Plans for 10 self-catering aviation hangar holiday homes near Enniskillen St Angelo Airport have officially been given the green light by Fermanagh and Omagh District Council.
The approved development will include 10 custom-built properties featuring ground-floor garage-style spaces where residents can park their private planes.
The site will also boast a private clubhouse, complete with a kitchen, gym, swimming pool, and a range of leisure facilities designed to serve a close-knit aviation community.
English pilot Peter Day is the creative force behind the plans and previously stated at a past meeting of the planning committee that he had spent the last ten years developing the idea of an aeropark, which he said were common in the US and mainland Europe.
Explaining the concept was similar to having holiday homes along a marina or golf course, Mr Day said “in this case it is aimed at aviation enthusiasts and pilots like me who want to live on small non-commercial airports.”
“This is the first of its kind and will pave the way for other aeroparks at other UK airports,” he said, adding the development would make St Angelo more sustainable in the long-term as it would be an additional revenue stream for the airport.
Planning agent Ken Moore described the aeropark as a major development, not just in planning terms, but also “in terms of bringing this unique, cutting edge tourism product not just to Co Fermanagh, the Fermanagh and Omagh Council area, and the south west region, but brining the first of its kind to Ireland and the UK.”
Mr Moore outlined how Mr Day, a highly experienced pilot, had been trying for many years to develop an aeropark in Britain without success. If granted in Enniskillen, he said it would not only boost the local economy, but help promote the local area as a “must visit destination.”