EXCLUSIVE: Greater than 1,200 properties have already been constructed along with a lodge, faculty, a Sainsbury’s and different amenities.
The city may turn out to be house to 25,000 folks (Picture: Dorchester Dwelling)
A former RAF airbase in Oxfordshire is on observe to turn out to be one of many UK’s most bold new cities. Positioned on the historic website of the RAF Higher Heyford airbase in Cherwell, Heyford Park is situated simply six miles away from Bicester and round 12 miles from Oxford. The airbase was as soon as house to the continent’s second-longest runway and was utilized by the US Air Power throughout the Chilly Struggle.
The £5 billion masterplan may ultimately see greater than 25,000 folks residing there, remodeling the 1,200-acre brownfield website into a big new city with as much as 13,000 properties. 1,200 properties, a lodge, a faculty, a Sainsbury’s and neighborhood amenities have already been constructed.
1,200 properties have already been constructed (Picture: Dorchester Dwelling)
Developer Dorchester Dwelling has formally submitted its masterplan to construct one other 9,000 properties. If authorized by Cherwell District Council, development may start as early as autumn 2026, with full completion anticipated by 2042.
Underneath the brand new plans, round 30% of the 9,000 properties can be inexpensive, forming a part of what the developer describes as a self-sufficient and sustainable settlement. The proposals additionally embody 900 assisted residing items and 180 properties allotted for key staff.
The brand new plans would come with 5 new colleges, a leisure centre, eating places, cafés, and additional neighborhood areas.
Dorchester Dwelling mentioned that 60% of Heyford Park shall be devoted to open house, from parkland, pure play areas, strolling trails, meadows and orchards in addition to planting over 65,000 bushes.
In September 2025, Heyford Park was chosen as one in all 12 places recognized by the federal government’s New Cities Taskforce as having the potential to ship large-scale housing development. Collectively, the shortlisted areas may present as much as 300,000 properties over the approaching many years.
For Jim Hill, Heyford Park is each a office and his now long-term house. He has labored at Heyford Park for over 10 years with ITS (Aylesbury) Ltd, and moved there 9 years in the past, buying a four-bedroom home. Since then, he has watched the realm regularly develop and now, with the 9,000 new house masterplan having been submitted, he’s spoken to the Categorical about what this implies for the area people.
Jim Hill has been residing in Heyford Park for 9 years now (Picture: Dorchester Dwelling )
He mentioned: “I’ve been right here 9 years now, it’s a choice I’ll by no means remorse. I feel Heyford Park is a incredible place to dwell. I take advantage of all of the amenities right here; it has all of the day-to-day stuff you want in your doorstep. The masterplan is one thing I’m actually enthusiastic about, I feel it’ll remodel the way in which numerous us locals live. What’s actually wonderful is the range of homes at Heyford Park that enables everybody from first-time patrons, households shifting inside Heyford, and other people retiring and downsizing to discover a house that fits them.”
“It’ll be good to have extra facilities, together with eating places and bars, if the masterplan is authorized. It might be nice to ultimately have extra selection unfold throughout the house.”
Mr Hill can be trying ahead to the transport upgrades included within the masterplan. These embody plans to reopen the disused Ardley Station on the Chiltern Major Line, and upgrades to Heyford Station, together with elevated frequency on the Cherwell Valley Line to assist enhance the commute from Heyford Park to Oxford. This is able to additionally imply that residents of Heyford Park will have the ability to attain main cities like London and Birmingham with out having to drive.
He added: “The plans for brand new bus routes and practice traces will positively impression everybody at Heyford Park, people who depend on public transport are going to profit from dependable routes into work and when visiting close-by cities. If Heyford Park turns into a brand new city, that creates extra work and stability for native trades, and it helps everybody within the provide chain. Past my work, although, it’s fascinating to see the place you reside evolve on this manner; it’s not one thing everybody experiences. It’s early days, however total, I feel the long run seems to be vivid; it appears like Heyford Park is shifting in a path that helps the individuals who already dwell right here.”
Paul Silver is the CEO of Dorchester Dwelling (Picture: Dorchester Dwelling )
Paul Silver, CEO of Dorchester Dwelling, additionally instructed the Categorical: “The Authorities’s new cities programme represents an essential alternative to rethink how we ship development, not just by growing housing numbers, however by creating locations with actual id, infrastructure and long-term imaginative and prescient.
“Essentially the most profitable cities and neighbourhoods on this nation have been deliberate with long-term objective, whether or not within the Victorian period or by the post-war new cities programme. Stevenage, the UK’s first New City, is an efficient instance. It wasn’t only a housing scheme – it was designed round jobs, transport, inexperienced house and a transparent public want. 80 years later, it nonetheless works as a functioning city as a result of these rules have been embedded from the very begin.
“One of many causes this issues is that, frankly, we don’t have a lot to point out for the previous couple of many years of planning on this nation. Too typically, we’ve got delivered housing with an absence of id and infrastructure, or it arrives too late to repair, and the harm is already finished.
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“Our proposed new city growth is without doubt one of the most bold regeneration tasks in Oxfordshire, and it’s formed by a transparent masterplan and a powerful sense of place. From new properties and colleges to neighborhood areas, inexperienced infrastructure, native employment and plans to turn out to be the UK’s first energy-surplus city, Heyford Park is designed to develop in a sustainable and balanced manner. We’ve already come a great distance in remodeling a former RAF base right into a thriving, trendy neighborhood, and the subsequent chapter is about delivering on that authentic imaginative and prescient with folks on the forefront.
“As momentum builds behind the brand new cities programme, Heyford Park stands as a transparent instance of what’s doable when growth is led by placemaking. For us, much like the brand new cities created many years in the past, it’s about making a long-lasting legacy for the way forward for Oxfordshire.”
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