£14m air ambulance base near Catthorpe recommended for approval
Harborough councillors will decide on 17 November on a £14m air ambulance base near Catthorpe, with two helipads and a home for children’s transfers.
A £14 million air ambulance base near Catthorpe is recommended for approval when Harborough District Council’s planning committee meets on Tuesday 17 November.
The Air Ambulance Service wants to build on farmland east of Catthorpe Road, near Swinford, close to the M1 and M6 interchange. The site would bring the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire emergency air ambulance and the southern National Children’s Air Ambulance together under one roof.
The charity says its separate team covering Derbyshire, Leicestershire and Rutland currently operates from Nottingham Heliport. The proposed base would replace the Warwickshire and Northamptonshire team’s facility at Coventry Airport, which is being redeveloped for a battery production facility. The charity can keep using the airport until the replacement is ready, and the planning statement says the new base needs to be operational by August 2027.
Plans include a hangar, two helipads, offices, staff accommodation, rest and training areas and space for rapid-response vehicles. Planning documents say 50 jobs would be retained and created. The charity says the location near the M1, M6 and A14 would help crews reach patients.
Across the UK, hospitals have received more than 1,200 babies and children in critical condition transferred by the children’s service. The charity had said it would pay for the project from its reserves, but has launched an appeal to raise £9 million towards it and says it raised £500,000 in five months.
Eleven residents objected to the application, raising concerns including aircraft noise and loss of countryside. Council planning officers say the noise impact would be adverse but acceptable, conclude that on balance the wider economic, social and environmental benefits outweigh the adverse impacts, and recommend approval.
The charity’s proposed noise plan would restrict take-offs to between 7am and 10pm and limit flights over Catthorpe and neighbouring villages where safe and operationally possible. The council’s environmental health officer has not objected, provided the measures are followed.
