‘The greatest benefit from the site can be derived from redevelopment for housing’
Plymouth’s disused airport(Image: William Telford)
The company which controls Plymouth’s out-of-action airport has made a loss of more than £1.3m in a year and is being hit by huge legal costs over the site and the Barbican’s lock gates.
Newly released accounts for Plymouth City Airport Ltd, the subsidiary company which holds the long lease on the 113-acre site, shows a loss for the year of £1.378m – up from a loss of £927,000 in 2024.
The loss, for the year to the end of March 2025, reflects the costs of maintaining the former airport site, plus interest and costs of £172,000 relating to expert legal counsel to “refute a claim made by Plymouth City Council that the company is in breach of its long lease”.
A recent statement by parent firm Sutton Harbour Group Plc (SHG) revealed that an additional £194,000 has been run up in the six months to the end of September.
SHG has also had to pay out £411,000 in legal bills in relation to the maintenance of Sutton Lock.
SHG said: “The company is restricted from providing further detailed information about either of these matters due to the legal restrictions in place.”
Plymouth City Airport Ltd’s annual report said that in February 2024 it received a notice from Plymouth City Council claiming SHG was in breach of its lease of the ex-airport site for “not operating an airport supplied, equipped, staffed and licensed”.
Writing in the newly published directors’ report and financial statements, company secretary Natasha Gadsdon said: “The company has continued to resource, at considerable cost and time, this legal matter the cost of which is disclosed as an exceptional cost in the profit and loss account.”
The report said the company owns about eight acres of the ex-airport land and holds about 105 acres through an unexpired 134 year lease, with a right to renew for a further 150 years, therefore totalling 285 years.
It said the land has a carrying value of £13.741m but does not regard this to be reflective of its value for alternative use “which is in turn significantly less than the value that can be earnt from redevelopment of this strategic asset”.
The report said: “The group regards the value that can be earned from this strategic asset is significantly greater than both the carrying value and the present value of total cash expended.”
AIM-listed SHG is continuing to plough ahead with plans to build on the former aerodrome but potentially maintain some aviation usages.
Talks have been underway between the company and the council to determine the future of the land since early last year.
In October, PlymouthLive revealed the two parties had entered into a formal mediation process.
SHG closed the airport in 2011 when it triggered an “Armageddon clause” saying the facility was economically unviable.
SHG said that since then no financially substantiated plans to restart aviation operations have been received.
Last year, SHG submitted a pre-application masterplan to the council setting out a mix of uses that the site could accommodate.
The group said the masterplan was carefully prepared to respect the council’s policy to see the site protected, under the joint local plan until 2029.
SHG has revealed a triple phased plan which it said would not disrupt the runway until the final, third phase.
In the new report Ms Gadsdon wrote: ”Work to support the pre-application process for the masterplan of the site has continued and expert planning and technical advice has been sought during the year to assist ongoing discussions with the local planning authority.
“Local politicians continue to voice their support of aviation to the site, even though no financially substantiated proposals have been put forward in the 13.5 years since the facility closed in December 2011.
“The company remains committed to its view that the greatest benefit from the site can be derived from redevelopment for housing (affordable and market), institutional uses and business space.
“The 113-acre site is surrounded by residential areas and businesses and is well served by established highway and urban infrastructure.
“The site is, however, very constrained as an aviation site. In the meantime, the company continues to maintain and secure the site, a major undertaking and cost burden over the past 13.5 years.
“The company continues to engage with the local authority with regard to the provisions of the long lease.”
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