Filton airfield closing

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15 years 1 month

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-20507993

Flights to and from Filton Airfield near Bristol will cease on 21 December, BAE Systems confirms. :mad: (see link above).

More houses!

Original post

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11 years 5 months

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Sad that another historic era ends, but in the present climate, inevitable, I suppose.

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16 years 7 months

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The last Beluga flight was / is today I believe.

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18 years 11 months

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Sad news. Are any of MK Airlines planes still resident/abandoned there?

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19 years 11 months

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Sad news. Are any of MK Airlines planes still resident/abandoned there?

I saw a comment elsewhere in the last day or two that the two 747s at Filton are being broken up.

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11 years 4 months

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National Resource?

Is there not an argument that all airfields, railway track beds and rail goods yards should be ring fenced against development? We didn't think we needed the canals and now many are being developed as a leisure resource. Many old railway lines are being brought back into use and freight use is growing year on year. The point is once sold off and built on nothing can bring them back. They are not just any old fields they have specific uses which cannot be relocated. The family silver should not be sold off for short term gain nor should change of use be allowed to bring windfall profits which can be the driving force for selling off.

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15 years 11 months

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A very sad day for Bristol and Aviation Thank you South Gloucestershire Council for letting this happen Jobs are needed not houses
Ian

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12 years 8 months

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Is there not an argument that all airfields, railway track beds and rail goods yards should be ring fenced against development? We didn't think we needed the canals and now many are being developed as a leisure resource. Many old railway lines are being brought back into use and freight use is growing year on year. The point is once sold off and built on nothing can bring them back. They are not just any old fields they have specific uses which cannot be relocated. The family silver should not be sold off for short term gain nor should change of use be allowed to bring windfall profits which can be the driving force for selling off.

Yes!! But this is Britain so nothing like that ever happens...

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16 years 6 months

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Southend Council sold off a long disused corner of Southend airport, near the railway, in the 80's and allowed the developer to build a retail park. As part of the recent airport expansion they built a new railway station specifically for the airport. This in turn meant they wanted a new terminal building near the railway. The land sold off 30 years ago would have been ideal for the terminal or car parks. They now need to expand the new terminal and are having to shoehorn everything onto a comparatively small piece of land.
The new terminal meant a new access road which has to share a roundabout with the access road for the retail park and, particularly at weekends it is almost impossible to get into or out of the airport due to queues of traffic trying to get in and out of the retail park.
The terminal expansion also means that eventually, the Southend Vulcan may lose it's hardstanding (which the group financed themselves) to make way for a car park although it is not certain that this will happen during the current phase. Have talked to members of the group at their last open day they said that the airport management are generally supportive of the Vulcan but if/when they have to move they are more likely to be found a home within the engineering area and it is possible that they may have to pay to finance and build another hardstanding at any new site. If the retail park area had never been developed it is likely that the Vulcan could have remained in it's present location and with the right finance could have been the centrepiece of a small aviation based attraction with the bonus of being near the terminal which could have helped in attracting visitors.
A classic example of the council selling the family silver for short term gain and causing problems in the long term.

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11 years 5 months

Posts: 11,141

Is there not an argument that all airfields, railway track beds and rail goods yards should be ring fenced against development?

I agree. However every forecast you look at shows population increase over the next 25 plus years - mainly from increasing life expectancy and an increase of births ovder deaths, exacerbated by rapidly increasing single occupancy dwelling. So all these people have to live somewhere and we are a small over-crowded island. I am glad I do not have to make the planning decisions!!:(

Apologies for thread drift but it relates to your post.

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11 years 4 months

Posts: 1,431

I agree. However every forecast you look at shows population increase over the next 25 plus years - mainly from increasing life expectancy and an increase of births ovder deaths, exacerbated by rapidly increasing single occupancy dwelling. So all these people have to live somewhere and we are a small over-crowded island. I am glad I do not have to make the planning decisions!!:(

Apologies for thread drift but it relates to your post.

Posted by jettisoning in "RAF Church Fenton in news" thread
http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/1015..._airbase_site/

The need for more housing or the profit motivation illustrated. Although I accept the two locations are totally different and this doesn't involve the closure of the airfield, yet.
“very difficult to sell, (houses) particularly in what is a very challenging housing market at present”. Of course house sales doesn't necessarily relate to housing needs.
Interesting posts on other Filton threads.

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10 years 2 months

Posts: 50

Very sad to see this go and I agree with the idea that transport assets should be ring fenced.
Hopefully everyone knows about the Bristol Aerospace Museum in some of the remaining WW1 hangers.
http://www.bristolaero.org/

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14 years

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Sadly he doesn't do himself any favours by stating, "One of only three runways capable of taking the A380". Did he mean one of only three in or around Bristol?