A CHARITY air show has been cancelled at the last minute after organisers were "thwarted by bureaucracy".
Kenley Air Show was due to take place next weekend at the aerodrome.
Alistair White was just days away from confirming the event, in aid of the RAF Benevolent Fund, when the City of London Corporation – which runs Kenley Common – pulled the rug from under his feet.
"It was meant to bring Kenley alive, but we've been thwarted by bureaucracy and will not be able to run the airshow until next year," said Mr White.
"We had to get permission for the show from at least 12 different bodies like councils, police, fire and ambulance.
"Tandridge Council and Surrey Police were really helpful but Croydon Council dragged its feet over health and safety.
"Even the Ministry of Justice [MoJ] which owns the airfield agreed in the end if we paid them £5,000."
However, after sealing the deal with almost all the authorities involved, Mr White and his team hit a wall with the City of London Corporation.
"First of all we agreed with City of London to put up a plastic fence the whole way round the airfield to separate MoJ land from their land which is the walkway that runs round the airfield," he said.
"Even though that would cost us a lot we agree and thought the issue was finalised.
"Then we realised a part of the common – just three or four acres – would have to be cordoned off for the three hours during the show and that is where the contention started.
"City of London said they did not want to block public access to the common even though our event was for the benefit of the community and raising money for charity."
The air show team – which was running the event through Kenley Airshow Ltd – needed to have everything finalised 90 days before the scheduled weekend of September 7 and 8.
Mr White said: "We told City of London we needed to come to an agreement by the deadline at the beginning of July but they organised a meeting for the week after and eventually agreed to let us do it if we paid them £5,000.
"This is all very well for next year but we have already sold around 100 tickets and have to refund a lot of disappointed people. There was a lot of excitement about it."
Mr White also said the delay had personally cost him between £5,000 and £10,000.
A City of London Corporation spokesman said: "Due to complex issues surrounding licensing and timings, we were unfortunately unable to meet the deadline set by Mr White."
