School wants to use playing fields as helipad

Jul 31 2007 by Liam Murphy, Liverpool Daily Post

A WIRRAL school has applied for permission to use its playing fields as a helicopter landing pad.

Birkenhead School wants to use its Noctorum fields for occasional take-off and landings.

These will not occur during sports events, the school has said.

The application is for use up to once a week, although the school says visits would be less frequent.

Clive Button, bursar of the school, said the planning application was to help out one of the grandparents of a pupil at the school.

He said the businessman used his helicopter for travelling throughout the country and had already landed on the fields a number of times for visits to the school.

Mr Button said: “We are not trying to open a Wirral heliport.

“One of our student’s grandparents does make use of a helicopter for business and lives quite close.

“He asked last autumn if he could land his helicopter on the school fields and we saw no reason why not.

“It happens very occasionally and the application is to save him having to travel to Liverpool airport and then drive back over here.

“He is a businessman who travels the country and uses a helicopter to make it more convenient.

“But having done this a couple of times we checked out the situation and found that technically we should seek planning permission.”

He said: “It looks a lot more exciting on the planning lists I imagine, but we do not want people being concerned there will be many flights. Indeed, I imagine we could go a whole year without any at all.”