £50 million annually to the local economy.
When Raikes wrote a story last week about Staverton-based Skyborne being the beneficiaries of a £21 million investment by British Airways to train new pilots it was then contacted and told the flight training school and the operations of anyone who wanted to get airborne at the airport were restricted for the foreseeable future because of the shortage of air traffic controllers.
Skyborne has refused to comment.
As it turns out those issues around ATCs are nationwide, if not world-wide, but the point still held; operations are restricted.
In the airport’s defence it currently has five people training to be ATCs. It is not a quick process, but it is happening. And in March it announced a a £500,000 investment in its ATC facilities too.
What is harder to get a handle on is the state of the business the current management team inherited after former managing director, Karen Taylor, resigned in July last year.
Shortly afterwards interim managing director Mike Morton found himself having to defend the airport’s future as ‘secure’ after minutes were leaked from a management meeting which allegedly raised concerns around safety, maintenance and communication.
Whoever buys the airport, one person suggested to Raikes, could be in a position to knock the price down considerably using the levers above – despite the incredible portfolio of an estimated 50 businesses on the site.
These include such giants as Babcock, Global ATF, Safran, recent newbie Gama Aviation, and the aforementioned Skyborne, Weston Aviation, Castle Air Academy, and non-aviation firms. One of those, wealth management firm St James’s Place, perhaps points towards some of the clientele who use the site.
Last year Gloucestershire Airport recorded what it calls 68,000 movements – that’s flights in and out.
Those visitors range from millionaires, rock stars, sports stars and politicians to students arriving for term at Cheltenham Ladies College and wealthy business people to the Chinook and Apache helicopters of the RAF and many training to fly.
Taylor was credited with securing £15 million of funding, announced in December 2020, for runway improvement and other ‘critical works’ all aimed at boosting the airport’s potential.
And in 2022 she was also fronting the building of the new business park, CGX Connect, part funding by £1.9 million in Growth Deal won by the county’s former local enterprise partnership, GFirst LEP.
Holding the positive line, the efforts of the current management to spread the word about the airport as an asset and something to be seen in the context of the county’s master plan appear to be working.
That message emphasises the part the airport plays in the business community and its close proximity to the Golden Valley Development.
Raikes understands representatives of cyber-related businesses already use the airport and with the site of the multi-million Golden Valley business park only a stone’s throw from the airport beside GCHQ it is easy to buy into the vision.
Hari Pillai, corporate finance manager at Randall & Payne, provided us with this take on Gloucestershire Airport.
“With the million-pound CGX Connect Business Park project currently underway, aimed at providing 30,000 sqm of commercial and industrial floor space and creating more than 1,500 jobs, coupled with the aspiration to be the greenest airport in the country, the Gloucestershire airport could soon be among the top general aviation airports in the UK in terms of contributions to the local economy.
“Private investment could greatly accelerate the completion and success of these initiatives and elevate the status of the airport as an ‘economic growth hub’, as evidenced by the success story of the London Biggin Hill Airport.
“This London airport had 38 per cent fewer aircraft movements in 2023 compared to Gloucestershire airport but contributed 200 per cent more to the local economy during the same period, owing to its focus on driving investment to facilitate job creation.
“If a potential acquirer comes to the fore to buy Gloucestershire Airport that will be great news, however, the legal side of the sale process may be lengthy due to the complexities involved.”
That’s if it is for sale, of course!