The appeal by the aerodrome against these notices was heard in July 2000. In appealing against the enforcement notices, the onus was on the aerodrome operator to prove that:-

	Any change of use started more than 10 years before the date of the enforcement notice
	An increase in flying activities does not represent a material change of use

Flying activities commenced at Elmsett in the early 1970’s, with the seeding of an airstrip and the basing there of an aircraft. Runway lighting was installed in 1971 whilst the paying of rates from 1972 indicated that the strip had been taken out of agricultural use. In 1973 fuel tanks were installed, and in 1975 planning permission was granted for a building to be used as an agricultural workshop and storage unit. The Inspector concluded that up until 1975, all such aviation related facilities represented either a hobby incidental to residential use of the land, or alternatively crop spraying incidental to agricultural use of the land. In other words, prior to this date no material change in the use of the land occurred.

However, events during the period 1978-1986 convinced the Inspector that the aerodrome was established as a concern in its own right, before 22 May 1987, the 10 year period prior to the enforcement notices:-

1978 - Aerodrome was insured as such for the first time;
1979 - ICAO aerodrome code allocated;
1980 - Identified for the first time on the CAA map;
1980 - Air Operators Certificate granted, thus permitting public transport flights;
1982 - Air/ground radio frequency acquired;
1985 - First entry in Pooley’s Flight Guide;
1986 - Designated a Civil Private Aerodrome by the CAA.

In fact the Inspector dated the material change of use to mixed agriculture and flying activities to the grant of the AOC in 1980. The Inspector applied this conclusion not only to the taking off and landing of aircraft, but also to the maintenance, repair, and assembly of aircraft, and the training of pilots. Aircraft maintenance was actually given explicit approval in 1995 when planning permission was granted for a building to be used for mixed agricultural and aircraft maintenance use. Furthermore, the Inspector judged that, whilst the training of pilots would affect the number of aircraft movements, such activity in itself had no land use planning implications and could not be used to determine a change in the character of land usage.

During the 90’s flying activities at the aerodrome increased. This was particularly noticeable in 1997 when two clubs displaced by the closure of Ipswich relocated to Elmsett. The second enforcement notice was based on the allegation that such intensification represented a material change in land use, for which planning permission had not been granted. The Inspector concluded that the increased flying activity represented "more of the same" rather than a material change in use.

On the above evidence, the Inspector concluded that the material change of land use commenced more than 10 years before the date the first enforcement notice was issued, which was duly quashed, and also that the increased flying activity did not represent a material change in use as alleged in the second enforcement notice, which was also duly quashed.

Poplar Aviation, the aerodrome operator, has made a unilateral obligation under section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act. Under this arrangement two schemes have been submitted to the council, one to limit and record aircraft movements, the other to set up a consultative committee to provide a forum for discussion and settlement of problems in a spirit of co-operation. Aerodrome procedures, including noise abatement procedures, are detailed on the Elmsett web site.