Tag Aviation has appealed a local government ruling last month that blocked its
application to increase annual movements at the London-area Farnborough Airport from 28,000 to 50,000. The central government’s Department for Communities and Local Government received the appeal on Monday and this will likely order a public inquiry to begin next year. The company, which operates Farnborough under a 99-year lease, appealed on the grounds that Rushmoor Borough Council’s stated “reasons for refusal” were not substantiated by technical evidence. Tag’s legal team also argues that the council development control committee (consisting of elected politicians) blocked the official recommendation to accept the movement increase that had been made by its full-time planning officials. The appeal alleges that the politicians “failed to take into account national planning and airports policy.” Rushmoor’s official “reasons for refusal” of Tag’s application to boost traffic at Farnborough were that this would have “an adverse impact on the amenities of surrounding residential property” and that the economic benefits of doing so have not been “satisfactorily demonstrated to outweigh the environmental consequences.”