Alconbury plans for 5,000 homes on show

Views are being sought on plans to build up to 5,000 homes at Alconbury airfield in Cambridgeshire.

Developer Urban&Civic, which bought the site in 2009, has submitted its plans to Huntingdonshire District Council.

Proposals for the 1,400-acre (570 hectares) site include parks, schools and business facilities that could bring up to 8,000 jobs to the area.

People can comment on the plans for "Alconbury Weald" online or at a number of public meetings in the autumn.

The area is one of 13 "enterprise zones" announced by the government in August, and would be one of largest developments in the district, a council spokesman said.

The masterplan contained about 6,000 pages, he added.

"There will doubtless be some negative comments about the impact this would have on the local infrastructure and how it might affect the local economy in other areas.

"These are things we will be trying to address through the [consultation] process," he said.

The site was established as a military airfield in 1938 and was used by both the RAF and the USAAF. Flying ceased at the airfield in 1995.