Alconbury Weald is a new settlement in the civil parish of The Stukeleys, in the

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a local government district in Cambridgeshire, England, which was historically a county in its own right. It borders Peterborough to the north, Fenland to the north-east, East Cambridgeshire to the e ...

district, of the county of

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfor ...

, England. The settlement lies to the north-west of the town of

Huntingdon Huntingdon is a market town in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. The town was given its town charter by John, King of England, King John in 1205. It was the county town of the historic county of Huntingdonshire. Oliver C ...

, and to the south of

Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...

. 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 A1(M) is the designation given to a series of four separate controlled-access highway, motorway sections in the UK. Each section is an upgrade to a section of the A1 road (Great Britain), A1, a major north–south road which connects Greater ...

Cambridgeshire County Council Cambridgeshire County Council is the county council for non-metropolitan county of Cambridgeshire, England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county, which additionally includes the City o ...

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 The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

, with operations continuing at the base after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

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. 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. In 2011, the UK Government designated the Alconbury

Enterprise Zone An urban enterprise zone is an area in which policies to encourage economic growth and development are implemented. Urban enterprise zone policies generally offer tax concessions, infrastructure incentives, and reduced regulations to attract invest ...

covering the site, to encourage development delivering new jobs and homes in the area. Planning permission was granted in October 2014 for up to 290,000m² 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. Residents began occupying the first new homes on the site in 2016, with the first school on the site opening in 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. The new building was named "New Shire Hall", with the council's first committee meeting there being held in September 2021. In the 2021 Census, Alconbury Weald had a population of 1,221.

References

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External links

Urban & Civic: Alconbury Weald
Populated places in Cambridgeshire Planned communities in England Planned communities established in the 2010s Huntingdonshire