There is two issues here… One if the future of Scampton, the other is the Future location of the Reds. I personally think the two kind of go hand in hand, in that as long as the Reds survive, then I think Scampton will survive.
If the Reds survive, Scampton will survive? No, that’s just not true. There are other airfields close by, all it would need is a hangar or two, and that’s going to be cheaper than keeping Scampton open. If Scampton is closed, doesn’t mean to say the airspace goes with it, so the Reds still have somewhere to practice.
Resmorroh and Pagen make excellent points, and unfortunately, I feel they are right. Farnbourgh, Tangmere, Upwood, etc, have all gone, and they were just as historic.
I am not saying I want Scampton to close, but the MOD are not in the business of preserving bases, they are in the business of defending our country, and I’d prefer they keep doing that.
I seriously doubt there is the money available privately to keep a base like Scampton open as a historic centre. I gather the whole argument to preserving Scampton as a complete expansion base would require all the buildings to be put to use. Can this be done? Would light industry take the buildings without modifications, which would be what the english heritage report would seem to prefer? Otherwise what is the point of preserving the buildings?
Not saying it is a done deal but looking to the real world is the best policy. Preserve what is essentially the most historic parts, and let the rest be developed. There’s no bottomless pit of money to preserve the whole lot.
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