Potential partner chosen for Cornwall Newquay Airport

A company has been chosen in the latest stage of a partnership deal to develop the 650-acre Cornwall Airport Newquay property.

Cornwall Council owns and operates the airport and manages the wider estate, which includes the Aerohub Business Park, Spaceport, Kernow Solar Park and 200 acres of undeveloped land.

The airport served 440,000 passengers in 2023/24 and brings in around £72m annually to the Cornish economy, but has been continuously loss-making, the 2024/25 grant could be more than £4m.

The Conservative-run council has begun the process of finding a financial partner to develop the land and also take the financial pressure off the council and ratepayers when it comes to running the airport.

The name of the company the council may work with has not been made public.

At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Cllr Louis Gardner, the portfolio holder for the economy, said that because of the cost of complying with Civil Aviation Authority rules, the airport would never be financially sustainable, adding that “numerous previous administrations have failed to exploit potential land use. “.

Deputy leader David Harris said: “Some have said this is a disguised sale of airport property.

“Tosh! It’s a transfer into a partnership where we’ll have a clear interest.”

Concerns were raised at the meeting about transparency and that any decision would be made by the cabinet and not the full council.

Independent councilor Julian German said “there has been no engagement with the Cornish business community, we hear a lot of concern from them about what may or may not happen at the airport”.

Conservative council leader Linda Taylor said she was “a little bit disappointed to hear that there was a veil of secrecy over this … we had a very strong commitment”.

Labor councilor Stephen Barnes said after the meeting: “A lot of things have been kept quiet… there is a lot of uneasiness in my mind that it might not be the best possible deal.”

Mr Barnes also wants the final decision to be made by the full council “because of the importance of Newquay Airport”.

Colin Martin, leader of the Liberal Democrat group at Cornwall Council, said: “Climate change is not being considered in this decision.

“One of the ‘red lines’ in the deal is to be in line with Cornwall Council’s target to be net zero by 2030 – except they don’t take airplanes into account.

“Ground vehicles can be electric, but the number of flights can grow as much as they want.”

Due to the way Cornwall Council makes decisions, final approval will rest with the cabinet.

The council said it hoped to reach an agreement with the preferred bidder by October 31.