RAF Weston-on-the-Green Under Threat!

[Flying_Anorak]

I'm sorry to report that yet another RAF airfield is under threat from a developer - this time its RAF Weston-on-the-Green in Oxford which as part of one of the government's proposed Eco-Towns, could become part of a 15,000 house town known as 'Weston Otmoor'.

Whilst admittedly Weston has never been much more than a large green field, it is I understand one of the longest continuously operational RAF airfields in the country having been established around about 1914. It is presently used by 1 PTS for Parachute training Monday-Friday, Adventure training for military personnel by a civillian contractor Mon-Fri and at weekends and bank holidays by Oxford Gliding Club - one of the oldest gliding clubs in the country with links to the pioneers of the sport who have been there for over 25 years.

It may be more familiar to you all as D129 on the CAA Half-Mil map, however the airfield has also featured in Blue Peter several times (the famous John Noakes has jumped there!) and it also made an appearence in the documentary series 'P' Company.

Admittedly I have a vested interest in fighting this proposal, the loss of the airfield not withstanding, this proposal is wrong for so many other environmental reasons too and the irony of 'Eco-Friendly' sports being squeezed out by an Eco-town seems to be lost on the developers! The airfield comprising some 135 ha is also dismissed by the developers as an 'airstrip' and the scheme promoted as 'Brownfield'.

The RAF & MODs position is not yet clear, however what this says about the future of military parachuting is also of interest as I understand that excluding Salisbury Plain, there are very few locations in the south of England that can be used for non SF parachute training.

The full details of the Eco-Town proposals can be found here:- http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/pdf/livinggreenerfuture
and please note that as we are now in a consultation phase, representations can be made in accordance with the document by the 30th June 2008.

In addition there is a petition on the 10 Downing Street website calling for the Weston Otmoor proposal to be dismissed and whilst this deliberately, does not make mention of the loss of the airfield itself, I would draw this to your attention and would invite you to sign up to this. The link to the petition is: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/WestonOtmoor/

Please help save Weston-on-the-Green!

(Moderators - please would you consider making this a Sticky at least until after the end of June)

[Truckkie]

Who needs a parachute site when fairly soon all non-specialist para training will be stopped:{

[airborne_artist]

Agreed - it's only a matter of time before it's cut. Sad, but true.

[Always a Sapper]

To be honest, given it's prime location and potential for conversion to the normal very crowded new housing estates you seem to get these days and the obvious dislike by the higher echelons of Nue Labour for things military I'm really surprised that it's not already been sold off....

Mind you, given this Governments track record and especially that of the current idiot in charge (you know, the one who sold the gold at a knocked down price, gave millions of our hard earned pounds away by the bucket full to tin pot African countries and failed miserably to save some of the countries money for the coming hard times) It's not really surprising they are considering selling as the banks stop lending, the country is entering a housing slump and developers are looking to reduce building the things as well as laying workers off because the house's aren’t selling...

mmm sell when the price is low, typical.... fiscal incompetence at it's best.

Still never mind.... it's not as though DE have had much luck over the years in getting rid of that other Airfield often mentioned in here that's just up the road is it? what was it called now... RAF Bi###t#r?

[spectre150]

As someone wo lives in Bicester and jumps at Weston every weekend this is bad news on so many levels (parochial ones I will admit). All I can hope is that if it does go ahead it will take as long as the RAF Bicester and Upper Heyford developments and not actually amount to anything

[Flying_Anorak]

Spectre,

Whilst I share your sentiments, the Government have indicated that they will be looking to commence construction on the first of these Eco-Towns in 2010 with occupation by 2012.

If you feel as strongly as I do about this (we may have actually seen each other) then please do sign the petition and respond to the consultation by the 30th June 2008. PM me if you want to speak offline about this.

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

Live in Bicester myself, & have been watching the RAF Bicester saga on and off/signed the petition.

Am I not right in thinking that the buildings etc on that Field are listed due to being the only historical ones of their type surviving, and that this might prevent developement ?


Buggerit. Summer wouldnt be right without the gliders there all the time anyhoo !

[Top Bunk Tester]

Tyres

I believe you are confusing RAF Bicester with RAF Weston-on-the-Green. I doubt if any of the buildings at WOTG are listed but know that the hangars at Bicester are. Having said all that I would like to suggest that anybody who lives in the area signs the petition. I have actively jumped/instructed at RAF WOTG from 1982 until the early part of this century. I also live in Bicester and the amount of traffic around this area due to lack of infrastructure is astounding, Bicester has also been constantly refused any increase in leisure facilities due to the lack of said infrastructure. Now they are talking about taking away some of the leisure facilities we do have (Skydiving & Gliding) and adding to the traffic problem, remember builders build houses for profit and will not improve the road system as there is no profit in it. As these are most definately aviation related sports, I urge all to sign.

