MPs urge council to abandon Newquay airport deal

Two of Cornwall MPs have said talks for a private operator to invest in and help develop Newquay Airport should be abandoned.

Cornwall Council has been in negotiations with a firm for several months but has postponed approving a deal, most recently expected at a meeting later this week.

Liberal Democrat MP for North Cornwall, Ben Maguire, and Noah Law, the Labour MP for St Austell & Newquay, have both said the idea is unworkable and should be scrapped.

The council insisted it is committed to its plan for the airport estate and talks would continue to try and resolve "technical issues".

The Cornwall Airport Newquay estate also includes the Aerohub Business Park, Kernow Solar Farm, Spaceport Cornwall, and 200 acres of undeveloped land.

The council argued it does not have the money or expertise to help develop the land and had been in exclusive talks with US firm, Adynaton, since last summer.

This is the latest postponement with the authority initially hoping to have approved a deal before Christmas.

Mr Maguire said: "It's just an absolute farce. We've had no information from the council on this deal - despite the fact the airport is in my constituency.

"It was clear from the beginning the deal wasn't viable and it looks it has predictably fallen apart.

"With the elections coming up in May, this needs to be put on hold until that new administration has a fresh mandate", he added.

Law echoed calls for the current talks to be ditched: "This is a deal which was never realistic. The council and the private equity investors they're working with are not commercially compatible.

"It's a decision for the next administration to decide as to how they want to look at the operational improvement of the airport," he added.

In a statement Cornwall Council said: "Whilst negotiations have progressed, and the principal terms of a transaction are agreed it has not been possible to bring these all together in a way that addresses some of the technical issues of the deal.

"We remain completely committed to the development of Cornwall Airport Newquay and the surrounding estate and continue to engage and work with our preferred partner under the terms of our Exclusivity Agreement in order to bring the proposed deal to fruition."

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