Plans in for Wiltshire wartime base development

A plan to preserve the heritage of a historic wartime airbase in Wiltshire and breathe new life into the site by creating sustainable new homes has been described as “the last chance to save it”.Stonewood Partnerships has submitted a planning application to Wiltshire Council for a neighbourhood of 43 low energy homes in and among refurbished buildings at the former RAF Yatesbury airbase.This was a vital part of the war effort in both WWI and WWII.The 32-acre site has lain empty since a plan to build 62 properties was approved in 2007, after a planning inquiry, but was later abandoned.Stonewood land and planning director James Petherick said the new plan is designed not only to safeguard the history of the base, which was opened by the Royal Army Flying Corps in 1916, but to reflect its status as a conservation area.The plan would see seven crumbling buildings, including the grade II-listed former officers’ mess, the teaching block, hostel and lecture hut, restored or rebuilt to their former glory and turned into homes.A further 36 timber-framed sustainable three, four and five-bedroomed properties, designed to reflect the form and materials of the original buildings, would form a community around public spaces and gardens, walkways and play areas.Petherick recognised that there had been “a few false dawns in the past ten years” but added that “we are uniquely placed to deliver an amazing scheme because we have a great record in getting these projects off the ground”.After serving as an airbase during WWI, the site returned to its former agricultural use when it was sold to the Co-op. In 1935, the roar of plane engines returned when it was sold to the Bristol Aeroplane Company for use as a civilian flying school but three years later military aircraft returned when it became an RAF flying school.In 1940, the arrival of the No2 Signal School heralded its use as a radio training base throughout war and then the Cold War until its closure in 1965.