ABOVE – Redhill aerodrome seems to be again under threat
Redhill Aerodrome could become the site of more than 2,000 new homes under a draft local plan now out for public consultation, reviving a long-running debate over development on the Surrey airfield.
Tandridge District Council has identified the CAA-licensed aerodrome, which sits on the green belt at the borough’s border with Reigate and Banstead, as a potential ‘strategic development’ location. As many as 2,250 homes could be built there if the plan were adopted. In a note, the local council stressed that no final decision has been made and that the proposal is neither a site allocation nor a planning application.
The draft plan describes a large, mostly open landscape south of South Nutfield and east of Redhill, separated from the town and East Surrey Hospital by intervening fields and extending east toward the M23. Documents suggest some homes could provide key-worker accommodation for hospital staff, supported by a package of schools and transport links.
The aerodrome has long been eyed for housing. It featured among five areas — alongside Godstone, Blindley Heath, Chaldon and Lingfield — shortlisted for a 4,000-home ‘garden village’ under an earlier plan. Then council leader Martin Fisher argued a single planned village was preferable to ‘scatter-gunning’ homes across a district that is 94 percent green belt, saying concentrated development allowed proper infrastructure. Critics countered that new homes would largely serve London commuters and that promised infrastructure might never materialize.
At the moment, it is not clear what measures are being considered by the local council to attenuate the impact on aviation operators at the airfield. A spokesperson for ‘Pophamairfieldmatters.org’ (the association trying to prevent the closure of Popham airfield) told Pilot that the deadline for the consultation regarding Redhill had seemingly been extended from its original date.
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