Funding of around £15m has been allocated from Cheltenham Borough and Gloucester City Councils for substantial improvement works on two of Gloucestershire Airport’s runways.
Joint shareholders of Gloucestershire Airport, full meetings at both councils in December 2020 saw recommendations approved to deal with the deteriorating condition of the runways; improve drainage; install new energy efficient LED lighting and to make sure the runway continues to meet Civil Aviation Authority guidelines.
The surface of the main runway is beyond its design life – thought to be 25 years and the need for the re-surfacing has long featured in Gloucester Airport’s capital plans and has been highlighted in numerous commissioned specialist reports.
It was agreed that the councils will provide Gloucester Airport’s with the necessary funds of around £7.5m each from both councils, so that work on two runways can be carried out.
Once the work is complete, the airport will transfer an asset, the Meteor Business Park, to the councils – securing annual rental income of £650k to be shared equally between the councils.
Cllr Steve Jordan from Cheltenham Borough Council and Cllr Richard Cook from Gloucester City Council issued the following joint statement: ‘The airport currently contributes around £52m annually to the local economy and plays a key role in supporting the county’s development ambitions including the cyber development at Golden Valley and Gloucester’s digital campus, The Forum, as well as recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic.’
Karen Taylor, interim managing director of Gloucestershire Airport, said: ‘The significance of this funding for Gloucestershire Airport is three-fold. First and foremost it gives us the go-ahead to deliver runway and other critical capital improvements that will boost our status as a “gateway for growth” for the many significant developments being brought forward across the region.
‘It will also play a vital role in realising our ambition to identify and deliver projects embracing alternative clean energy supplies and green technologies that will help reduce our carbon footprint, while also underpinning our long-term commitment to attract and promote associated aviation related environmental research and development that’s so critical to the future of the aviation and creates opportunity for everyone operating from the airfield.’
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