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

Cheers top bunk, no haven't confused the two ( it'd be pretty hard :-)), should have made myself clearer !


lived here all my life & come from RAF family myself

[spheroid]

Whilst admittedly Weston has never been much more than a large green field, it is I understand one of the longest continuously operational RAF airfields in the country having been established around about 1914

So, you want to waste my tax payers money on a field purely because it has been a field since 1914? How about we sell it and then use the money to buy some decent kit?

[anotherthing]

Spheroid

Nail
Head
Firmly hit :ok:

[Flying_Anorak]

Spheroid,

If I honestly thought that selling WOTG to a developer would buy supressant foam for C130s, additional support helicopters, improve Married Quarter Facilities or even ensure that there was enough body armour to go around then I'd be more sympathetic to this proposal but come on, we all know that any monies from the developer will go straight into the Treasury's coffers and be swallowed up and squandered on some other hair brained initiative.

Even if you are not concerned about the loss of yet another airfield, or the loss of recreational facilities for both civilians and military personnel (remember - mid week this facility is for YOUR benefit assuming you are in the services), then do please consider whether this greenfield location which is prone to flooding in the winter is the right location for another 10 - 15,000 houses? Anyone who lives around the area will know what the M40 & A34 is like now, think it can handle another few thousand cars and thats before you consider the already planned expansion of Bicester to the east.

I hope I'm wrong but very soon I can see this whole area as one urban sprawl linked up with Oxford.

Also, as far as I am aware military parachuting has not yet been officially declared obsolete - does not the loss of a great DZ concern you?

I must say that as a regular civilian guest to this forum on Pprune, I am surprised that so many seem so willing to let another part of the RAF's history and another piece of countryside disappear in the interests of UK PLC.

[timex]

Sorry to hear yet another Historic site may be going but its just one of a very long list. Rather not waste money keeping a seldom used site going when other Fully Operational sites are struggling with poor services and MQ's.

[JOE-FBS]

Good to see a Hercules dropping parachutists into Weston this morning.

Meanwhile, local protests yesterday against the eco-town plan for the site made the local TV news last night. Also:

BBC NEWS | UK | Eco-town protesters holding demo (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7480226.stm)

[VinRouge]

I am sorry, but those people are NIMBYs. We have a housing shortage in the UK; what is wrong with using a defunct forces base to build essential infrastructure or housing? or would you prefer they churn up the green belt?

[airborne_artist]

VR - the Govt is trying to create new towns under the pretext of green-ism. Each house will have a windmill, more insulation and low energy light bulbs etc.

In reality every house will have two cars, and they'll commute 40 miles each way to work. They'll fly with Stelios several times a year and the environment will get pasted just the same.

What irks people is not so much the new housing, which is needed, I agree, but the shameless token-ism of creating a "Green community", when really it's just more sub/urban sprawl.

[Archimedes]

Vin Rouge, you're a bit unfair.

In essence - and I wish I were joking - in the name of environmentalism, the Weston Otmoor development would rip up a huge swathe of farmland (WOTG is only a small part of the proposed area for development, which straddles the A34), destroy at least one Site of Special Scientific Interest, dramatically overburden the already stressed infrastruture of North Oxfordshire and - even if only 50% of the households living in the new development had one occupant who commuted by car - would add another 7,000 vehicles a day to the A34, which is already way over capacity at peak times (and frequently out of peak times).

Because the necessary public transport infrastructure doesn't exist, and wouldn't fit on the northern side of the proposed area of development, it has to sprawl to the south so that a railway station can be built onto an extant rail line - which would need to expand services dramatically. So that the inhabitants living on the north side of the development could reach the railway station, a bridge will have to be built across the A34 (which will only increase the traffic problems during the period of construction, slowing the A34 and increasing CO2 output), and the developers say that Junction 9 of the M40 will need to be completely redeveloped.

So, this eco-friendly town will destroy green belt land and sites that are supposedly protected, increase the amount of road traffic, kill off large numbers of small and fluffy things that live in the area, overburden the local infrastructure and increase CO2 output.

In answer to your question,"would you prefer they churn up the green belt?" that is exactly what the planners are proposing to do...

