§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if the purchaser of Old Sarum airfield will be required to maintain on the property an operational airfield for civilian and military use. [20368]
§ Mr. FreemanThe terms of the 999-year lease of the airfield have been carried forward into the terms of the current sale. Neither the lease nor the sale terms carry an obligation for the maintenance of an airfield for civilian and military use, although my Department retains in the lease and sale documents the right to land military helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft on no more than 150 occasions per year, and has been exercising that right. Any change of use by the purchaser of the property would be subject to the usual planning laws in the ordinary way.