Speculation over the real future of Gloucestershire Airport is sky high
The attempt to control the 'news' around the sale of Gloucestershire Airport has only fuelled speculation about its real future, with talk the deal will seriously shortchange the county.
Dear reader,
Welcome to Monday’s edition of The Raikes Journal. Today we revisit (again!) the story of Gloucestershire Airport.
It’s become more like a saga, perhaps we should call it ‘The Chronicles of Gloucestershire Airport’, as both local authority owners continue to release stories about its sale through marketing channels like LinkedIn and Facebook etc in an attempt to control the narrative.
But in telling us very little each time the approach appears to be fuelling speculation that gives rise to anxiety - and as a result, we’ve written what we’ve written below. Will we be adding to that anxiety? Possibly.
One PR expert Raikes spoke to said there was a term in marketing called ‘the hero content template’. Think of the M&S Christmas advert.
“It’s one story, but it just keeps on giving; the advert is coming, anticipation is growing around the advert, the advert arrives, it’s well received, sales rise as a result, it’s the best yet, etc, etc.”
In other words, it gets rinsed for all it’s worth. In the case of M&S it works beautifully.
It’s also worth remembering that press releases are not news on their own. They are generally marketing.
News is something else.
Have a great week.
Andrew Merrell (editor).
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Charity of the week
Earlier this month (June) the Big Space Cancer Appeal was revealing how it had hit the £9 million mark in its quest to fund a new centre for patients at Cheltenham General Hospital. At the weekend an intrepid team from Gloucestershire Hospitals’ managed services department climbed the Welsh mountain of Snowdon to raise more funds. While the rest of the country enjoyed a heatwave, the team endured the opposite! But the mission was a success, raising £4,000. You can add to that amount here.
Diary Dates…
Tuesday
Marketing health check 1-2-1s. Henny Maltby, a growth marketer, trainer and SEO specialist, will be on hand to help you assess the current state of your marketing. At Cirencester Growth Hub from 9am to 4pm. More here.
Wednesday
‘Netwalking’ for Women in Business. Described as a relaxed, friendly and supportive netwalking event for women in business and creatives. Stroll over Crickley Hill and talk business from 10am to noon. More here.
Thursday
Join networking group Talk Business Dean&WyeUNO at Severn & Wye Smokery in Chaxhill in the Forest of Dean from 9.30am to 11.15am. More here.
Friday
How to have an effective website that delivers great results. Expert Richard Hubble will talk you through what it takes to achieve the best website for your business. At Cheltenham Growth Hub from 9.30am to 12.30pm. More here.
Once-in-a-lifetime £45 million investment for Gloucester
When it was rejected back in February the decision was enough to provoke the chief executive officer of Gloucester City Homes to suggest the local authority had thrown a ‘curveball’ at it and jeopardised £20 million of funding.
That was the then latest installment in the housing association’s bid to invest £45 million in a major housing scheme in Podsmead in Gloucester.
But GCH has revealed it has managed to keep the project alive and its “transformational once-in-a-lifetime plans”, a collaboration between itself, Homes England, the city council, local residents and community leaders, is still on track.
The regeneration proposals include the delivery of 172 high-quality social rent homes, and investment of £1.3 million in enhanced public spaces, improved community amenities, and modern, accessible infrastructure to support a thriving, sustainable neighbourhood; and an additional investment of £645k in improving offsite sports and play provision.
Guy Stenson, chief executive officer of GCH, said the scheme would now go before Gloucester City Council’s planning committee in July. More here.
Briefing notes…
🧑💻 One of Gloucestershire’s biggest employers has revealed its efforts to deal with a ‘cyber attack’ that never happened cost it nearly £290,000. The false alarm cyber attack which affected Tewkesbury Borough Council has even been called a “blessing in disguise”. The Gloucestershire local authority shut down all of the services it provides online on September 4 2024 after it identified an issue within its IT systems. The council said it had learnt “some of the really good practice we now have because of this may have saved us a huge amount of money in the future”. The total costs incurred as a result were £289,625.28. More here.