[ShyTorque]

Vin Rouge, you're a bit unfair.


Couldn't agree more, especially as Vin Rouge declares Germany as his /her location. :rolleyes:

[Roland Pulfrew]

Vin Rouge

In case you had missed it, there is a mass of housing available in the UK just right now. Houses, and lots of them, are for sale everywhere. There is a huge and growing myth in the UK that we need to build hundreds of thousands of new houses, a myth perpetuated by............ the house building companies.

Near I am, planning permission was sadly granted for the building of some 23 000 new homes. Unfortunately since then there has been a bit of a crash and the house building firms are now bleating that they can no longer afford to meet their side of the bargain ie that as part of the approval they had to put in the roads, services, schools and doctors surgery etc. Funny old thing that. Either that or they want to add lots more homes to the already planned numbers, and yet they cannot sell those they have already built.
Weston-on-the Green is an active airfield, as Bicester was, and we should fight to protect them. I note that NIMBY-ism is the new insult for all those that would like to protect the environment they live in.:=

[aw ditor]

What's with the Otmoor connection? As a non-local who used to use the Range' at Otmoor many moons ago on/from the Canberra OCU at Bassingbourn its' quite a way from WOTG.

[Ali Barber]

In pure economic terms, it is the wrong time to sell!

[VinRouge]

In case you had missed it, there is a mass of housing available in the UK just right now. Houses, and lots of them, are for sale everywhere. There is a huge and growing myth in the UK that we need to build hundreds of thousands of new houses, a myth perpetuated by............ the house building companies.


Well, you will be glad to know both Barratts and Wimpey have almost gone bust this morning.

As for claiming that it will place undue pressure on local services, I cant think of a better example of NIMBYism, you just want the problemn to go elsewhere. Unfortunately, house prices demonstrate that there is a lack of supply, to this end, why not use former and maily derelict armed forces bases as land to build on?

I personally would like to see planning laws similar to that in other countries, alas, that is not the case, and whilst it is not perfect I agree, increased demand for housing must be met I am afraid. Unless you want us all living 5 to a room, or in a cardboard box perhaps? :ugh:

[Roland Pulfrew]

VR

Well, you will be glad to know both Barratts and Wimpey have almost gone bust this morning
I rest my case!!

As for claiming that it will place undue pressure on local services, I cant think of a better example of NIMBYism
Sorry, that is not NIMBYism, that is just pure COMMON SENSE.:ugh: Or are you part of that socialist utopia which solves problems by reducing standards for all?
house prices demonstrate that there is a lack of supply
Those would be the house prices that, according to today's papers have shown the largest fall since the early 90s then? And where the forecast is a fall in prices of some 15% over the next few years. There is plenty of supply at present, just take a look around almost any part of the UK and you can see that.
why not use former and maily derelict armed forces bases as land to build on
In theory, I have no problem with this, except that WOTG isn't former or derelict. And many of those that have been proposed are in the middle of nowhere, which of course again has some logic EXCEPT that because they are in middle of nowhere there is NO infrastructure. Therefore everyone who wants to live there will need to drive to get to anything. Schools. Shops. Work! Hardly ECO then?

The theory that we have a housing shortage and which demands the building of hundreds of thousands of new houses is driven by the house building companies. It needs challenging; it is unsustainable.

[Archimedes]

VR - do you know, personally, what the local service provision in the area is? I suspect not, since the lack of local services is already an issue.

Hospital provision? other health services? Bus routes? Number of supermarkets? Schools? Fast rail services to Oxford/Banbury/London? All of them are lacking.

Oh. Risk of flooding? High. Presumably you're happy to see these new inhabitants flooded out of their houses on a regular basis?? Because, after driving past the area after heavy rain on numerous occasions, I can tell you that the chances of seeing the news coverage of houses in the proposed development with their front rooms under four inches of water is very high.

It's all very well saying it's NIMBYism (in my case it isn't, since the only effect will most likely be to make my journey to work slower if I'm later out of the house than normal in the morning and to bu&&er up the return journey if there's an accident on the A34 by removing both the alternative routes back home. I can live with that, though). NIMBY will be the cry of the government in a bid to get these silly proposals through.

The WOTG proposal is barking on environmental grounds and barking because, like it or not, it will bring the junction 9 area of the M40 to a standstill and will require huge investment in infrastructure. It's as well-thought out an idea as when JFK said 'Let's put the roof down, it's a nice day for the middle of November'.

