Judgment has been reserved in a High Court dispute relating to plans to turn the famous Biggin Hill aerodrome into a top executive airport for London.
Biggin Hill Airport Ltd (BGA), which took on a 125-year lease of the site in 1994, has already invested around £4m in the plan to give the World War II airfield a new role in the aviation world.
However, the proposed upgrade is being opposed by the owner of the site, Bromley London Borough Council, who fear that the scheme will result in unacceptable noise levels. Now the airport company is challenging the councils stance.
During the High Court hearing, Mr Guy Fetherstonhaugh, counsel for BGA, told Deputy Judge Mr Nicholas Strauss QC that the company had no intention of turning the aerodrome into a mass market leisure airport for “bucket and spade” holidaymakers.
He said the plan was to make Biggin Hill London’s premier executive airport: already around £525,000 had been spent on a passenger terminal, the runway had been refurbished and air traffic control and emergency facilities had also been upgraded.
Mr Fetherstonhaugh said it was anticipated that by the year 2003, the airport would handle more than 8,000 charter and scheduled flights each year, carrying more than 80,000 passengers.
The council argued that the airport could only be used in connection with the transport of passengers or cargo for the company concerned, and that chartered and scheduled flights for individual business passengers fell outside the terms of the lease.
However, BGA contended that chartered and scheduled flights would be permissible as long as their primary purpose was to transport passengers to recognised business destinations for business purposes.
No date has been fixed for judgment.
Biggin Hill Airport Ltd v Bromley London Borough Council Chancery Division (Mr Nicholas Strauss QC, sitting as a deputy judge of the division) 4 October 2000.
PLS News 5/10/00
