Council leaders confirm airport sale will be delayed until after elections

The potential sale of Gloucestershire Airport will not take place until after this May’s local elections, council chiefs have confirmed.

Gloucester City Council and Cheltenham Borough Council leaders confirmed in November that they are working together to sell the airfield.

The airport is run by Gloucestershire Airport Ltd which was established in 1993. The two councils each have a 50 per cent shareholding in the airfield.

Gloucester City Council’s Conservative leader Richard Cook said there have been eight expressions of interest in the land.

He said the authorities want to sell it as a going concern and “not for someone to asset strip it and build a load of houses on the runway”.

“We want the site to continue as an airport and for the business park to continue to provide work for people who live in Gloucestershire,” he added.

“Councils no longer have the funding to be able to invest large amounts of money to make an airport successful.

“Our funding is being spent on regenerating the city centre and we don’t have the funding to help grow the airport into the profitability it needs to be sustainable.”