The future of Snowdonia Aerospace Centre at Llanbedr Airfield has been safeguarded following its allocation by the Snowdonia National Park Authority (SNPA) in the recently adopted Eryri Local Development Plan covering the period to 2031.
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Formal adoption of the Local Plan protects the airfield’s ongoing use and supports the future development of the site for a range of aerospace and other employment uses.
Lee Paul, CEO of Snowdonia Aerospace LLP, said: “This is a significant step forward for ourselves as it provides us with security and clarity on the future of the airfield and our ongoing development and investment plans. We have been working closely with the Snowdonia Enterprise Zone, other stakeholders and the Snowdonia National Park over several months in promoting the site as a long-term sustainable catalyst to create a number of high-quality jobs for the region, and this allocation now provides us with the foundations from which we can move forward in achieving these aims.”
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The Local Plan has set out the following uses as being acceptable across the site:
- operations and uses associated with the aviation and aerospace industry
- new uses including employment within B1, B2, B8 and R&D
- employment related training and education purposes
- ancillary uses in support of the above, including accommodation, catering and leisure
John Idris Jones, Chair of the Snowdonia Enterprise Zone Advisory Board said: “I am delighted that we’ve finally secured an allocation for both the Trawsfynydd and Llanbedr sites within the revised Eryri LDP. This is a significant achievement for the Enterprise Zone and testament to the excellent working relationships that are now in place between the site owners, the Enterprise Zone Board, Welsh Government and the National Park. This now provides greater investor confidence in both sites and was a key objective of ours in terms of de-risking and creating the conditions which can provide sustainable employment opportunities for the locality.”
Lee Paul added: “The Local Plan seeks the development of a comprehensive Master Plan for the site, within which a clear strategic framework for all new development is to be set out, and we will now be progressing this with the SNPA over the forthcoming months.”
The airfield is recognised as one of UK’s leading test and evaluation sites for the development of Unmanned Aircraft and Electric Aircraft and will shortly begin the second phase of a multi-million development programme, whilst at the same time continuing its ambitions to become one of the UKs proposed new Spaceports.
