Tougher action pledged in wake of row over airfield controls

Council chiefs faced with criticism for failing to enforce adequate controls on a Yorkshire airfield’s use have decided it should continue to operate but have vowed to take tougher action.

Residents living close to Bagby Airfield, near Thirsk, have staged a hard-fought campaign over the last four years to prevent a major development of the site.

A report published in April by Local Government Ombudsman Anne Seex concluded that Hambleton District Council had failed to take action despite the airfield’s operations contravening planning permission.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It was thought to be the first case of maladministration that the council has been found guilty of in its 38-year history.

Now members of the district council’s planning committee have pledged to increase enforcement action in a bid to control flights at the airfield which has been blighted by complaints.

Councillors resolved to take action at the airfield with the aim of reducing the number of flights.

The ombudsman said the authority must consider whether to make a discontinuance order, which would have closed the airfield altogether.

But they decided not to make the order.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Coun Mark Robson, the council’s portfolio member for planning, said: “On balance the committee felt that enforcement action is the most appropriate route to take.

“Members looked in depth at the facts in the Ombudsman’s report, including the fact that the airport has existed for a number of years.

“Enforcement will reduce the number of flights and disturbance for the public,” he added.

Coun Robson said the authority was determined “to pursue enforcement vigorously”.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

He said the authority’s cabinet committee had recently decided to increase its enforcement team with another member of staff.

Ms Seex’s report found that the council missed a series of opportunities to take action to tackle the unlawful use at the airfield.

Among the issues highlighted was the council’s failure to take action despite informing the owner that he needed planning permission to continue with his operations.

Ms Seex also concluded an enforcement officer wrongly assessed seven years ago that planning permission granted to a 
previous owner in 1980 still applied.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The planning permission granted 32 years ago stipulated that 40 take-offs and 40 landings were allowed each week, but it was specific to the previous owners.

A planning inspector’s report published in June last year after a first public inquiry revealed that between 73 and 125 air traffic movements have been recorded a week at the site.

The ombudsman found the council was guilty of maladministration causing injustice and has recommended that the authority should consider taking action to try to stop the airfield’s current use. The council was told to provide funding of up to £5,000 for each village of Bagby and Thirkleby for community projects agreed with parish councils.

Speaking after the ombudsman’s report was published, Stephen Hornsby, of the Campaign Group, Action4Refusal, said: “We simply want the airfield to be operated within the acceptable levels, and this will now hopefully be the case.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

In June the leader of authority, Coun Neville Huxtable, issued a public apology.

Coun Huxtable maintained the issues surrounding the airfield, near Thirsk, were complex and dated back a decade, but offered the apology to residents living near the site.

At the time Coun Huxtable also confirmed £5,000 had been donated to the two parishes of Bagby and Thirkleby for community projects as compensation for the errors. Ms Seex had told the local authority to provide the funding for projects agreed with the parish councils.