Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate he has made of the number of airfields on land designated as brownfield sites.

National planning policy already requires local planning authorities to take account of airfields’ growth and role in serving business, leisure, training and emergency needs. In March we issued guidance emphasising the need for local planning authorities to have regard to the extent to which an aerodrome contributes to connectivity outside the authority’s own boundaries.

Currently, all airfields, as land that has been previously developed, are regarded as brownfield land.

We will work with the aviation sector to ensure the current policy relating to development on airfields is better understood.