Norton Aerodrome Sheffield: Travellers still at former RAF airfield three weeks after they occupied site

A number of ‘unauthorised’ travellers ‘breached and occupied’ the old Norton Aerodrome site on Wednesday, March 22, according to Labour councillors representing the Birley ward. Councillors told at the time how council officers had been made aware of the situation and were planning to visit the site for ‘discussions with the group’.

In an update posted yesterday, Wednesday, April 12, councillors Denise Fox, Bryan Lodge and Karen McGowan stated that they were still liaising with Sheffield Council’s environmental officers and with police, who had visited the site. They added: “Environmental officers are continuing to visit the site and will be starting the legal process.”

The site, off Lightwood Lane, is currently disused but has been earmarked for housing, with the council’s draft Local Plan suggesting that 270 homes could be built there. In May last year, drone footage showed how the land was being used as an operational base for the filming of The Full Monty TV series which is due to air on Disney+ this year.

The airfield closed in 1965 and there were plans to build a hospital there but the land was later used for driving lessons, from 2014 until 2019. In 2021, the empty hangars and other buildings at the site, which was used as a barrage balloon station to defend against low-flying enemy aircraft during the Second World War, were demolished.

The Star has contacted Sheffield Council.