Wisley Airfield

An emergency landing by a Wellesley bomber on farmland during the early stages of the war started a chain of events whose repercussions still reverberate.This is the story of the former Wisley Airfield site - as told by local resident Wendy Lloyd in a 2004 newsletter.

When Captain “Mutt” Summers, Chief Test Pilot for Vickers Armstrong, made his emergency landing on the grassy stretch of Ockham farmlands in a Wellesly bomber during the early stages of the war, he could not have guessed at the far reaching changes his discovery would bring to the local residents.

They were accustomed to walking across from elm Corner to Ockham Church on a Sunday morning and also enjoying the fresh vegetables grown in the big field at Elm Corner.

However, once the land was requisitioned from the owner, Lady Wentworth in 1943 by the Ministry of Defence to make way for an airfield, access was denied, rights of way were closed and four farms along with several cottages and buildings had to be demolished. (Numbers one and two, School Lane were built in 1943 as replacements for two of the dwellings).

The four farms demolished to make way for the airfield site were Stratford, Hyde, Corsair and Cuckoo. the fourth, Cuckoo Farm had to go as it was on the flight path.

Land was taken from several other existing farms most of which came from Bridge End Far. The owner of Pound Farm, the grandfather of John Maiklem, gave up about thirty acres at the Ripley end and the then tenants of Pound Farm at the Hatford End lost about 12 acres.

Wisley airfield is so called because most of the land used to be in the Parish of Wisley until the reorganisation of Civil Parish boundaries in 1838. Now the airfield is totally wihtin the Civil Parish of Ockham although the Ecclesiastical Boundaries remain as they were originally.

Following the requisition in 1943, the agreement was that the airstrip might be retained for a further five years after the war and the Ministry of Defence gave assurances that it would be returned restored , with the buildings removed for agricultural use, as soon as its airfield function was ended. Promises like this, made in the presence of wartime circumstances sound fine at the time, but Governments have a nasty habit of forgetting them. This proved to be the case in Ockham.

After “Mutt” Summers’ discovery, Vickers surveyed the area and realised that a grass runway of 6,600 feet could be used so they retained the site for a permanent airfield.

Buildings in which to assemble and maintain aircraft were erected and Wisley became the main flight testing centre for the Weybridge built aircraft.

(Historians amongst you may be interested to know that when Vickers began levellling the ground in preparation for flying, some large ‘Sarsen’ stones were discovered and removed. The stones are found mainly in Wiltshire and Berkshire and the name was used by early Christian Saxons as a synonym of pagan, or heathen, associated with Druid worship. One such stone is thought to form a doorstep of a local church in this area).

The war ends, the airfield remains

Once the war ended nothing was done about the reinstatement of the airfield to its former use, and in April 1947, the Parish wrote to the Chairman of Vickers requesting that they honour their assurance of vacating the airstrip within the allotted time.

The reply came back in August 1947 from Mr W Silkin the Minister responsible who admitted that the Government had to go back on its word regarding the restoration of the airstrip to its original usage as Fairoaks Aerodrome at Chobham did not meet requirements. He said the situation would be reviewed in 6 years time but meanwhile the rights of way would be restored. There was also an agreement that no flying would take place at weekends and no further buildings would be erected.

Sir Jocelyn Bray, a a member of the Parish Council at the time, agreed to monitor the situation closely and keep the Parish Council informed of any future developments.

During the following years, ground breaking plaes were built at Fox Warren, a hanger in the woods between Weybridge and the Test Flying Base at Wisley. Once assembled, the aircraft had to be towed down the A3 to Wisley. These journey had to be made at 5am on a Sunday morning as Telegraph poles had to be dug up to make way for these wide loads. They Weybridge built aircraft tested at Wisley included the Viking, Viscount (originally named the Vicery until it same became associated with the Independence of India), Valiant, Vanguard, BAC 111 and the VC10.

