Give Sheffield Airport a chance.

[Anna B]

The debacle over the demise of Sheffield Airport (sold for a £1) has never been satisfactorily concluded. What happened to the Public Enquiry that was promised by the Liberal Democrats?

 

Another nasty little deal swept under the carpet...?

[geared]

You'd think so but go to Richmond-Upon-Thames or Kew and you think you can touch the planes landing at Heathrow. And they are some of the most popular and expensive parts of London.

 

True, but thats London - those people are crazy anyway.

[Localman]

I think Sheffield missed an opportunity in the 1950 s, because they should have built Lowedges estate in a slightly different place and looked at developing a Sheffield airport at Norton aerodrome.

 

You may have thought it.......but clearly didn't take the responsibility to check whether that was the case.

 

The facts are fairly simple, and the documents are in the archives.

 

After the end of the Second War, the City Council were quite relentless in pursuing their intention of trying to develop a Sheffield airport. A whole number of sites - including Norton Aerodrome - were explored with (predecessor of) the Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Aviation.

 

But EVERY possibility within 15 miles of Sheffield was firmly rejected by the authorities on a variety of safety grounds.

 

It wasn't until 1957 that the City Council eventually abandoned the attempt, finally concluding that they were just throwing money at a futile exercise.

 

For the next 25 years, irregular checks were made by SCC with the authorities but nothing had changed.

 

In the mid-1980s, the issue was taken up by the Sheffield Development Corporation. Having commissioned a costly investigation, it came to the clear view that by far the best opportunity was the potential for developing Finningley Airport (with a very long runway and lots of land).

 

Unfortunately, the Ministry of Defence simply refused to countenance the possibility of Finningley being decommissioned and insisted that it was an essential part of the RAF's requirements for the future.

 

It was only having been rebuffed that the possibility of developing a sheffield airport at Tinsley - only now made possible because of the scale of industrial demolition in the 1980s - was considered.

 

If Finningley had been available in the 1980s, Sheffield airport would never have got off the ground (sic)!

[Justin Smith]

We popped over to see the new road and Doncaster airport as well whilst we were there. I can`t say it made a good impression on us. Big sign, all parking minimum fee £1, even, one assumes if you`re only going to be there for 5 minutes picking someone up or having a quick look round. We didn`t bother. That`s a classic case of annoying your customers (or potential customers) for an insignificant amount of money, bad business.

Before we get anyone coming on here saying all airports charge for all parking you`re wrong. Leeds/Bradford offer half an hour`s free parking (or is it an hour, I can`t remember). And in any case, let`s be honest, Doncaster airport isn`t like Manchester or the other busy airports is it ? It`s not like they`re short of room there are they.......

Edited October 18, 2016 by Justin Smith

[spilldig]

You may have thought it.......but clearly didn't take the responsibility to check whether that was the case.

 

The facts are fairly simple, and the documents are in the archives.

 

After the end of the Second War, the City Council were quite relentless in pursuing their intention of trying to develop a Sheffield airport. A whole number of sites - including Norton Aerodrome - were explored with (predecessor of) the Civil Aviation Authority and the Ministry of Aviation.

 

But EVERY possibility within 15 miles of Sheffield was firmly rejected by the authorities on a variety of safety grounds.

 

It wasn't until 1957 that the City Council eventually abandoned the attempt, finally concluding that they were just throwing money at a futile exercise.

 

For the next 25 years, irregular checks were made by SCC with the authorities but nothing had changed.

 

In the mid-1980s, the issue was taken up by the Sheffield Development Corporation. Having commissioned a costly investigation, it came to the clear view that by far the best opportunity was the potential for developing Finningley Airport (with a very long runway and lots of land).

 

Unfortunately, the Ministry of Defence simply refused to countenance the possibility of Finningley being decommissioned and insisted that it was an essential part of the RAF's requirements for the future.

 

It was only having been rebuffed that the possibility of developing a sheffield airport at Tinsley - only now made possible because of the scale of industrial demolition in the 1980s - was considered.

 

If Finningley had been available in the 1980s, Sheffield airport would never have got off the ground (sic)!

 

Thank's for that Localman. Interesting. I remember going to the air-displays at Norton in the 50s. They put on a great show even without a runway.