Outcry over Jurby airfield extension plan
Fern Callister and Vicki Wade talk about the impact potential future plans for Jurby airfield has had on their lives.
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00:00OK, so I'm here in Derby with Fern Callister and Vicky Wade, the two homeowners who are
00:10probably most affected by the plans that have just emerged to turn Derby Airfield, possibly
00:19some point in the future, into the island's new national airport. Vicky, I'll turn to
00:26you first. When did you first hear about this plan? I first heard about this on a Facebook
00:31post, actually, in the Derby community Facebook page, which was probably a week last Thursday,
00:38so 12 days ago. What was your immediate reaction? Actually, shock, but also, is this right?
00:45This can't be true. What's wrong with Ronald's Way? All those things go through your head
00:49and then you realise, you look at the map a little bit more closely, because actually
00:52I thought, when I was first looking at it, the map it was depicted, the road it was
00:57depicted going over was the Sandygate to Derby Road, which it currently goes over. I hadn't
01:03actually realised it was being extended across farmland, then across the Summerhill Road
01:09and further over towards the Rendoo Road, which essentially comes straight across Fern's
01:14property and over mine. So a lot of people would be affected by this, if it ever went
01:17ahead. 100%, a lot of people will be affected. Absolutely. It's the whole community, whole
01:24northern community, and I would say beyond. Yes, absolutely, it's going to be changes
01:28for everybody. You know, it's not just the runway, which obviously deeply affects both
01:35Fern and I and a lot of other people that will be affected, but it's when they decide
01:40where the perimeter for such an airfield will be, which I believe under current regulation
01:44will need to be bigger than Ronald's Way. Yeah. There's many, many houses in that area,
01:49and then you've got also Derby School, the health centre, the threshold possibly, you
01:55know, what are they going to do with all those people? And the prison as well. And the prison.
02:01The prison would be, you can't have a prison, I'm sure, inside the perimeter fence of an
02:06airport, but it's beyond that, isn't it? Andreas would be on the flight path, and then
02:12Kurt, Michael and Balaf would be on the flight path. But how are people going to get here?
02:17The infrastructure is not in, there isn't one good road to Derby from Rousey, so all
02:22the infrastructure would need to be put in place. We would have construction traffic,
02:26obviously, to deal with. Then once it was built, we would have people that work there,
02:31we would have suppliers, we would obviously have travellers using the airport. You know,
02:36it's going to be busy all the time, the roads, not just when the flights are coming in and
02:40out. You know, the flight noise, obviously, would be inconvenient, but mostly, I believe,
02:47at Ronald's Way, that's morning and evening, which will be inconvenient and a bit disturbing,
02:51considering all we hear at the moment is birds. And Fern, when did you move into your cottage?
02:58So, moved in 2022, and yeah, it's a charming house, it's beautiful, it's not big, really,
03:08by any stretch of the imagination, but it is a country home, it's got a little bit of land with
03:13it, tiny outbuildings, it's just beyond anything that we could ever dream of. Your little piece
03:18of heaven. Oh, it's just beautiful. It needs a lot of work, so we're currently in a phase of
03:25restoration, restoring the old walls to how they were in the 1800s, using lime plaster,
03:32using traditional building techniques. You know, there's a lot of love that has gone into this
03:37project. It's not just a slapdash thing, but there's a really thought-out process, you know.
03:43Sorry, Fern, how do you think the plans that have been revealed will affect you, then?
03:48Well, we won't have a house, essentially. Our house literally lies under the tarmac on the plans, so
03:55we won't actually have a house. But there's the repercussions around. If these plans happen,
04:02and yes, it might not go ahead, that is probably the worst outcome for us, because essentially
04:08our house is worth nothing, because it's essentially deemed to be derelict.
04:14You've got a mortgage. And we've got a mortgage, so we would go into negative equity. Our entire
04:20life savings are tied up with this project. We spent 10 years saving to be lucky enough to buy
04:26our own house. It will just be just gone. We'll have nothing.
04:30Now, the government say, well, all we're doing is just safeguarding the area for,
04:34you know, against future developments. So at some point in the future,
04:38if we need to move the runway, then there won't be anything in the way.
04:43Yeah. Well, this has got massive ramifications for not just me, but for everyone who lives here.
04:49Like, the whole housing market here will change. People's house prices will drop.
04:55We probably won't have any value on our property, because it's deemed to be bulldozed.
05:00So the plans might be 20, 30, 40, 50 years, if at all, but the impact on you is immediate.
05:07It's monumental. So I've found out through Vicky knocking on my door on the 27th of July,
05:15and I just couldn't believe it. You go through phases of it, of just laughing it off,
05:21and being in disbelief. But when you actually look at the plans, you realize, actually,
05:26this could be a real thing. This has waves. This could go somewhere and have huge implications for
05:32not just this community, but for everyone in the North and the entire Isle of Man. It's massive.
05:38Once these plans are set in stone, that is the first phase of any future development happening
05:44here. Okay. Thank you very much.