The Valiant became the backbone of Bomber Command, 104 of these aircraft were built, plus three prototypes, the later model becoming the only aircraft in the Command capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

The concrete runway arrives

Once Jet Engines were introduced, the grass runway became unsuitable as the jet pipe set fire to the grass. This upset the groundsman, Harry Gray who tended the ground with loving care and was the decision maker as to when flying could start after rain. By 1952 a tarmac runway was laid to accommodate the larger and more powerful aircraft.

Over the next twenty years or so, Vickers flew and developed their prototypes often breaking records with some famous names in the cockpits. “Mutt” Summers, Brian Trubshaw, later to fly Concorde on its maiden flight, JOck Bryce (subsequently a resident of Elm Corner), George Lowdell and Brian Powell. No doubt the Wildlife deserted the airfield once these giant ‘iron birds’ took to the skies.!

In 1973, however, the British Aircraft Corporate, successor to Vickers, finally closed Wisley because of its close proximity to Heathrow and today only the runway and the WOR beacon still remain.

Now, back to the rights of way.

In 1948, the Ministry of Supply agreed to construct a drain to intercept the water coming form the airfield to obviate flooding at Elm Corner but, by May 1950, the rights of way between Bridge Farm and Elm Corner were still not open so Sir Jocelyn  Bray wrote to Mr Gordon Touche MP with regard to reopening them.

A long battle followed to reinstate the footpaths closed so long ago under the Defence Regulations. This involved Guildford Rural District Council, the Ministry of Transport and the Parish Council. In August 1951, the Minister of Transport made an order authorising:

a) The permanent closing of three rights of way crossing the airfield from the date of August 1951.

b) The provision of two substitute paths (one to be subject to control).

Following this and a mountain of correspondence it took until 1960 for an undertaking to be made by the Ministry that the public rights of way would be reinstated when the airfield ceased to be sued in the development and testing of aircraft.

This would be “to a similar condition to that before the airfield was constructed and be rededicated for public use”.

A the same time, the 1951 Order was cancelled. In the ensuing 9 years only one of the substitute paths had been provided. Strictly therefore, the original closure proposal had not legally taken effect because it was conditioned upon both substitute paths being provided!

In effected the Ministry of Transport started again nullifying the 1951 Order and making a fresh order in 1960. The new order permanently closed 6 rights of way (they apparently found three more since 1951!) across the field. The one new footpath provided since 1951 was stated to remain available for public use”. The eventual reopening of the rights of way in due course rested upon the ministry’s undertaking.

Intensive farming

However, once the airfield ceased to be sued for flying, further factors came into play. In 1976, the Early of Lytton successor to Lady Wentworth was hoping to buy back the 304 acres of farmland that had been requisitioned in 1943 by the Ministry of Defence and which still belonged to them.

His idea was o convert the hangers for farm use in order to rear cattle pigs and poultry. His application was turned down, although there was local support for the hangers and runways to be demolished and the land returned to traditional agricultural use.

Lord Lytton and his lawyers took their fight with the council to a Public Enquiry in March 1976. Lord Lytton’s plans for ‘intensive farming’ (324,000 broiler chickens a year plus 2,700 beef cattle) and his controversial pan for creating a ‘composted medium’ by spreading all the manure from his animals onto the runway raised concern for the nearby houses which would be adversely affected.

Also the extra traffic generated, plus the influx of people and new buildings would seriously affect he amenities of the local residents. There would also be a need for housing for the agricultural workers. Mr Charles Bailey, representing the 123 residents living near the airfield, said it would be disastrous for Ockham if Lord Lytton succeeded in his appeal. The hangers were an eyesore dominating the skyline and could be seen for three and a half miles. Ockham wished to preserve its character and this proposal would ruin it.

Lord Lytton’s appeal was refused on the grounds that his request to start intensive factory farming was not a proper agricultural use.

In November 1977, the Department of the Environment said the land at Wisley airfield would be offered back to the original owners when the hangers and runways were sold on the open market.

Established procedure according to the Crichel Down Code decree that land commissioned in an emergency must be offered back to the original owners afterwards in the same condition as before. Locals felt that this included the reinstatement of the footpaths.

