Alconbury Weald
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2025}}
{{infobox UK place
|country = England
|coordinates = {{coord|52.37|-00.24|display=inline,title}}
|official_name = Alconbury Weald
|population = 1,221
|population_ref =
|civil_parish= The Stukeleys
|shire_district= Huntingdonshire
|shire_county= Cambridgeshire
|region= East of England
|constituency_westminster= Huntingdon
|post_town= Huntingdon
|postcode_district = PE28
|postcode_area= PE
|dial_code= 01480
|os_grid_reference= TL2076
}}
Alconbury Weald is a new settlement in the civil parish of The Stukeleys, in the Huntingdonshire district,{{Cite web |title=The Stukeleys Parish Council, Huntingdonshire |url=https://www.parishcouncils.uk/parish-council/the-stukeleys-parish-council/ |website=Parish Councils}} of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. The settlement lies to the north-west of the town of Huntingdon,{{Cite web |title=Alconbury Weald (Cambridgeshire, East of England, United Kingdom) - Population Statistics, Charts, Map, Location, Weather and Web Information |url=https://www.citypopulation.de/en/uk/eastofengland/cambridgeshire/E63003047__alconbury_weald/ |access-date=2024-10-04 |website=www.citypopulation.de}} and to the south of Peterborough.{{Cite web |title=Cambridgeshire · United Kingdom |url=https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Cambridgeshire/@52.3728672,0.0072739,7z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x47d7f6109908f5a1:0x4e86a925f16b22fa!8m2!3d52.2761928!4d-0.0965375!16zL20vMDF3MHY |access-date=2024-10-04 |website=Cambridgeshire · United Kingdom }} The site was previously part of RAF Alconbury, with planning permission for the first phase of the new settlement being granted in 2014. It is close to the A1(M) motorway. Cambridgeshire County Council moved its headquarters from Cambridge to New Shire Hall at Alconbury Weald in 2021.
History
The Royal Air Force station at Alconbury opened in 1938, and was subsequently also used from 1942 by the United States Army Air Force, with operations continuing at the base after the Second World War had ended. By 2009 flying operations from the base had ceased, although the American air force continued to use part of the site. Most of the redundant land at RAF Alconbury, including the former runway, was sold to a development company, Urban and Civic, in 2009 for £27.5 million.{{cite news |title=Locals divided on Alconbury sale |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/cambridgeshire/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8362000/8362767.stm |access-date=25 March 2022 |agency=BBC News |date=16 November 2009}}
The old airfield had straddled the civil parishes of Alconbury (after which it was named) and The Stukeleys, with many of the buildings on the site closely adjoining the village of Little Stukeley. The parish boundaries were redrawn in April 2010 to put the whole of the site into the parish of The Stukeleys.{{cite book |title=The Huntingdonshire (Parishes) Order 2009 (Statutory Instrument 2009 No. 2091) |date=2009 |publisher=Department for Communities and Local Government |location=London |url=https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lgbce/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/12608/the-huntingdonshire-parishes-order-2009.pdf |access-date=25 March 2022 |archive-date=18 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220118131748/https://s3-eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/lgbce/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/12608/the-huntingdonshire-parishes-order-2009.pdf |url-status=dead }}
File:New Shire Hall, Alconbury Weald (June 2023).jpg
In 2011, the UK Government designated the Alconbury Enterprise Zone covering the site, to encourage development delivering new jobs and homes in the area.{{cite book |title=Huntingdonshire Local Plan to 2036 |date=15 May 2019 |publisher=Huntingdonshire District Council |location=Huntingdon |pages=80 |url=https://www.huntingdonshire.gov.uk/media/3872/190516-final-adopted-local-plan-to-2036.pdf |access-date=25 March 2022}}
Planning permission was granted in October 2014 for up to 290,000{{nbsp}}m2 of employment floorspace and up to 5,000 homes, with supporting infrastructure and facilities, including shops, schools, health and leisure facilities and open spaces. The application also reserved a site for a possible new railway station on the Great Northern Railway, which skirts the eastern edge of the site.Planning application 1201158OUT for Alconbury Airfield, Ermine Street, Little Stukeley, submitted by Urban & Civic to Huntingdonshire District Council 15 August 2012, granted 1 October 2014. Residents began occupying the first new homes on the site in 2016, with the first school on the site opening in September 2016.{{cite news |last1=Day |first1=Sophie |title=New primary school in Alconbury welcomes first class |url=https://www.huntspost.co.uk/news/new-primary-school-in-alconbury-welcomes-first-class-5068894 |access-date=25 March 2022 |work=Hunts Post |date=21 September 2016}}
In 2018, Cambridgeshire County Council decided to vacate its former headquarters at Shire Hall, Cambridge and move to a new building at Alconbury Weald.{{cite news |last1=Makey |first1=Julian |title=County council HQ will move to Alconbury Weald - decision |url=https://www.huntspost.co.uk/news/county-council-hq-will-move-to-alconbury-weald-decision-5129578 |access-date=25 March 2022 |work=Hunts Post |date=15 May 2018}} The new building was named "New Shire Hall", with the council's first committee meeting there being held in September 2021.{{cite web |title=Children and Young People Committee, 14 September 2021 |url=https://cambridgeshire.cmis.uk.com/ccc_live/Meetings/tabid/70/ctl/ViewMeetingPublic/mid/397/Meeting/1649/Committee/4/SelectedTab/Documents/Default.aspx |website=Cambridgeshire County Council |access-date=24 March 2022}}
In the 2021 Census, Alconbury Weald had a population of 1,221.{{cite web |title=Alconbury Weald in Cambridgeshire (East of England) |url=https://citypopulation.de/en/uk/eastofengland/cambridgeshire/E63003047__alconbury_weald/ |website=City Population.de |access-date=1 September 2024}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.urbanandcivic.com/portfolio/strategic-sites/alconbury-weald/ Urban & Civic: Alconbury Weald]
Category:Populated places in Cambridgeshire
Category:Planned communities in England