A plan to build at least 1,000 new homes at the RAF Halton training base has been put forward by Buckinghamshire Council.
The proposals also include a new primary school, community centre, landscape works, walking and cycling routes and the reuse or conversion of historical buildings.
The council said the homes should generally have between one and four bedrooms and would “meet local market and affordable housing needs”.
RAF Halton, which sits between Halton and Wendover, is still used for training, but is set to close by 2027.
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The council has asked members of the public to share their views on its plans by March 4, after which it will publish a final draft.
Formal plans have not yet been submitted to the council’s planning portal.
RAF Halton is earmarked for at least 1,000 new homes from 2025-2033 under the Vale of Aylesbury Local Plan, which governs what can be built in the area.
The 82-hectare site set to host new homes is located entirely within the Green Belt, which is designed to control urban sprawl around towns.
RAF Halton is also located on the edge of Wendover and the Chilterns Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).
The council said the “landscape-led” redevelopment of the site will “address, protect and enhance the purposes of the Green Belt, setting of Halton village, the Chilterns AONB, Halton House itself and its Grade II listed Registered Park and Garden”.
Meanwhile, 50 per cent of the site will become publicly accessible green space and a north-south corridor of parkland will be created, the authority said.
RAF Halton is steeped in history, which the council says will be “respected and referenced in its redevelopment”.
This includes listed military accommodation buildings, as well as World War 1 training trenches and a former railway line lie just outside the site.
The RAF base was formerly monastic land, which became part of the Dashwood-King estate in 1720, when it was a self-contained agricultural community.
Politician and banker Baron Lionel Rothschild bought the estate in 1853, absorbing it into the Rothschild estate.
The estate was then loaned to Lord Kitchener in 1913 as a training centre to support the war effort, before being sold to the crown in 1919.
The council will provide further information about its plans at a public drop-in session on Wednesday 21 February 2024 from 2pm to 8pm at Halton Village Hall, 11 Old School Close, Halton, Aylesbury, HP22 5NG.
For more information about to share your view, visit: https://yourvoicebucks.citizenspace.com/planning/raf-halton/
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