The land had been empty for five and a half years and the subject of endless planning rows, the public enquiry not to mention that constant pressure from Surrey County Council and both Ockham and Ripley Parish Councils for the removal of hangers and runways with a full trrturn to agricultural use. Vandals had already rendered the buildings worthless. At this time, agricultural land throughout the country as valued at £900 per acre.

Various planning applications for executive flying at Wisley began to alarm the local residents and a serious campaign began to endeavor to force the government to honour its promise to return the land to agricultural use.

The nine hundred members of the Guildford Society joined the fight for peace and quiet at Wisely and wrote in protest to the Property Services Agency (PSA) expressing their anger of their proposal to hand back the airfield with hangers and runways intact, claiming that this was “in direct contradiction to earlier undertakings that buildings and runway should be removed before the site was offered back.”

It was in direct contravention of the Crichel Down Code. The Society claimed that the Department fo the Environment had broken its own rules by offering the airfield back to Lord Lytton with the runways still in place. Their fear was that preserving the runways could indicate that there was implied approval for further flying.

These fears were confirmed when it was learned that Lord Lytton was to regain his land complete with runways and had, in fact, made an application for planning permission for general aviation use. The possibilities mooted were a flying club or an executive air taxi service. No actual plans were announced by the anti flying lobby, led by Mr Richard Amis, the local councillor and  Mr Keith Wickenden, MP for Dorking, organised a deputation from the Borough Council to the Department for the Environment.

The airfield was subsequently resold to Lord Lytton for £307,000 in a secret deal which was rushed through in one day on June 20th, 1980.

The threat of executive jets

At a meeting of the Cobham Residents’ Association in October 1980, Mr David Watts outlined proposals put forward by a company called Jenstate to use the airfield for aviation. Guildford Borough Council had refused their planning application but Jenstate lodged an appeal against their decision.

The company estimated that by 1985, 30,000 jets a year could be using the airfield on seven days a week. Its proposals also included 150,000 square feet of buildings, a forty foot high control tower, car parking and aircraft fueling installations.

This was the spur to activate the appalled residents and a committee of 15 calling itself SWAT (Stop Wisley Airfield) was formed and the campaign began.

Protest marches, posters, leaflets and approaches to television and radio were some of the planned tactics to be used to persuade the SEcretary of State that if London needed a fourth airport, it was not to be at Wisley. 1,500 people turned out for a public rally organised at Wisley Gardens. The overwhelming protest by the whole area led to a public enquiry commencing on June 20th, 1981 and which lasted 26 days.

Surrey Peers, Lord Onslow and Lord Nugent of Guildford rallied their colleagues and put down a motion to the House of Lords asking the government what it proposed to do about Wisley airfield. :pressure was put on Mr Heseltine, Secretary of State for the Environment to honour the agreements to return the land to agriculture.

the result was a victory for the campaign as Mr Hesletine threw out Jenstate’s contorversial plan to turn Wisley airfield into a busy executive jet-port and fully endorsed the strongly worded report rejecting the appeal by the inquiry Inspector, Mr Shane Reese. This decision was a massive gesture of Government support for the beleaguered Metropolitan green belt.

False hopes of a happy ending

In 1983, Guilford councillors voted to buy Wisley Airfield for the borough. After months of negotiations with the owners, Wisley Properties Ltd, Mr David Watts, Borough Chief Executive, drew up an attractive package to buy the wisley site and received a written draft agreement from the owners, Wisley Properties for the sale. The purchase of the airfield and its mile and a quarter long concrete runways would be a happy conclusion to the long battle which had failed to provide a permanent solution for his sensitive site.

In September 1984, seventeen months after agreeing to sell the land subject to contract and agreement between the valuers on both sides, Wisley Properties Ltd, pulled out of the sale. No reasons were given. The negotiated terms had included the figure of £750,000 for the freehold title of the airfield as agricultural land, plus a covenant not to use the land for commercial aviation and an agreement to return it to agriculture.

Had the sale gone ahead, Mr Watts planned the immediate removal of the hated runways and the reinstatement of the many footpaths crossing the airfield. The land would be returned to agriculture with the council retaining control over any future plans for development.

