BY any standards today marks the end of an era with the closure of Filton airfield. Yet even as we broke news of a deal to sell it people are still talking and writing of a reprieve that would see it saved.
The chances of that now look very slim indeed and the prospects of this famous site being developed for housing more likely than ever.
But as writers to these pages have repeatedly argued, this is a decision that Bristol, if not the rest of the country, will come to regret.
There was and still is a case for retaining Filton as a public airfield or even a commercial airport.
For the opportunity to create something on this scale around Bristol will simply never come again.
Quite apart from the environmental implications, the cost of acquiring and developing such a site would be astronomic.
Surely future generations will look back and wonder how we squandered such a valuable asset.
They will shake their heads and wonder why Bristol city and South Gloucestershire councils looked on and did nothing instead of getting together, raising the money and buying the site for the good of the entire area.
As missed opportunities go this has to be one of the biggest of modern times and it will haunt us.
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