Derelict RAF guardroom to become community centre
A derelict guardroom on a disused RAF base is to be transformed into a community centre for a growing village.
The building has not been used since the armed services left RAF Upwood in Cambridgeshire.
The parish council said the centre would "become the heart" of the village of Bury.
The project has now been approved by Huntingdonshire District Council.
RAF Upwood opened towards the end of World War One, and initially became the home of No. 191 (Night) Training Squadron.
The station was closed after the war but reopened in the late 1930s.
During World War Two, the RAF's No. 17 Operational Training Unit was based there and it was attacked twice by the Luftwaffe.
A few of the original buildings remain at RAF Upwood [Peter Neal/Geograph]
By the end of the 1970s there was very little activity at the site, but it was handed over to the United States Air Force in 1981 and became a satellite station of RAF Alconbury.
The site was mostly vacant by 1994.
The site has been largely disused since 1994 [Peter Neal/Geograph]
The plans for the guardroom drawn up by Bury Parish Council will turn it into a community meeting room and a studio with a bar.
There will also be a retail unit which could be used as a hairdressers or a health suite and new offices for the council.
Bury Parish Council has produced a drawing showing what the community centre may look like [Civic London/Bury Parish Council]
The authority said the new venue would "become the heart" of the growing village, offering people a place for meetings, cultural functions and public services.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the work would be partly funded by a grant from the district council.
The district council agreed to give permission for the work, after planning officers said the project would bring the derelict building back into use, and would not create any "significant detrimental impact" on the surrounding area.
Plans have previously been approved to build up to 160 new homes at the RAF Upwood site and a proposal for a care home was given approval in 2023.
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