Calls are being made for urgent repairs at Shoreham Airport’s Grade 2 listed terminal building.

The Shoreham Society has stated parts of the interior are water damaged with plaster falling from ceilings.

At their latest meeting chairman Gerard Rosenberg said: “We don’t want to lose one of the best art deco buildings in the country. It’s always been held up as one of the finest.”

When Albemarle Shoreham Airport Limited bought the lease for the airport in April 2008 it was agreed that £4 million would be spent on renovations.

A spokesman for Adur District Council said that since last year Albemarle has had listed building consent to carry out maintenance and repairs, though work has not begun.

Confidential negotiations are currently ongoing.

Jonathan Candelon, a director of Brighton City Airport Ltd, said: “Regarding the terminal, all the parties involved are working very hard towards finalising the details before the restoration works can proceed.”

Albemarle director Geoff Egan declined to comment.
 

The spokesman for Adur District Council said Albemarle commissioned a structural engineers’ report which the council and English Heritage have asked to see.

He said Albemarle has not come forward with the report.

Jemima Bland, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for East Worthing and Shoreham, has launched a campaign to make the terminal and airfield a “community asset”.

This would mean that the leasehold would remain with Albemarle and the freehold with joint owners Worthing Borough Council and Brighton and Hove City Council, but it would be easier for the community to mount a bid if the freehold is sold.

“This would be a first step in providing local people with more say over what ultimately happens to this wonderful building which has been allowed to decay, ” said Ms Bland.

Shoreham Airport officially opened in 1911 and the same year Horatio Barber flew to Brighton with a cargo of a box of six light bulbs, making it the oldest commercial airport in the UK.