Last updated at 08:53, Friday, 29 January 2010

A protracted dispute over grazing land at Carlisle Airport which has delayed the start of its £25 million redevelopment has led to 45 workers being laid off.

Carlisle airport

Stobart Group chief executive Andrew Tinkler had hoped that work would start this month but it is not now likely to start until March because four farmers with grazing rights at the airport – including two whose leases cover land earmarked for a new warehouse and offices – are refusing to surrender the land.

Mr Tinkler said this week that the farmers between them had been offered a six-figure sum and alternative grazing land.

But they have still refused to give up the land, which extends over 200 acres.

The development is a key element of the Stobart Group’s long-term growth plan, which will see the airport transformed into the company’s national HQ and potentially into a regional centre for aviation services.

Mr Tinkler said he had originally scheduled work to begin on the Airport in January – a traditionally quiet time on the railways – so that 45 Stobart Rail workers could be employed in various construction jobs. But the delay in starting the project has forced the company to lay
off those men.

Mr Tinkler said: “January and February are traditionally a quiet time for Network Rail and that’s why we planned to start the airport at that time.

“We’d planned to relocate those Stobart Rail jobs to the airport.

“I had to let those workers go just after Christmas. It’s not a nice thing to do but we have to be commercially viable.

“I want to be a good neighbour and I am not getting at these four farmers. I understand that they are business people but it’s about trying to get a sensible agreement that everybody can be happy with. All I’m saying is that there is the human cost for these delays.

“You have to work that way in this sort of economic environment – you have to keep things tight.”

Mr Tinkler hopes most if not all of the workers will be re-hired when the redevelopment gets underway.

He has argued that the terms of the farmers’ leases mean that they should surrender their grazing land after just two months notice if the reason is “airport related”.

He said: “They’re saying it’s not airport related because it will be a distribution centre for Eddie Stobart but my argument is that the airport is unsustainable without income from Eddie Stobart which can support it, but that’s an argument for a judge.”

Mr Tinkler added that the crucial land involved covers 28 acres, saying that as well as offering enhanced compensation he had offered the farmers alternative grazing land within the airport site.

The new airport facilities, much of which Mr Tinkler hopes will be built by October, will ultimately employ 100 people.

Gordon Brown, one of the four farmers leasing land, said: “I have no problem with the development of Carlisle Airport but it should take place within the law and I believe the actions of Carlisle City Council in granting planning permission were unlawful.”

Carlisle City Council believe that Carlisle needs a viable working airport and is in the process of defending its decision to grant planning permission for development at the airport in the ongoing Judicial Review proceedings.

First published at 08:52, Friday, 29 January 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk