New tenant at evicted Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre named
The new tenant of the building controversially vacated by Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre over the Easter holiday has been named
The new tenant of the building controversially vacated by Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre over the Easter holiday has been named. Despite a petition signed by over 40,000 people asking for the aviation museum to be saved, it was given notice to vacate its premises at Newquay Airport last month.
Cornwall Airport Limited – which is owned by Cornwall Council – issued notice to Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre (CAHC) to immediately vacate the site at Cornwall Airport Newquay through its agent, CBRE Property Management UK. It formally advised CAHC on Tuesday, April 4 to clear the entire site and move thousands of valuable heritage exhibits by Tuesday, April 11 otherwise the council’s agent will “make arrangements for them to be disposed of”.
Representatives from the RAF visited the museum site to dismantle and remove two Tornado jets.
The centre, which was home to several aircraft and operated as a tourist attraction as well as an educational centre, had been running for seven years and was staffed by dedicated and passionate volunteers who helped to create an award-winning attraction.
In October 2022, Cornwall Council gave the museum until March of this year to vacate the airport site, after already issuing a 12-month lease extension to give it extra time to find a new home.
At a meeting of Cornwall Council on Tuesday, May 23, a member of the public – Mr Smith, of St Mabyn – asked: “At the full council meeting on April 18, the economy portfolio holder said the airport tenant replacing the Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre would sign a contract that week and could then be identified publicly. Has the new tenant signed a contract? If not, why not? Who is it?”
That portfolio holder, Louis Gardner, told the council a new tenant had indeed signed a contract. It is a Canadian aerospace company called Space Engine Systems. Cllr Gardner said: “They are developing horizontal reusable spacecraft to align with Cornwall Airport Ltd’s strategy to create more space for aerospace companies.”
Spaceport Cornwall opened a new centre for businesses involved in satellite launch and development last month. The Space Systems Operations Facility (SSOF) opening comes after the unsuccessful launch of satellites by a plane from the spaceport in January.
The SSOF will enable businesses to build and launch satellites from Cornwall and will also be a centre for research and development. Following the launch of the new centre, Spaceport Cornwall’s boss Melissa Quinn announced she would be leaving her role at the end of this month.