Long RAF runway near Bicester will stay despite new town

It was once considered the second longest runway in Europe at almost 3,000 metres long.

And developers behind the Heyford Park new town near Bicester have said the historical stretch of tarmac will be here to stay despite the major redevelopment of the airfield. Dorchester Living recently submitted their plans for up to 9,000 new homes at the former RAF at Upper Heyford.

During a site visit by this newspaper, chief executive Paul Silver confirmed the taxiways will also remain as part of the scheme. “When planning, we internalise as many transport movements as we can,” he said. “From a carbon footprint point of view, we've decided to keep all the existing taxi lanes and runways as roads. “We're not digging up roads to then build roads, we're keeping it in the landscape kind of the way it is.” 

Dorchester Living bought the RAF Upper Heyford back in 2009 for an undisclosed sum. It’s reported that the purchase had even caught the attention of former prime minister and Witney MP David Cameron, concerned it would become Heathrow’s third runway. "We think the runway is the most important aspect that actually fits everything else together,” Mr Silver added. “We see the runway in this runway park as the whole centre of the thing, which is the most important asset.” At the side of the runway will be the so-called NATO lake, a greywater lake named after the airfield’s history.

Some 14,000 American servicemen had occupied RAF Upper Heyford in the late 1960s after France withdrew from NATO’s integrated military command structure. This meant the Americans needed to move to the ‘next best place’ out of necessity to point their military capability towards the Russians. Some 56 hangars remain on site, each with one-metre-thick protective concrete walls, which will also remain in place. There are plans by Dorchester Living to redecorate the exterior to make them easier on the eye. NATO lake will be filled with recycled water (hence it being a greywater lake) and it will be used as a recreational area as well.

Mr Silver described Heyford Park as being a "heritage conservation conscious scheme" recognising the past while also looking forward. All being well with the planning process, Dorchester Living expects construction to start next autumn with a final completion year of 2042. Mr Silver said Heyford Park will be a vital town for the Oxford to Cambridge corridor in sustainable technology. And what's more, Heyford Park is aiming to be energy positive for renewable energy it creates in an average year. More than 60% of the site will be dedicated to open space; just 35% will be built on.