Tensions over the sale and future use of Gloucestershire Airport have risen amid a series of email exchanges between a pivotal investor in the airport's future and the site's joint vendors, Gloucester City and Cheltenham Borough councils.

Kerry Evans, who is the technical director for key employer and aircraft parts firm RGV Aviation, has shared her dismay with Punchline-Gloucester.com ahead of a progress meeting, to be held by the city council this evening (October 8) at its North Warehouse.

The focus for the event is set to be the airport's "current operational management" amid the councils' ongoing plan to sell the site to Anglo-Indian venture Horizon Aero Group (HAG).

But despite repeated requests to attend and represent a pivotal interest at the site, the meeting between the two councils will be behind closed doors as an "exempt session", the city council said.

RGV and other stakeholders at the site are consequently being left in the dark, Ms Evans said, amid claims that both councils are hiding behind legalities by excluding key stakeholders from the event, for which input and perspective of operators at the airport should, she said, be crucial.

Ms Evans told Punchline that she got wind of the meeting on Tuesday (October 7) and consequently mass-emailed all councillors attending the event with a "respectful" request to be invited.

In her initial message to councillors, she wrote: "As someone with a vested interest in the future of the airport, I believe it is important to gain a clear understanding of the plans moving forward and to have the opportunity to seek clarification where needed."

Thousands of staff members are currently employed by stakeholders, and the "lack of transparency surrounding these discussions", she wrote, was contributing to significant uncertainty and concern.

But despite her pleas with 25 attendees, Ms Evans said her request was rejected when Lauren Carter, the team leader for democratic and electoral services at the city council, stepped in.

In a response to the request, Ms Carter said: "This meeting is being held in exempt session and is not open to members of the public. Therefore I'm afraid that you won't be able to attend this meeting."

For clarification, she added that the session intended to look at "current operational management" of the airport, adding: "Future management plans for the site are being looked at in another session later on in the year or early in 2026 which will be held in public, and you are welcome to attend this meeting", adding that she would keep her informed of the details and how to attend.

In further response, Ms Evans then told Ms Carter that she appreciated the clarification on the meeting's focus, but added: "This is certainly an area of significant interest and concern for stakeholders."

She wrote: "We are currently witnessing a concerning trend, with [Jason Ivey] the Managing Director, [Graham Carter] Business Development Manager departing, and several other senior members stepping down from the Senior Leadership Team."

Such a level of turnover was "alarming", she added, and suggested "instability at a critical time".

She said that an internal communication from Gloucestershire Airport Ltd had indicated that a handover of operations could potentially take place before the next, or even the first, public meeting.

She added: "If that is the case, stakeholders and the wider public may be left without a meaningful opportunity to engage or provide input.

"At what point does this cease to be a behind-closed-doors arrangement and become a matter of public knowledge, particularly when public funds are involved and the level of public interest is so substantial?"

Ms Evans said she has as yet had no response to the questions.

She told Punchline: "No councillors have engaged with us or sought our input on the matter. The lack of transparency surrounding this process is deeply concerning and raises serious questions about governance and accountability."

Mark Owen, Editor of Punchline-Gloucester.com said: "We understand that financials need to be kept secret, but the lack of communication with the airport's tenants amid this sale process is astonishing. Spooked by what's starting to look like a management exodus, stakeholders rightly sense a vacuum – into which rumours and gossip inevitably abound. 

"Silence from the incoming owners, Horizon Aero Group, only feeds the uncertainty. While Punchline searches for the facts, this lack of information gives oxygen to fears for this site's huge strategic and economic value. 

"On the face of it, we are seeing a credible £30m deal to stem the councils' ongoing losses and clear a debt.

"But if the site sees alternative, non-aero use, we may well be looking at a value ten times greater than what's on the table – creating a scenario where the public, who ultimately own this, misses out on Gloucestershire's sale of the century."