Potential partner chosen for Newquay airport

The airport needs a subsidy of about £4m from Cornwall Council

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

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

The airport served 440,000 passengers in 2023/24 and brings in about £72m to the Cornish economy annually but has continually run at a loss with the 2024/25 subsidy likely to be more than £4m.

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

Rumours are 'tosh'

The name of the company the council could partner with has not been released to the public.

At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Councillor Louis Gardner, portfolio holder for the economy, said due to the cost of compliance with Civil Aviation Authority rules, the airport would never be financially sustainable, adding "numerous previous administrations have failed to exploit potential land utilisation".

Deputy leader David Harris said: "Some have said that this is a disguised sale of the airport estate.

"Tosh! It's a transfer into a partnership where we will have a clear interest."

Concerns have been raised about transparency around the deal

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

Independent councillor Julian German said there "hasn't been engagement with the Cornish business community, we're hearing a lot of concern from them about what may or may not happen at the airport".

The council's Conservative leader Linda Taylor said she was "a little bit disappointed that I've heard there's been a veil of secrecy over this... we have had really strong engagement".

Labour councillor Stephen Barnes said after the meeting: "A lot of things have been kept quiet... there's a lot of unease in my mind that this may not be the best deal possible".

Mr Barnes also wants the final decision to be made by full council "because of the importance of Newquay airport".

'Don't count aeroplanes'

Colin Martin, leader of the Liberal Democrat group at Cornwall Council, said: “There’s no consideration of climate change in this decision.

"One of the 'red lines' that are part of the deal is to be in line with Cornwall Council’s target to be net zero by 2030 - except they don’t count aeroplanes.

"The vehicles on the ground may be electric but the number of flights can increase as much as they want."

Because of the way Cornwall Council make decisions the final approval will lie with cabinet.

The council said it hoped to have a deal with the preferred bidder completed by 31 October.