Air Ministry (Dept. O.A.)
King Charles Street,
Whitehall, S.W.1.
22nd July 1940.
Dear Sir Henry,
You may remember that last summer the Air Ministry contemplated taking some land at Zeals, near Stourhead, for use as a relief landing ground. There was strong objection on account of the interference with agriculture and with local amenities, and of the possible effect on your intention to bequeath the property to the National Trust; in the end Sir Kingsley Wood decided not to proceed with the proposal.
Unfortunately, the need for more aerodromes, of which you will of course be aware, has now made it necessary to revive this question, and I am writing on behalf of the Secretary of State to say that we hope that in the circumstances the objections previously raised, which we do not suggest were at the time unreasonable, will now be waived by you. We are naturally anxious that you should have knowledge of our intentions before official action to acquire the land is taken.
I should explain that the Minister of Agriculture has agreed to our proposed action. Mr. Hudson asked that if it was at all possible we should make arrangements to allow this season’s crops to be harvested, and we have replied that we are very willing that harvesting should be carried on until mid-August. Our position is that we do want the site urgently and to prepare it for use by the summer of 1941. To achieve this we must take advantage of the first possible sowing to grass, which is in September next, and follow with another sowing in the Spring of 1941. If we miss the September sowing we shall not get the aerodrome until the spring of 1942, a delay which I am afraid we are unable to contemplate. Mr. Hudson tells me that by allowing the farmers on the Zeals site up to mid-August to harvest their crops will enable the hay crop to be harvested, and in addition for 93 acres of oats to be cut early, made into hay and fed to stock with the corn in the ear.
We should propose to requisition the land for the period of the war only, and we would not put down hard runways, which cannot easily be made good after the war. Similarly, the buildings would be wooden huts which could easily be removed later. It would be necessary to divert the existing road from Zeals to Stourton, which runs across what will be the middle of the proposed aerodrome. The diversion of the road along the eastern edge of the aerodrome will add less than a mile to the distance of the present road. No destruction of buildings is contemplated , except as regards the water tower in the south-west corner of the proposed aerodrome, which will be a danger to flying.
In short, we shall hand the land back after the war and pay compensation under Section 2 (1) (b) of the Compensation (Defence) Act 1939. In the meantime we can now compensate the tenants for disturbance under Section 2 (1) (d) of the Act, on lines similar to those provided for under Section 12 (b) of the Agricultural Holdings Act, 1923.
In view of the critical stage of the war and our vital need of more aerodromes in this country, may I express the hope that you will not raise objection to our proceeding to requisition the land in question.
Yours sincerely,
Harold Balfour.