Gloucester City Council has revealed that over half of the nearly £400,000 spent on consultants in the last year was dedicated to advising on the planned sale of Gloucestershire Airport at Staverton. Between June 2024 and May 2025, the council’s consultant fees totaled £384,342, with £199,566 specifically allocated for the Staverton airport sale.
The 350-acre airport site, jointly owned by Gloucester City Council and Cheltenham Borough Council, has been a major expenditure focus amid the planned sale process. The airport, operational since the 1930s, was put on the market last October with an asking price of £25 million. Last year, it generated approximately £3.5 million in operational income.
Aside from the airport-related consultancy fees, Gloucester City Council incurred costs of over £50,000 on property surveys, roughly £24,000 on housing consultants, and nearly £22,000 for ecological advice. Other consultant expenses included £21,504 for wayfinding signage, over £17,000 each for procuring a leisure provider and land valuation services.
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Additional spending encompassed £10,500 for training development, £8,333 related to county government reorganization, £5,750 combined for planning and planning policy, £4,300 on IT support, and £2,538 connected to the £107 million city centre Forum Project.
These figures were disclosed at a cabinet meeting following a query by Councillor Andrew Gravells, asking for transparency on consultancy expenditures. All Gloucester City Council members are scheduled for a private briefing this month on the airport sale, where details of bids for the Staverton site will be presented. A special council meeting on June 26 is planned to consider and potentially approve the sale.
Council leaders from Gloucester and Cheltenham have assured residents that the airport will be sold as a going concern, maintaining its aviation use. This reassurance addresses community concerns that the site might otherwise be neglected and repurposed for housing developments.