Local fears once more welled up as rumours of heliport schemes and other development plans flew from village to village. This left the borough with one remaining card in their hand, which was to obtain the reinstatement of the rights of way in accordance with the undertaking given in 1960.

A the time of the sale to Lord Lytton in 1980, the PSA had retained ownership of the strips of land which formed the rights of way. Part of the deal included a time limit for the restoration of the footpaths. This date was set at June 1985 after which the land would be restored to the owners. This agreement was made without the borough council being informed.

The government then announced that its intention was simply to paint white lines on the runway to indicate the line of the old footpaths, thus ignoring its promise to restore them to their pre-war condition which would have meant taking up the concrete. Local people believed that the retention of the concrete runways would make the airfield more attractive to developers.

David Watts continued to fight of the restoration of the rights of way. Consultations were taking place with the PSA as the deadline for the reinstatement of the paths drew near. The vulnerability of the airfield continued to pose a threat. In 1985, locals became aware of helicopters and fixed wing aircraft landing on the strip.

As the airfield was not licensed for fixed with aircraft landings, suspicions arose as to the legality of the activities. Cattle stampeded as a helicopter landed amongst them, the animals ended up in the gardens at Elm Corner! The farmer then had to move the cattle elsewhere as the fences had been damaged in the stampede.

By May 1985 talks were in deadlock. The SWAT team was resurrected to campaign for the reinstatement of the footpaths urging everyone to write to the government. The Department of the Environment admitted that, owing to the sale of the land they now had no power to remove the concrete runways.

In September 1985 Surrey County Council announced that the footpaths had finally been rededicated for public use and all the restoration work had been completed. 160 Ockham residents staged a walk in celebration of the end of a long battle. The paths had been closed since 1943. Some of the residents on the walk had not walked the paths since they were children when they used them to get to the village school at Ockham sadly, now closed.

The land has agricultural status in a green belt area, so imagine the alarm bells that sounded when in August 1986, an entire street of 18 pairs of semi detached houses appeared, almost overnight, on the highest point of the airfield. Not only that, the peaceful sunlit days were rent asunder by the sound of dog fights in the skies above. War came to Ockham once again, but in the form of a £600,000 film set. It was a strange feeling to walk down a 1940s street back into the days of the blackout and blitz. It was the set of ‘Hope and Glory’ a semi-biographical film written and directed by John Boorman. It tells the story of the effect of World War 2 on a a nine year old boy and his family.

Ockham’s dogs certainly enjoyed many more walks as residents made regular pilgrimages up to the site.

Waste rears its ugly head

In 1996, Robert Sangster David Lloyd, Colin Frewin and Alan Leiper representing local interests joined up to put in a bid to buy Wisley Airfield from Wisley Properties Ltd.

Their plan was to site a two story luxury hotel with a sport and leisure complex at the extreme South West end of the site close the Ripley roundabout. Most of the rest of the area would become a first class golf course (St Andrews South) and provision for riding stables for disabled children.

The project had the support of both David Watts and Guildford Borough Council and tentative agreement to purchase the site for £5m was negotiated with Wisley Properties Ltd, subject to agreement with the Highway Authorities on a suitable access to the site. However the vendors ceased discussions with the group when the Surrey Waste Disposal Plan revealed that the site was being considered for a  Waste Incinerator.

The threat of this incinerator which would have dominated the area and polluted the environment created a wave of alarm and a hard and expensive battle was fought led by the Parish Council and the Wisley Airfield Action Group (WAAG) to prevent this. It proved to be successful but it certainly does not mean that we can relax.

The present owners, Legal and General*, have the airfield on their Long Term Investment file with no immediate plan for the future. However the most recent application put forward was for a Sunday market. This application was put in with the permission of Legal and General.

© Wendy Lloyd April 2004

* The site was bought from Legal and General by Wharf Land, the private property company owned by Reading based property entrepreneur Douglas Maggs and the former Tory minister David Mellor.  Wharf Land are pushing for the site to host a thermal waste incinerator. We continue to need your help to stop this. If you would like to know more please contact MaryCTravers AT aol DOT com.