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).
For every person you refer to The Raikes Journal’s email service you get points towards a free membership allowing you to see beyond our paywalls. Please do sign up (free or otherwise), send the referral link to a friend or colleague, and help us grow.
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.
If you upgrade to paid you’ll be part of this CIC too. We’re dedicated to championing the county, its businesses, charities, education and training providers, and to creating an even stronger community. If you upgrade to paid you’ll be able to see past the paywalls often put on our 2cnd and 3rd email editions of the week, that lock our archive after two weeks and our Top 100 Businesses in Gloucestershire series. You’ll be able to comment on our stories too.
You can sign up for just £2.30 a week - or £1.80 a week if two or more people sign up at once. Or go all in and become one of our Founding Partners or Founding Members!
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.”
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to The Raikes Journal to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.