Duke's sale shuts parachute centre.
Byline: By Robert BrooksA parachute centre which has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity is facing eviction from its base.
The Border Parachute Centre is one of several groups using Brunton Airfield, near Chathill, which has been sold by the Duke of Northumberland's estates to their long-standing tenant-farmer Andrew Robinson.
He has now closed the site to the public, but last night parachute centre boss Chris Francis said he would be seeking a legal challenge to allow his business to remain until its lease runs out.
The 20-year-old club raises tens of thousands of pounds every year for charity, with skydivers travelling there from across the North-East and Scotland to make use of what is the region's only dedicated facility.
It was given a notice to quit three weeks ago and asked to wind up operations by August 31. Mr Francis said: "We understand that Mr Robinson has had a change in his circumstances, having now bought the land outright, and we think that insurance issues and public liability are major factors in this decision to close.
"We have long enjoyed an excellent working relationship with Mr Robinson and he has been very good to the club and other users in allowing us to make full use of the airfield up to this point.
"However, we are going to fight to remain on the site until our lease is up, because we have invested a considerable amount of time and money in this operation."
Other users at Brunton include a microlight and light aircraft club, a model kart group and many of the area's learner-drivers.
The RAF maintains a small facility on the edge of the airstrip, although no flying from the field takes place. It is uncertain whether that site will also be affected by the closure.
When approached yesterday, Mr Robinson confirmed that Brunton was closed, but refused to comment further.
A spokesman for the Duke of Northumberland said dispersal of assets such as tenanted farms and associated land was a common practice in the estate's business.
Duchess scorns garden critics
Jealousy and "stuck-in-the-mud" critics won't stop the Alnwick Garden becoming an international success, a defiant Duchess of Northumberland said last night.
Jane Percy hit back after stinging comments appeared in the national Press over her pounds 43m vision, alongside further accusations that her fabulously wealthy husband, the Duke, was selling off national art treasures to bankroll it.
And she said she was becoming increasingly frustrated by those who refused to believe visitor numbers were soaring, by descriptions of the project as "a theme park" and by accusations that her "private Versailles" was being driven by vanity and funded by the sale of Raphael's Madonna of the Pinks.
Her robust defence came as figures for the last four months showed 297,000 visitors flocking to the attraction, making it the third-most-visited garden after Kew and Wisley.
"This isn't my garden, it belongs to the North-East and is a public project," she said last night.
"Last year, when the region's development agencies took a serious interest in the project's development, to regenerate the economy, I realised we were dealing with something huge here.
"This is not a traditional private garden open to the public, it is a public garden - a visitor attraction designed to appeal to children and adults.
"It is unfinished, one-third built and yet to mature but already the scale is completely different to most private gardens open to the public and so is the look."
She said many garden critics in the South didn't acknowledge or seem to want to believe that her husband gave the 42-acre garden to the charity, the Alnwick Garden Trust, at the beginning of April, along with a pounds 9m donation.
"That has ensured that the project is totally independent from his business, The Northumberland Estates, and that all future revenue would be reinvested back into the charity," she said.
"The Alnwick Garden is a completely separate organisation."
Nor were the proceeds from the sale of the Madonna of the Pinks for The Alnwick Garden.
The Duchess said the proceeds of the sale would go towards a fund whose annual income is earmarked for the maintenance of Alnwick Castle, hundreds of other listed heritage buildings, historic landscapes and parks and one of the most important art collections in the country, which is looked after by Northumberland Estates.
"We shrug off criticism from the stuck-in-the-mud critics - they don't realise that the North needs to create jobs and boost businesses."
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| Title Annotation: | News Local |
|---|---|
| Publication: | The Journal (Newcastle, England) |
| Date: | Aug 8, 2003 |
| Words: | 750 |
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