⚖️ Redkite Solicitors, which sponsors the Cirencester Chamber of Commerce’s business awards no less, has announced the expansion of its commercial services team. Gemma Millard has become its new property and commercial strategy partner based in Cirencester and Siôn Tudur its partner and head of corporate based in Cardiff. Millard brings 16 years of diverse legal experience, having worked both in-house as general counsel and company secretary for a listed financial services organisation and as the founder of a niche private practice law firm. Her background spans commercial real estate, senior operational leadership, financial services, pensions, and fintech. More here.
🏘️ Plans to build up to 300 new homes on a site close to the centre of Gloucester look to be moving forward. Rooftop Homes has been working on the scheme to build on land behind Tesco next to St Oswalds Retail Park, and has announced it is finally ready to go before the council's planning teams. If it goes ahead it could see 280 new homes ranging from four-storey apartments to bungalows on the side in what would be a £30 million investment.
🏃♀️🏃♂️🏃♀️Congratulations to the Willans Race for Life team, who took part in yesterday's event at Cheltenham Racecourse, raising an incredible £5,874.32 for Cancer Research (and still counting). Simon Cook, a partner at the Cheltenham law firm, said: “Cancer has touched the lives of many of our colleagues and their families – particularly this year. Taking part in Race for Life is our way of standing together to support those still fighting, and to contribute to the vital research that gives hope to so many.” More here.
* The Raikes Journal is a digital magazine and community interest company whose supporters believe, like us, that journalism about Gloucestershire is worth keeping alive. Everything you read here - original stories about our county - is made possible by our incredible Founding Partners: QuoLux, Willans LLP, Gloucestershire+ College, Merrell People and Randall & Payne; our sponsors, Founding Members and wonderful paying subscribers.
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Speculation over the real future of Gloucestershire Airport is sky high
In an attempt to control the ‘news’ around the sale of Gloucestershire Airport, the drip, drip-drip has only fuelled speculation about its future, with talk the deal will seriously shortchange the county.
By Andrew Merrell.
With an orchestrated drip, drip, drip of ‘press releases’ the co-owners of Gloucestershire Airport continue to milk the sale of the 350-acre site, but it’s a policy that also seems to be fuelling anxiety about its future.
Another social media post in the everyone’s favourite marketing channel, LinkedIn, this week by Gloucester City Council and Cheltenham Borough Council declared the new owner of the airport would be ‘revealed’ “when the necessary parties involved with the sale have been confirmed”.
In the same statement the borough council felt the need to stress it was “strongly committed to the future of the running and development of the airport, the new owners exited by the opportunity to expand the site’s business park and attract new investment”.
It only seems to have made people wonder why they continue to underline the point again and again while leaving the big questions unanswered; like who the buyer is and how much they’ve agreed to pay?
And into that vacuum has come more questions - about whether the deal really will be a good thing for Gloucestershire, for the businesses at the airport, and the hundreds of jobs that depend on it remaining a working airport.
Alex Fenlon, an air traffic controller at Birmingham Airport Air Traffic Limited, responded directly to the borough council’s post on LinkedIn, saying there was “a lot of uncertainty and rumours out there.
“A public announcement or PR release with the name of the new owner would be welcome for staff, residents alike”.
He added: “Local residents think the new owners will shut it down within five years and sell it off for housing development.
“It’s been sold off cheap and quick by the two local councils who own it.”
Gloucestershire Airport is a training ground for air traffic controllers for many of the nation’s biggest airports, including Birmingham, with training carried out by firms including Cheltenham-based Global ATS.
While championing a deal to councillors only he and a few others know the details of to, before asking them to vote in its favour, city council leader Jeremy Hilton admitted there were no guarantees the 350 acre site would remain an airport.
“Nothing is 100 per cent certain,” he said, although as per the social media posts since he went to great pains to say both councils had stressed to the buyer the site’s continuation as an airport was the preferred option.
Neither would Hilton divulge the agreed sale value (expect another press release and more social media posting this week - and probably then some), but he did admit the £25 million asking price had been bettered.
It was suggested by other councillors in the meeting the agreed price could be as much as £33 million - although to the frustration of everyone else voting, no one seemed to know.
