Agenda item

The Manager at North Weald Airfield will be present to discuss income generation and opportunities at the Airfield.

The North Weald Airfield (NWA) Manager presented a report to the Cabinet Committee regarding plans to generate income at North Weald Airfield.

The Airfield Manager reported on an event that had already taken place, the use of the Airfield as a parking venue for Le Tour de France. He advised that there had been 240 cars parked at NWA on the day raising an amount of £2,400.

He advised the Cabinet Committee of ideas that he had been looking at in order to generate more income at the Airfield.

(1)        Introduction of Landing Fees

There are no landing fees charged for visiting aircraft that land at North Weald Airfield. The current arrangement was that each tenant on the airfield had a number of movements allocated to a runway licence, visiting aircraft tended to visit historically and North Weald Flying Services collected the landing fee in the guise of it being a donation or a day membership to the club. There have been ongoing discussions with the Squadron and the Council’s Estates department with the view that the Council should be collecting those fees. An implementation plan of how it could work had been devised and had highlighted that there would be a capital outlay of approximately £11,000 for initial setting up costs. There were ongoing arrangements being put into place with a view to the Council collecting 100% of the landing fees and this was hoped to be implemented from April 2015.

(2)        Promote use of Control Tower as a meeting venue

The Control Tower had two rooms which were suitable for small events, meetings, and a training venue the Hunter Room and the Hurricane Room. Last year a total of £6,000 rental income was generated from hiring out these rooms. Marketing material had been produced and was being advertised at outlets in the area and was also being promoted via the website and social media to attract new bookings.

(3)        Promote North Weald as a major events venue

There were not many weekends available for rental this year as there were a number of traditional events that had been running for many years, an example being Wings and Wheels which had held an annual event at the Airfield for over 25 years. Event organisers had been identified and contacted but there had not been much interest as they were predominantly interested in whole weekend events and not one day events. Whole weekend events were not possible due to the market being in operation on a Saturday. Although the market had decreased dramatically over the last 4 to 5 years and there were now only half the amount of stalls that there used to be, the market still attracted between 5,000 and 8,000 visitors each week.

(4)        Additional aircraft parking / hangars

We had identified additional areas for parking and hangars at the Airfield. The problem that had been highlighted was with the lease terms that were available, they were not found to be very favourable as we could only offer a lease until the end of 2018. Businesses were not wanting to invest in infrastructure and laying concrete bases for such a short lease term as they wanted the security of a 10-15 year lease. There would be a need to extend the lease period as the initial outlay for the lessee would far outweigh the income that would be generated and therefore would not attract hirers.

(5)        Introduce Private Pilots License (PPL) training

A training provider had contacted the Council and put forward some proposals which from an operational point of view could work. We would need to look more closely into the proposals as it would need strict control.

Questions

(a)        The Housing Portfolio Holder asked the Airfield Manager if he could look into the possibility of relocating the Market so that NWA could hold major events?

The Airfield Manager advised that they could look at relocating the market but the market attracted between 5,000 and 8,000 people each week and although the market had reduced in size there were 150 to 160 stalls each week.

(b)        The Housing Portfolio Holder asked how much business, if any, had arisen from the North Weald Airfield facebook page?

The Airfield Manager said he did not have the information to hand and would look at the facebook statistics and report back to Members in the Bulletin.

(c)        The Environment Portfolio Holder asked with the introduction of landing fees, what impact did the Airfield Manager think those landing fees might have on the number of aircraft that would use the airfield in the future and what was the projected budget income against the costs associated with implementing the plan?

He also asked the Airfield Manager if he thought aircraft landing at NWA would diminish with the introduction of landing fees?

The Airfield Manager advised that there were approximately 1800 landings per year which would equate to approximately £25,000 income. He envisaged the initial set up costs to be around £11,000 and thereafter £2,000 to £3,000 running costs per year.

The Airfield Manager did not think aircraft landing numbers would decrease with the introduction of landing fees.

(d)        The Chairman asked with regard to the PPL training what restrictions there would be with a take off, a circuit and a landing as this could be noisy and continuous and would there be any restrictions on jets or helicopters?

The Airfield Manager stated that the type of aircraft that would be used would be the smaller light aircraft like a Cessna 150 or 172.

Resolved:

(1)        That the report from the North Weald Airfield Manager be noted; and

(2)        That any outstanding answers from questions asked by the Cabinet Committee be either published in the Council Bulletin or reported at the next scheduled meeting of the Cabinet Committee.

Reasons for Decision:

To update the Cabinet Committee on the income generation plans at North Weald Airfield.

Other Options Considered and Rejected:

None, as this report was for noting only.