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Derelict RAF guardroom to become community centre

Hannah Brown
Local Democracy Reporting Service
AdrianSPye/Geograph White single-storey building with "RAF Upwood" in black letters above the entrance. The facade has six pillars running from floor to roof. There is graffiti on the pillars. Wooden boards are visible behind the pillars. There are trees either side of the building. AdrianSPye/Geograph
The guardroom still has the RAF Upwood name above the entrance

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.

Peter Neal/Geograph Two-storey light brown brick building with square holes where the windows should be. There is a drain pipe to the right with a damp patch round it. A military tank is in the foreground, with graffiti on the side. Large fir trees can be seen to the left. The concrete base in front of the building has grass growing through it.Peter Neal/Geograph
A few of the original buildings remain at RAF Upwood

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.

Peter Neal/Geograph Light brown brick buildings - mostly two-storey with small windows. There is a grassed area between the two rows of buildings. Wooden storage boxes are visible at intervals down the grassed area.Peter Neal/Geograph
The site has been largely disused since 1994

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.

Civic London/Bury Parish Council Single-storey building with white facade with six pillars equally spaced. There is a brick wall with windows behind the facade. The RAF Upwood legend above the entrance remains. There are windows to the side and a raised glass roof in the middle of the main roof. There is a covered cycle rack to the left of the front elevation. Trees and shrubs are visible around the building.Civic London/Bury Parish Council
Bury Parish Council has produced a drawing showing what the community centre may look like

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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