Cornwall aviation museum's 'future is lost after deadline' passes

The centre has 20 aircraft, including two Tornados, a Lightning and a Harrier jump jet

An aviation museum in Cornwall has had its future "kicked out from under us" after a deadline passed to leave its current site, managers say.

The Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre (CAHC), which closed to the public in October, was told it must leave its site at Newquay Airport by Tuesday.

Staff, still working to pack everything up. said they had wanted "another eight to 12 months" for a clear-out and move.

Cornwall Council said some items could be stored, but a new tenant was due.

Founder Richard Spencer-Breeze said the centre had had "wonderful plans"

The museum, which has 20 aircraft including two Tornados and a Harrier jump jet, said Cornwall Council told it it must clear the entire site and move "thousands" of objects by 11 April.

The centre had planned to move to an alternative site, but that is currently a field, would take eight months to prepare and a potential investor has now pulled out.

The RAF is collecting a handful of exhibits and a few museums will take some items too.

But many face being scrapped, including aircraft.

Founder Richard Spencer-Breeze said: "Everything that we've achieved - eight years to achieve this - we thought we had solved the problem, we had a wonderful new site, wonderful plans.

"We thought we had a future and it's just been kicked from under us."

The council said some items could be stored at the airfield, but there would soon be no public access and the site was intended for a more high-value aerospace business.

It said in a statement it was not responsible for the running of a private business, that the centre has "had since October 2021 to finalise their plans to leave the site" and it had "extended their lease by a further 12 months in 2022 to the end of March 2023 for that purpose".