Despite that uplift in sale price, Hilton was still left facing the wrath of some councillors who believe the site is being sold off way too cheaply - perhaps several hundred million pounds to cheaply.
Alastair Chambers (Community Independent party, Matson, Robinswood and White City), said: “I think the people of Gloucester are getting ripped off.
“You can look at £1.2 million per acre. On 350 acres that’s £437 million the residents of this city could be getting.
“We (the city council) borrowed £110 million for the Forum (the city centre redevelopment scheme) and we are giving this away for circa £30m. It’s an absolute joke.”
He added: “We’ve got 4,000 houses that need to be built to cover the shortfall. [To solve] homelessness, people who are sofa surfing in our city. We are giving away city residents’ property, their assets for a mere £33 million?
“I’m guessing that figure, by the way, because all the way through the documents everything is redacted.”
Councillor Andrew Bell, also a Community Independent party member, was in agreement: “We need houses. This land is available. [It would accomodate] 12,500 houses.”
Bell questioned the viability of the site as an airport, labelling it a “private flying club” which “doesn’t take decent aircraft like B–52 bombers”
Hilton was also challenged on how any deal would ensure the airport remained a priority and how it would protect the livelihoods of the many businesses on the site.
Gloucestershire Airport alone employs 53 members of staff, with the other businesses estimated to employ “hundreds” more.
The airport is a the headquarters for the giant flight school, Skyborne, for example, which trains pilots for some of the UK’s biggest airlines.
Hilton (Liberal Democrat councillor for Kingsholm and Wotton), said covenants were “in place to protect the airport and the operations there” as part of the deal and were robust.
This had been part of the detailed negotiations with the buyer, who he described as “serious about operating the site as an airport”.
He told councillors the maximum term of any such covenants would be 50 years with those legal agreements being transferred directly to any new local authority which would succeed the two councils.
“Nothing is 100 per cent certain, but I’m confident the new owners of Gloucestershire Airport will run a general aviation airport and make a success of it.
“We’ve done everything we possibly can,” he added.
As for Cllr Chambers’ assertion that the site’s value was way in excess of the £25 million asking price and as high as £437 million, Hilton said that was incorrect.
“It’s not worth anything near that as land value,” he said.
“You couldn’t realise that capital value because you would have to close the airport down and negotiate the surrender of leases.
“You cannot realise that asset in a way unless, of course, you just bust the business overnight and allow all the other businesses around it to fold as well.
“That is not fair.”
Gloucestershire Airport has long been a political football, with the foundation of Gloucestershire Airport Ltd in 1993 an effort to give it some autonomy and a chance to develop into a stand-along business.
But it has never entirely managed to shake free from the political forces in the county, or from relying on cash injections from both its local authority owners.
As Raikes reported last year, the airport is in debt to the tune of several million pounds - believed to be taxpayers money.
Hilton admitted he was in fact a reluctant seller of the airport, telling the meeting he had suspended the sale after becoming elected to give the council four months to assess the need to sell.
“It was quite clear the city council did not have the capital to buy Cheltenham out to run it ourselves,” he said.
“We know the airport is running at a loss and has been for a number of years. One of the things that is making it hard for the airport is they need to make substantial borrowing.
“They (Gloucestershire Airport Ltd) cannot pay back their loans, they cannot pay back their interest, they are unable to pay their rent for the landlord of the site.”
He said negotiations on the part of the council with the new owner had stressed that any new developments at the Staverton site must not hinder aviation.
However, he went on to explain that should the land was sold off for other purposes the councils would get a share of any sale.
“We are protecting our interest in the land as well,” he said.
As for the proceeds from the sale, how much of that will be swallowed by the debt on the airport’s books is yet to be discovered too. But it will certainly take a slice of the pie.
“The funds will pay off the debts and what is left would be shared between both councils and will help support their operations and further investment elsewhere,” said Hilton.
An announcement about who is to be the new owner of the airport could come as early as this week (in another LinkedIn pst, no doubt) with the final terms being signed in three months time after the bidder has undertaken due diligence.
Special thanks to Carmelo Garcia, local democracy reporter for Gloucestershire. carmelo.garcia@reachplc.com.