A NORTH Yorkshire gliding club has applied for its airfield home to be listed as a community asset.

Funding has recently been allocated to create a new travellers’ site on ten acres of land at Burn Airfield, near Selby.

But Burn Gliding Club – which has used the site for 29 years – has nominated it to be part of a register of “assets of community value”.

If the application succeeds and the airfield – whose freehold is owned by the Homes and Communities Agency – comes up for sale, interested parties would then have six months to prepare a bid to buy it.

The gliding club, which has 105 members, said its current lease could be terminated at any time with a year’s notice.

In its application to Selby District Council, the club said it also hosted leisure and social events for other organisations, generated about £60,000 a year for the local economy and provided a base for “air experience” trips for non-members.

It said it had invested in gliders and equipment and the “only threat” for the future was the “uncertainty” over its lease, which was holding back potential improvements to runways and facilities.

A decision on whether the airfield is listed on the Community Assets Register could be made early this month.