FAQ Stadium Project

Local Council plans threaten Wycombe Air Park’s future
Wycombe Air Park, home to five flying schools and a number of other aviation related businesses, is being threatened with a 1,600 percent rent increase from their landlords Wycombe District Council.

Currently, Wycombe Air Park, located some 30 miles west of London, pays £42,800 per annum to Wycombe District Council, based on a 42-year lease first granted in 1972, which is renewed every seven years. The 1,600 percent rent increase means WAP are now faced with an annual bill of £676,000 – an increase somewhat above inflation.

Airfield manager Tim Orchard told FTN that he has been involved in the last two rent reviews with WDC, and that the Council and Air Park have always had a good relationship. Six months prior to the latest seven-yearly rent review Mr Orchard contacted WDC to advise them it was pending. Rather than the usual response, that a meeting would be held in due course, Mr Orchard says he heard nothing from the Council until he received a letter from them a year later stating that the rent would increase from £42,800 to £676,000. Understandably taken aback by the level of rent increase, Mr Orchard contacted WDC to ask if the decimal point had perhaps been put in the wrong place? The answer was an emphatic no and WDC explained that in increasing the rent by such a dramatic level they were merely seeking to secure a fair rent for local taxpayers.

Further enquiries from Mr Orchard as to why such a vast rent increase was being imposed solicited the response that it had been calculated according to the number of buildings on site which rent could be drawn against. Mr Orchard responded stating that as three quarters of the buildings on the Air Park were built by their tenants these buildings should be exempt from Council rent. According to Mr Orchard, the Council responded stating that the rent increase nonetheless still stood.

Wycombe Air Park’s operators, Airways Aero Associates (AAA), formally a British Airways owned subsidiary and now owned by the Arora Family Trust, have meanwhile taken out an injunction against Wycombe District Council to delay the implementation of the rent increase while they file a High Court action against the Council.

It is somewhat ironic, says Mr Orchard, that WDC has decided to effectively price the airfield out of business in order to benefit local taxpayers. It is baffling, he says, that the Council should take such action when the airfield operators are in a position of being able to bring significant new business to the area. AAA is now owned by the Arora Family Trust, headed by Surinder Arora, a keen private pilot and aviation enthusiast who learnt to fly at Wycombe Air Park. Mr Surinder’s hotel business successes put him at number 336 on the UK’s rich list and as a result he has the finances to grow the airfield’s operation significantly.

Part of his plans include the development of a sports stadium on the airfield to replace Adams Park, the current home of Wycombe Wanderers and London Wasps. Additionally, Mr Surinder is rumoured to want to build a hotel on site, which would mean relocating the airfield operation to the north side of the property and realigning and extending the runway. The increased revenue that would be generated by the development would be significant, says Mr Orchard, and the local po[censored]ce would directly benefit. But if Wycombe District Council have their way, another GA airfield is likely to be lost. A date for the High Court action has yet to be confirmed.