RESIDENTS caught up in a long-running planning row over a controversial airfield are hoping their struggle will end on Wednesday.

Council planners have recommended refusing airstrip owner Kenneth Bowen, of Upfield Farm, Whitson, permission to keep the hard runway and hangar buildings he put up without planning consent several years ago.

A decision is due to be made at a meeting on Wednesday afternoon.

If the application is refused, it means Mr Bowen will have to tear down the £100,000 concrete landing strip and buildings at his own expense.

He will be allowed to continue using the grass airstrip, for family and friends only.

More than 100 local people objected to Mr Bowen's request to keep the landing strip, which they say has led to a huge increase in the number of planes using the airfield.

The aerodrome logbook shows the average annual movements went up by 200 between 2005/6 and 2007/8 - since the landing strip was concreted and the hangar buildings were erected.

Residents say noise has become unbearable and that the airstrip and buildings are totally out of character for the rural area.

After a recent crash this summer, they also say they have safety fears and report several 'wobbly' take offs and "near misses" over local houses.

The area is also inside the Severn Estuary Special Protection Area, and near the Wetlands reserve and a Site of Special Scientific Interest - important breeding and over-wintering sites for a range of birds.

The increased use at the airstrip also poses a highways problem as access to the airfield is via narrow country lanes, branded "very poor and not acceptable" by the council's head of engineering and construction.

TIMELINE

  • October 1995 - permission granted for grass airstrip for domestic use only until 1997
  • 1997 - permission granted to extend use indefinitely
  • 2004/5 - landing strip concreted and buildings erected without permission
  • 2005 - residents' complaints begin
  • 2006 - Mr Bowen applies for retention of landing strip "for general use", aircraft buildings and parking areas
  • Feb 2007 - council planners recommend refusal
  • Feb 2007 - application withdrawn day before meeting
  • Spring 2007 - current application submitted
  • 2007/8 - council employs aviation expert to advise on application
  • September 2008 - officers recommend refusal