By Carmelo Garcia – Local Democracy Reporter
Speculation that Gloucestershire Airport’s future owners are showing people around to sell off bits of land for housing has been blasted amid concerns councillors have not seen the agreement to secure its aviation future.
The 350-acre Staverton airport, which is jointly owned by Cheltenham Borough and Gloucester City Council, is in the process of being sold to Horizon Aero Group Limited.
The site is run by Gloucestershire Airport Limited which was established in 1993 and of which both councils have a 50 per cent shareholding.
But the two authorities revealed in November 2023 their intention to dispose of the site which has struggled commercially.
Labour group leader Terry Pullen (L, Moreland) asked for an update on the sale of Gloucestershire Airport at the City Council meeting on September 18.
Council leader Jeremy Hilton (LD, Kingsholm and Wotton) who criticised recent stories which reported on concerns over the Staverton site’s future.
He said a lot of it was a “whole load of bunkum”.
“We are in the process of doing due diligence, looking at the finances, where they are coming from and everything else,” he said.“So is Horizon doing due diligence on us and the assets they are buying.
“I’m hoping we will get to a point where the keys are handed over before Christmas, probably earlier than that.”
He said it is going well and there are “very robust” covenants and overage charges which protect the site as an operational airport.
“The speculation about housing development is utter rubbish,” he said.
“It’s fiction and fantasy by some people trying to stir up problems about the sale of the airport.
“A new company with financial support and the money to deliver improvements to the airport which frankly this council or Cheltenham Borough Council couldn’t do.
“It’s the best way to protect the operations of Gloucestershire Airport for a long time into the future with this sale.”
Cllr Pullen said there were reports of people being shown around the site with a view to selling off parts of the airport.
And while council chiefs have reiterated there is a legal agreement in place to ensure aviation use at the site nobody has seen it.
“It is to be sold as an operational airport with a 50 year covenant in place,” Cllr Pullen said.
“You’ve just said that a covenant is in place. No one has seen that covenant, surely that has to be a public document.
“When will that be available?”
He also asked who is carrying out due diligence on the airport sale.
Cllr Hilton did not respond to the question on the covenant but said due diligence was being done by BPE, Savills, council officers are considering the whole sale thoroughly.
“Similarly Horizon is doing due diligence on the asset they are purchasing,” he said.
“The speculation is that somehow they are going around trying to offload bits of land. They can’t just sell the bits of land.
“It might be that they are looking for new commercial or operational tenants to take up space at the airport.
“It’s total speculation by a third party who doesn’t know what they are talking about.”
He said the only people who can answer who was being shown around is Horizon.
“If you were buying an airport and investing multiple millions of pounds in it you would be showing people around now, in order to make sure you can grow the business fairly quickly.
“That seems a sensible thing to do.”