Major new plan for (in old money) RAF North Luffenham.

[Al R]

http://www.stamfordmercury.co.uk/news/major-plan-to-convert-army-base-into-village-1-8171198

"Plans have been revealed to build a village on the site of an Army base which is set for closure in 2021. Rutland County Council and the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), part of the Ministry of Defence, are working together to develop a scheme for the future of the land on which St George’s Barracks, at North Luffenham, currently sits it was revealed on Monday. The Army’s 1st Military Working Dogs and 2 Medical Regiment is to leave the 700 acre site within four years as part of the Defence Estate Optimisation strategy (DEO). The DEO aims to save the MoD money by releasing current military land nationally with the potential for 160,000 new homes by 2020.

The land will be developed as a stand alone village and would not be an extension of Edith Weston or North Luffenham. A survey of any minerals on the site which would need to be removed will be carried out too. Leader of the council, Councillor Tony Mathias (Con), said: “This is a wonderful opportunity. “Early discussions between the council and MoD have been extremely positive and have fostered a genuine appetite to work together as part of an innovative new approach. “We are starting now to flesh out the details.” Part of the land, formerly known as RAF North Luffenham, is where PGM-17 Thor Missiles were stored between 1959-63 in the Cold War."

[Heathrow Harry]

looks like a good use of a square mile of land TBH - better than greenfield anyway

[aw ditor]

ISTR the RCAF had an F86 Wing' there in the 1950s'.

[NutLoose]

Damned good idea, it reminds me of Witham St Hughes... Not heard of it? Well it is the new village they built on Swinditz and while sad when I visited to see the old domestic area had gone, it was heartening to see a new intake of people to the area who can walk around with their hands in their pockets..

Swinditz now

Transformation of a former RAF base into the new village of Witham St Hugh?s | Strawsons Property (http://www.strawsonsproperty.com/witham-st-hughs/)

[Always a Sapper]

Could be good, and there's real potential to make some serious money. Unfortunately DIO are involved......

No doubt some lucky national developer will pick the land up for pennies and then turn it around for pounds.

It would be nice if the DIO could run the whole project from start to finish in house and sell on the completed homes to maximise income for the estate but to be honest at times you'd think they couldn't project manage a kids homework project!

Another good idea would be to build the homes to sell at a discount to public servants such as NHS, Serving/Ex Forces, Fire, Police etc...

Or do the lot as a massive self build project.

[4mastacker]

Damned good idea, it reminds me of Witham St Hughes... Not heard of it? Well it is the new village they built on Swinditz and while sad when I visited to see the old domestic area had gone, it was heartening to see a new intake of people to the area who can walk around with their hands in their pockets..

Swinditz now

Transformation of a former RAF base into the new village of Witham St Hugh?s | Strawsons Property (http://www.strawsonsproperty.com/witham-st-hughs/)


Junior daughter lives in Witham St Hugh's. She likes living there although the developers crammed in as many houses as they could and on-street parking is a nightmare.

[Brain Potter]

The Thor missile sites at North Luffenham have Grade II* listed status. It will be interesting to see how they are to be protected by this proposed development. I hope that the MoD will require the developer to do something beyond simply the minimum which, I presume, is simply to not damage them. However, with several hundred new houses close by, if the sites are freely accesible and/or negelected they will probably become a focal point for "anti-social" behaviour.

[diginagain]

The Thor missile sites at North Luffenham have Grade II* listed status. It will be interesting to see how they are to be protected by this proposed development. I hope that the MoD will require the developer to do something beyond simply the minimum which, I presume, is simply to not damage them. However, with several hundred new houses close by, if the sites are freely accesible and/or negelected they will probably become a focal point for "anti-social" behaviour.
Do what archeologists have done for decades; record, then bury under tonnes of spoil until they become interesting again.

[Dan Gerous]

Did anyone really ever refer to RAF Swinderby as Swinditz?

Yes. (.... and some dots to make up 10 characters)

[Martin the Martian]

No doubt the houses will be the same identikit rabbit hutches that are being thrown up all around the country. Does nobody in such circles have any imagination?

[Heathrow Harry]

well if you talk to builders and estate agents they always tell you that the English are hideously conservative when it comes to housing. There is a real issue in living in a house different from the neighbours. In places like the USA or Oz people want something different - but not in England.

Only a small part of the upper and middle classes will even consider a designer house

[Wander00]

If you want identikit rabbit hutches be grateful you don't have the ticky-tacky houses they build on lotisments (in Vendee anyway). Mind you the price of the land is 15- 22€ a square metre, which is a bit different from UK. But you get cheap housing that way

[camelspyyder]

Another characterless new village in the middle of nowhere is not an attractive prospect. I expect the local council are pandering to NIMBYs in existing villages by proposing this rather than building in currently inhabited areas. Witham St H is less attractive than the married patch that was there before, even after London's Burning filmed a season finale show there.
Established around 15 years now, there's still no discernable village centre.

[Shackman]

Sounds just like the DIO plan to build 600 houses on the old RAF Ternhill site when the army pull out in a couple of years time! Just houses; no schools, no shops, no public transport, no infrastructure - and the airfield will remain open for day and night flying by helicopters from DHFS and cadet gliding (!!!!!) at the weekends. What could go wrong?

[andrewn]

It's certainly a bumper time to be a landowner or a developer. Question is, once we've built on all the old airfields where is next - more on greenbelt, more edge of town sprawl, new towns (aka "garden villages")? At what point do we drop the "fake news" housing crisis description and admit what we really have is a population crisis?

[Sky Sports]

What are they going to do about the nuclear waste buried on the airfield?
They'll struggle to sell the houses when people find out about that!

[Wander00]

Houses will be ticky-tocky, not ticky-tacky........

[pr00ne]

Have any of you doom and gloom merchants actually SEEN a modern housing development? They are diverse and interesting, not 70's style conformist little boxes.

And if any of you have ever tried actually developing such a site, you will know the requirements for local infrastructure and facilities that the developer has to either provide or fund, usually both.

[ROC man]

Have any of you doom and gloom merchants actually SEEN a modern housing development? They are diverse and interesting, not 70's style conformist little boxes.

And if any of you have ever tried actually developing such a site, you will know the requirements for local infrastructure and facilities that the developer has to either provide or fund, usually both.

I agree. I found this link ref the former RAF Brampton
https://www.dlpconsultants.co.uk/portfolio/former-barracks-redevelopment

[beamer]

We have three Thor installations a few miles away at Harrington. The bases and blast walls are substantially intact ( its a lot of concrete ! ) but no attempt to preserve them in any way nor provide any information about their purpose. Easily accessible as long as you avoid the crops and worth a look.