By Julian Whittle Political editor

Last updated 08:32, Friday, 17 October 2008

Carlisle Airport will probably close in 2011 if new plans to develop it with offices and warehousing are turned down, the city council has been told.

Richard Gordon, of Stobart Air Ltd, delivers paperwork to the council

A fresh planning application for the Crosby-on-Eden airfield was delivered to Carlisle Civic Centre this week. It warns that 565 Eddie Stobart and Stobart Rail jobs at Kingstown depend directly on the scheme going ahead.

If permission is refused, it says, those jobs are likely to go a new group HQ in Cheshire.

The planning application says: “The implications of this would be the loss of wages and local spend, local purchasing and local sponsorship, a total of some £50m per annum.”

The sponsorship of Carlisle United by Eddie Stobart would be under threat but Mr Tinkler’s co-sponsorship of Carlisle’s two academy schools would not.

The planning application also warns: “The airport would not have the resources to upgrade facilities to enable commercial passenger flights to commence and would be unlikely to continue in operation beyond 2011.”

Mr Tinkler shelved an earlier £35m scheme after it was called in for a public inquiry.

The latest proposals from his company, Stobart Air are less ambitious, costing £20m. The main building would be a third smaller.

And there are no plans for new hangars or to replace the passenger terminal or runway, which instead would be improved to an “acceptable standard” for passenger flights. As such, trees in Watchclose Wood, a valuable wildlife habitat, would not have to be felled.

The plans show a 371,000sq ft warehouse for road haulier Eddie Stobart to replace its “outdated” premises at Kingstown.

There is a four-storey office block shared by Eddie Stobart and Stobart Rail, a gatehouse, canteen and parking for 339 cars and 143 lorries. There is also be a separate “chilled dock” to allow full loads of bulk perishable freight to be broken down and reloaded for onward delivery. This would create 85 jobs.

All these buildings are located between the runway and the A689, close to the junction with the Irthington road. Access to the A689 is via a new roundabout.

The application estimates that, in its first year, the development would generate 299 return car and 132 lorry trips each day rising to 374 and 165 respectively in later years.

And there would be a knock-on benefit to the Cumbrian economy, safeguarding 1,255 jobs – including those at Eddie Stobart and Stobart Rail – and creating 157 new ones.

The statement says: “Creating a central hub for the group will offer considerable operational efficiency savings through economies of scale. The relocation of the Stobart Group to the airport will also establish commercially viable and sustainable revenue to ensure the viability of the airport.

“Airport facilities must be upgraded to ensure Stobart Air can continue to provide adequate, safe, facilities for aviation use.

“The main runway is in a poor state of repair and, in its current condition, can no longer satisfy the aircraft weight requirements of commercial aviation operators and the Civil Aviation Authority.”

Unlike the original plans, there are no proposals for a new passenger terminal. But the planning application says that a twice-daily passenger service to London should carry between 30,000 and 50,000 passengers a year, although it might need a taxpayers’ subsidy in the early years.

Other potential destinations include Belfast, Inverness, Cardiff, Bristol, Exeter and Southampton, Dublin, Paris and Amsterdam.

City councillors approved Mr Tinkler’s original scheme in April. It was then called in for a public inquiry by Communities Secretary Hazel Blears because it raised issues of “more than local importance” and because it “may conflict with national policies on important matters”.

Airport manager Richard Gordon hopes the revised plans will avoid the need for a public inquiry. He said: “The new application is materially different although its ultimate objectives remain the same – to create a new base for the Eddie Stobart and Stobart Rail operations currently in Kingstown.”

It is unlikely that objectors will be won over, however.

Mike Fox, of the Carlisle Airport residents’ forum, says the reasons that led Mr Tinkler’s first application to be called in for a public inquiry apply to this one too.

Having office space and warehousing there, he argues, breaches the terms of the Carlisle Local Plan and the Northwest Regional Spatial Strategy.

Mr Fox said: “A number of anxieties we had as far as the original application was concerned still exist. It is not clear what they are looking for the runway to take in terms of aircraft size or the number of passenger or freight flights.”

Stobart Air’s planning application argues that its latest proposals do not contravene the local plan. It says that the local plan – effectively a planning blueprint – identifies the airport as a “strategic employment site”.

It adds: “It matters not that the proposed development is not airport related”.

Stobart Air expects to hold consultation meetings to explain its proposals.

The city council will consult on the planning application. The earliest date it could go before the development control committee is December 19.