Gloucestershire Airport submits updated business park development masterplan

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Nicky Godding

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A new business park proposed for Gloucestershire Airport has downsized its ambitions after online local consultations.

Gloucestershire Airport has submitted changes to the masterplan detailed in its outline planning application for a proposed new commercial development on land between Anson and Meteor business parks – known as CGX Connect Business Park.

The proposed new business park, on the 35,000 sq m site, was first announced in August this year when it was revealed it could create space for up to 1,750 new jobs,

The latest amendments were made after the airport team took into consideration local feedback, following lodging the original application with Tewkesbury Borough Council in August 2020.

Karen Taylor, Gloucestershire Airport’s Interim Managing Director, said: “The main change we’ve made is to move the southern boundary of the original development that was proposed. While this reduces the total area of the site to 5.9 hectares, the proposed development would generate around 30,000 sq m of gross floor space for commercial-use with potential to deliver around 1,520 new employment opportunities.”

Confirmation of these amendments to the original planning application comes immediately after the joint shareholders of the airport - Cheltenham Borough and Gloucester City Councils – announced that they will provide funds to help enable the delivery of runway and critical capital improvements at the airport.

Karen added: “Economic recovery post-Covid is vital, particularly at a time when tighter restrictions continue to limit activity and fuel fears of renewed economic downturn into 2021. The improvements this funding will enable, together with the delivery of CGX Connect Business Park, are key to securing the airport’s future as a sustainable business.

"Together they form part of our long-term strategy to drive investment into the airport to develop facilities and services for the benefit of the businesses that operate from the airfield and their customers.”

“It’s therefore been really important to us that in delivering CGX Connect we’re delivering a scheme that creates opportunity for tenants and businesses already operating from our airfield”, she continues. “We’ve therefore continued to work with our tenants to make sure the masterplan for this scheme has been shaped to ensure we’re also giving their businesses a real leading edge.”

“Ultimately business growth at the airport means more choice and better services for existing airport users and will encourage individuals and businesses from across the region to realise the value of having a regional airport they can use for business and leisure right on their doorstep.”

Amendments to the original application will still see new commercial and industrial units along with associated office space comprise much of the new development which is located within the existing boundaries of the airport. The new business park would sit on land to the north of the airport site and replace the northern end of the north/south runway.

Tewkesbury Borough Council has now registered the amendments to the original application (reference number: 20/00758/FUL) which can be viewed online at https://publicaccess.tewkesbury.gov.uk/online-applications A further stage of statutory consultation is now being carried out on the amended application and anyone wishing to do so is invited to submit any feedback they direct to the council. The deadline for receipt of comments is 8 January 2021.

Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe. After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts. She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.