Local Planning on Rural Airfields, 1998

The project was conducted in four phases. The aims and objectives of each phase were as follows :<br> Phase 1 : Background :<br> to locate airfield development and aviation issues within a broader understanding of planning and development concerns;<br> to explore historical patterns of airfield development/abandonment as a precursor to considering contemporary re-use patterns and issues;<br> to highlight the national and regional frameworks governing airfield re-use as a precursor to focusing on local planning concerns;<br> to explore existing datasets in order to construct a picture of the geographical distribution of airfields.<br> <br> Phase 2 : Local Planning :<br> to consider the pressures facing airfields as potential centres of development opportunity. This was to be achieved via a review of the extent and nature of airfield re-use, and an assessment of the number of sites where new uses and flying co-exist;<br> to examine how planning - within local frameworks - regulates new development pressures and flying activity on rural airfields; this was to be achieved via an assessment of local planning practice (relating to new uses) on airfields, and a review of local planning's treatment of aviation and an assessment of the role that land-use planning plays in relation to local flying;<br> to assess the compatibility of new land uses on airfields with established flying activity.<br> <br> Phase 3 : Community and Wider Concerns :<br> To consider wider community-based concerns, via : contact with national agencies with experience in dealing with airfield issues, and local case studies, involving semi-structured interviews with local groups.<br> <br> Phase 4 : Synthesis and Dissemination :<br> to bring together the various findings within a coherent structure.