Plymouth Live - William Telford
The leader of Plymouth City Council says the authority is prepared to take legal action to reclaim the site of the mothballed airport. Richard Bingley said the council is ready to go toe to toe in the courts with Sutton Harbour Group Plc (SHG) “if necessary”.
Cllr Bingley said an airport is vital for the economic development of Plymouth and stressed the city should not be “propping up” Exeter’s loss-making airport. Exeter Airport has seen about 400,000 passengers take to the skies this year, but this was down from a million in pre-pandemic 2019.
Cllr Bingley said: “We should not be propping up Exeter Airport, a city of half our size, we should develop our own airport. I can’t think of any other city with a population of 300,000 that does not have an airport hub.
The council and AIM-listed SHG have been in negotiations about the future of the site. In September SHG put a price tag of more than £27m on the land and said its value as development land would be even more.
