The Way Forward

Aviation businesses will make ideal tenants for SEEDA. They will bring skilled jobs and investment to the area without bringing large increases in road traffic to the Gosport peninsula. Investors from the aviation industry will need access to the runway so it will be necessary for an access agreement to be reached between SEEDA and DfT, who own the runway. Aviation businesses will not only provide income to SEEDA but also to Hampshire Police in the form of access fees.

The following is a brief outline of LFA's ideas on how Daedalus might develop in an aviation context.

LFA has proposed to SEEDA that the northern part of the eastern area should be used for aviation related businesses. In his statements to Hampshire Police Authority the Chief Constable cited "backtracking incidents" as being among his concerns. Backtracking arises because the hard taxiway has been taken out of service by the erection of gates that cannot be used by aircraft. These form part of the "blue fence", originally intended to separate DfT land from SEEDA land. In the short term the hard taxiway can be brought back into service by removing the gates and fence panels on either side of them. The large easternmost aircraft gate will continue to provide a means of blocking access to the DfT land when required. For the longer term, once SEEDA develops its land LFA proposes a partial re-routing of the fence line so that it instead forms a barrier between airside and landside, enhancing safety by separating those areas subject to movement by aircraft from those that carry purely pedestrian and vehicular traffic.

LFA recognises that the Police wish to use airfield land for non-aviation purposes, including police training, and has no objection  providing that it does not adversely affect use of the runway for aviation. 

In the past community groups such as the Tigers Children's Motor Cycle Display Team and the Lee Bees model aircraft club have been permitted to use parts of the airfield land for their activities at times when it would not adversely affect operations at the airfield. LFA supports the use of airfield land for these activities and sees great value in forging links with the local community in this way.

How we got here

If you'd like more details of the campaign that led to the changes at Daedalus please click here or follow the links on the left.

Copyright 2008 Lee Flying Association Ltd. Information on this website does not necessarily reflect the views of the Maritime & Coastguard Agency, Hampshire Constabulary, or the South East England Development Agency. While every care is taken in preparing the material on this site it may contain errors. Users should satisfy themselves of the accuracy of any information before relying on it.