The prospective MP for Newquay has called for “heads to roll” over the three-week closure of Newquay Airport, which began today.
All flights in and out of Newquay have now been suspended following Cornwall County Council’s failure to obtain a Civil Aviation Authority licence. The council, which owns the airport, assumed control of air traffic operations from the RAF at midnight last night. It hopes now to have all the work for the licence completed by December 19.
Stephen Gilbert, the prospective local MP for Newquay, said today that those responsible must be held accountable and has called for a full enquiry into what went wrong.
He said: “There has been a serious failure to properly manage this project and we need now an urgent inquiry that looks at the management, the project consultants, the contractors and the political oversight from County Hall. Whoever is responsible, whether local politicians, senior managers or contractors, they must be held accountable for this failure and heads should roll.
“As well as causing thousands of people serious inconvenience and disrupting business in Cornwall, the failure to get this right is an embarrassment to Cornwall and has exposed local tax-payers to considerable costs.
“If the fault is not with the council then they should act quickly to recover costs from the consultants or contractors working on the project, and if the responsibility turns out to be with Cornwall Council then those responsible should resign.”
