RAF Mildenhall, Alconbury and Molesworth among MOD sites to be sold

Inverness is growing fast, many people are retiring here having sold property in the South of the UK and cashing in on the price difference. I know . we dont have the sun and heat of Portugal Spain etc but those who like the outdoor activities and wide open unspoiled spaces nearby do want to live here. Its certainly not expanding because of employment prospects!

I well remember the furore at Molesworth when the cruise missiles were there and the CND activists set up a tented camp just outside the barbed wire security fence. The USAF were worried about light civil aircraft towing banners over the site. As I was head of the CAA general aviation operations section their concerns came onto my desk. After some thought I recommended a trip to B&Q to purchase a pot of white Sandtex paint and a couple of brushes. This to paint a regulation H symbol on one of the old hard runways. This device would indicate the existence of a military helipad which would impose an ATZ; penetration of which, without permission, would be a criminal offence. They had no problem thereafter with any overflights.

Will an executive home development at Molesworth be known as Pneumonia Hill, because that’s what the 303rd Bomb Group called it …

Very few capital projects have as much impact as a sustained house building process, the private sector makes money from this and the high price of suitable land in the South makes old airfields very attractive prospects. This also will apply to former Army estates and my local Fort George has accessible areas of flat land in use as firing ranges which will be probably housing in 20 years time.

Presumably airfields are also attractive because somebody has already done the hard bit of levelling the ground and running services into the area? Is there a big demand for housing around Inverness?

Very few capital projects have as much impact as a sustained house building process, the private sector makes money from this and the high price of suitable land in the South makes old airfields very attractive prospects. This also will apply to former Army estates and my local Fort George has accessible areas of flat land in use as firing ranges which will be probably housing in 20 years time.

I’m surprised that the document is titled anything as bold as ‘A better defence estate’. Likewise the Scottish public sector is looking to sell or lease assets, dressed up and promoted as the creation of a leaner, hungrier workplace and workforce (with the prerequisite fewer staff) able to do better things with fewer resources. In both cases it looks a little like asset stripping to keep the lights on; the power of spin! I also find it odd that the MOD document mentioned housing policy by name. I would assume that a lot of these sites would be turned into housing anyway, but actually citing housing demand and listing build figures reads a little like Private Eye’s Desperate Business cartoons. Why not simply state the X hectares of land up for grabs?

To single out a specific example, I’m not sure closing and flogging the land at RM Condor is going to benefit the people of Arbroath in any way, and building a housing estate there is certainly not going to solve any socio-economic issues unless they imagine Arbroath will become a satellite for Dundee or Aberdeen in the future.

Because the Cambridge Airport site is prime housing land in the second most expensive city in the UK.

They could sell it for multiples of what it would cost them to move the business to Mildenhall.

They deny they want to do this vehemently, but the cynical amongst us suspect that they would be unlikely to want to look particularly interested in advance of any negotiations with the MOD.

Moggy

Marshalls toyed with the idea of moving to Mildenhall a few years back but now they own all the airfield at Cambridge, why would they?

Makes sense to me. That way Cambridge can grow.

You can bet your life that once Mildenhall becomes populated,
there will be complaints about noise from Lakenheath.

Rumour mill has it that Marshalls will move in from Cambridge A/P. Plenty of big hangars to fill

Rob, I understood it was a saving in costs by co hosting AEF and Gliding. Any civvy base will charge for landing fees and accomodation for people,kit and aircraft.

I suspect insurance has a part to play too. MoD cannot control what goes on on private land and hence won’t allow military aircraft to fly from private land. I believe that’s why 611 VGS had to cease flying when Watton was sold to a private landowner. Happy to be corrected…

Sad to see Woodbridge and Debden on the list.
Debden still looks vaguely like it would have done when Blakeslee,Hofer, Gentile etc etc flew from there.

Some of the dates are a way off in some cases, but plenty of free space for any future Labour government to house all the much higher than present totals of refugees they’d agree to.

Sad to see Fort George on the list.

Rob, I understood it was a saving in costs by co hosting AEF and Gliding. Any civvy base will charge for landing fees and accomodation for people,kit and aircraft.

You can bet your life that once Mildenhall becomes populated,
there will be complaints about noise from Lakenheath.

A lot of this makes sense, especially the likes of the barracks in Vauxhall and Woolwich which will be worth millions. The trouble is with the likes of Halton, and Abingdon is that they will be swallowed up by housing because they are in the south. There are still plenty of old airbases in East Anglia and the Midlands that are empty so less likely hood of the likes of Mildenhall being covered in houses but I can not see a single one of these sites being used for flying again, sadly.
I have always wondered why the VGS and AEF have to operate from RAF bases? Surely they could operate from any secure GA airfield like Oxford, Coventry, Gamston etc?

…..but just think of all those lovely new executive houses, with the social housing area tucked away out of sight……

And Swanton Morley aka Robertson Barracks. A waste of what used to be one of the largest grass airfields in Northern Europe…

Abingdon too.

Moggy

Full list here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/565858/20161107_MOD_Better_Defence_Estate_FINAL.pdf