Airfield owner can keep hangars after winning appeal against council

Martin Scott, who owns 15-hectare Bagby Airfield, near Thirsk, was subject to an enforcement notice from Hambleton District Council, and was faced with taking them down.

But planning inspector David Brier has quashed the notice saying he sees “no reason to regard them as anything other than temporary buildings”.

The airfield has been the focus of a dispute between some residents of Bagby and nearby Thirkleby and Mr Scott for more than a decade.

Last year the council granted permission for Mr Scott to transform the engineering building into a clubhouse and control tower, build a tractor shed, hangar, driveway and a fuel facility and use a hangar for maintenance, as long as air movements are capped at 8,440 a year.

Mr Scott said it was around the 25th enforcement notice over the airfield, and it was a relief to have won.

He said: “We got planning for permanent hangars but the trouble was I didn’t have anywhere to put the aircraft from the hangars we were knocking down, so I basically put up two tents, they are big tents to be fair, but they are essentially tents.

“I am hoping to finish the development by the Spring of next year - it is upgrading the facility - we are not even expanding

“There will be a new clubhouse with a new bar going in for members and a new hangar equipped to handle PC-12 aircraft.

“We are investing in a £100,000 aircraft monitoring system which includes four radars which are designed to track and identify all local aircraft so that planning regulations cannot be breached in the future, even inadvertently.

“We will continue to work with the district council to try and ensure the smooth progress of works so the airfield can peacefully co-exist with the local residents, who in the main are entirely supportive.”

A separate enforcement notice over an access being put through a hedge in the wrong position has been upheld. Mr Scott said he had agreed with the highways department where the access should be and the land would be reinstated this month.

The airfield is used by jockeys and trainers who fly to racecourses including Newmarket and Deauville in France. Last year Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum flew in to buy racehorses at the Gallops nearby, Mr Scott said.

He added: “It’s a lovely little airfield. They have to get updated and it takes a lot of time and money.”

To date around £750,000 has been invested in the £1.5 million upgrade.