Old Sheffield aerodrome possible replacement site for council operational base

Sheffield City Council has been looking for an alternative site to Norton Nurseries at Graves Park to use as an operational base for the parks service since the Charity Commission warned that using them breaches the Charities Act 2011.

The Friends of Graves Park has twice complained about the council to the commission because the park is owned by a charitable trust, with the council acting as as sole trustee. The council was told that it is also breaching the rules of the charity as the arrangements for use of the nurseries have not been regularised.

The friends group has been opposing council attempts to dispose of the nurseries since 1998. It wants to continue its work of restoring parts of the site to parkland, which it argues is the only use the land should be put to.

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Its actions have forced the council to try to find a new operational base to securely store a large amount of parks service equipment and 40 vehicles. The council also currently uses the old nurseries to store refuse collected from many city parks until it can be transported for disposal.

A meeting of the council’s charity trustee sub-committee will next Monday (March 3) get an update on progress on finding alternatives. These include either finding one big site, whether temporary or permanent, or splitting it up.

Ecology

Another option would be to find alternatives for the largest vehicles and machinery whilst retaining some presence at Norton Nurseries.

A report to the committee says: “In order to explore which of these options may be viable for a fixed period, we have begun to work with our ecology team to look at the the feasibility of the use of small sections of a larger site such as the Norton Aerodrome site which is located close to the Norton Nurseries operational base.”

It adds: “It is unlikely that the site being considered would be able to house the entire Norton Nurseries operations but elements of it do appear to be feasible.”

The old aerodrome, which is on green belt land, is earmarked for housing under the draft Sheffield Local Plan setting out the council’s planning priorities up to 2039. The plan is expected to come into force in June 2026.