[airborne_artist]

VR - I know the area quite well - I've jumped onto it, shot over some of it, hunted over some of it, and I live a few miles away.

It's a non-starter, quite frankly, for all the reasons stated above. In winter-time much of it is 4" deep in water, and in summer the water level is only inches below. Last summer it was 1' deep in places. Hardly surprising it's a SSSI - ducks and wading birds love it, which tells me that it really does not make good housing land.

But Gordon and his coterie know differently. As did Canute :E

[Archimedes]

Are you suggesting the PM is another Cnut, a_a?

[Blacksheep]

There's already a nice "eco-town" there. Its called Weston on the Green. I wonder what all the people who live in this delightful village think of the plan?

[airborne_artist]

Are you suggesting the PM is another Cnut, a_a?

The tide is rising fast, and by the looks of things, Gordon ain't no swimmer :ok:

[A and C]

Yesterday The Independent did a report on "eco towns" and this promted a letter published today's paper pointing out the error in the goverment policy in calling Weston on the Green a "brownfield site".

[blogger]

Well the para's are going to be parachute less so whats the point of keeping WOTG?All Para's do now is join up, minimal training, go to Afgan and get an early flight home due to death or injury.Sorry to be blunt but facts are facts at present.Cheer's Tony B lair.... PVR your only safe option.

[cazatou]

WOTG was acquired for military use in 1916. In 1918 No 28 Training Depot Station was in residence with Sopwith Camels - later replaced by Sopwith Salamanders. No's 2 and 18 Sqns were in residence prior to their disbandment. The Station closed in 1921 and was reactivated in WW2.

[TabbyCat]

Do forgive me butting into the forum but as a local resident I have been sent a questionnaire about this and the majority of the questions seem to be about the rebuilding of the A34 M40 junction, additional parking spaces for some sort of rail connection to London. The blurb lovingly describes how each new house will have a screen displaying the next tram to arrive and the nearest bus stop - big brother here we come. Needless to say it has received my fullest attention and I have completed it with several pertinent comments as to where Gordo should take his development.

TC.

[spectre150]

Weston airfield defunct? In what way? Even with the lack of C-130s to do para trg there are still a lot of training jumps conducted routinely at Weston (not to mention the busy Adventurous Training Flight).

Good point earlier about the flooding - but I am sure the developers would take that into consideration.:ugh: Spent many happy hours digging stuck Dorniers out of the mud when we tried to run a programme before the surfaces had drained properly.

Not very happy with the Nimby comment - in this context anyway. I was NIMBYish several years ago when there were plans to build a sheet metal press for the motor industry on the east side of Bicester but that is a different story.

In the PPrune context of military aviation, I believe the closure of Weston for housing development in the near to medium term is unnecessary given the area of building land already set aside in the area.

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

What lack of C130's. Theyve been there dropping several days this week :}

[Green Flash]

As much as I would like to see Weston survive, what about doing dropping at places like Hullavington or Keevil or Cerney or Colerne or KIL?????

[Grimweasel]

Let's try and boost the HMG coffers by selling more MoD land to fill the void and give all the profits to the 'non-swimmers' that we seem to welcome into this country with open arms????!!!

If that pri*k of a PM saved more cash during the boom years rather than lending it all out and spending it on cronies and quangoes we could have been economically better off.
But no, we are fec@ed! Cheers Labour. A decade of decadance and waste.

[BackfromIraq]

I started going to Weston in 1978 when my father flew there at weekends for RAFSPA, the parachute club. Back in those days I, as a 5 year-old, could stand next to him while the Cessna (VN anyone) trawled up to FL90/100/120 and threw out 5 parachutists at a time. He did his ME rating (at his own expense) and flew the Islanders (VE and TG) for many years, often with me beside him "helping".

By the time he stopped (because it would have cost HIM too much to get type rated on the larger ac they use now) Weston had grown out of all proportion and was, frankly, huge, with lifts of 25-30 pax every 20 minutes.

His experience of dropping at places like Netheravon were that, notwithstanding the busy airspace and constantly having to talk to London Mil to get height, was that Weston was one of the best DZs in the country, and an excellent, benign environment free from hazards such as powerlines and ponds which made it ideal for inexperienced parachutists and instruction.

Sure, there were some avoids, and we always did our best not to annoy the villagers but, after a local farmer was jailed for firing his shotgun at the Cessna, people got into the habit of ringing up and asking if the departure/approach could be changed slightly and everything worked well.

It would be a crying shame to lose the facility from any point of view.