BUSINESSMAN David Gibson has warned that hundreds of jobs could be at risk unless planners quickly sort out the future of a former USAF air base.

Mr Gibson, managing director of vehicle marketing support company Keddy Services, said the continuing debate over the long-term future of the former Upper Heyford air base put a question mark over his firm staying there.

Keddy, which employs 500 staff at Heyford Park, recently took over a site in Holland, which he said could be used as an alternative site for his headquarters.

He said: "Unless the protracted debate about the future usage of Heyford Park can be resolved quickly, business imperatives may mean that I have no alternative but to take Keddy Services overseas."

The firm moved to 240,000 sq ft of workshops and offices at Upper Heyford in 1995 and also operates a northern operation on a 30-acre site in Grimsby, with space for 4,000 vehicles.

Keddy has just negotiated a new lease with the Defence Lands Agency, which secures its site at Upper Heyford until 2003.

But Mr Gibson said the firm was still talking to the developers of Heyford Park, the North Oxfordshire Consortium, to ensure Keddy features on the detailed planning application to Cherwell District Council.

Story date: Thursday 18 November

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.