Nottingham (Tollerton) Airport, also known as Nottingham City Airport, is set to close as an airport in June this year after the new owners served notice to quit on the airfield operator as they plan to build 400 homes, a primary school and sports pitches on the site.
Vistry Group bought the site in 2022 from Truman Aviation, which is still the operator, and submitted a planning application to Rushcliffe Borough Council but this has faced fierce opposition from the aviation community and people that love the airfield.
Opened in 1929 was the first permanent site in Britain to be a licensed airfield and shortly after opening became home to the Nottingham Flying Club. During World War II it was requisition by the War Office and became RAF Tollerton and became a relief airfield for the Polish Training School which was based at nearby RAF Newton.
The site was also used for maintenance on RAF Bomber aircraft such as the Avro Lancaster leading to purpose-built hangars on the site, some of which still stand today.
Post-war the airfield saw a brief period of commercial aviation with Blue Line Airways and Trent Valley Aviation operating flights between 1946 and 1948.
Since 1948 it has been a busy General Aviation (GA) airfield which has become much loved by the local community and pilots alike.
The decision to serve notice of closure by Vistry Group has angered many people given that planning permission has not even been granted for their plans as well as many other required factors not being in place.
In a statement, Vistry Group said: “With the site having been allocated for development a decade ago, we are keen to progress our plans and commence construction of the new homes, subject to planning permission.“
Sarah Deacon, from the Save Nottingham City Airfield Group, told us: “Vistry homes have not agreed a Masterplan yet with the other developers on the details for the overall site, and no planning applications can be considered until this is done.
“Therefore how Vistry can say their planning application is at an advanced stage is baffling.
“Peoples’ businesses are being forced to close, apprenticeships halted, training cut short… and all before Vistry’s application is heard. They may not even get planning permission and this Nationally important general aviation asset will already have been destroyed.”
The group sees the airfield as part of the national infrastructure so will be making representations to Rushbrook Borough Council to try and persuade them not to grant permission. The site is also home an , and it is also home to an Air Ambulance operation.
Vistry Group has said that is working with the Air Ambulance to ensure it can continue operating through the initial phase of development but it will be forced to relocate like many of the businesses on the site.
Without intervention, the site will cease being an airfield on the 6th of June 2025.
