GAMA plans defended ahead of meeting
Flying A Services have said that to allow permanent car storage would give the site a new lease of life
THE owners of an historic part of Greenham Common which once housed Cold War missiles have defended their plans to allow permanent car storage on the site.
Flying A Services hopes to allow storage of up to 6,900 cars on the former Ground Launch Cruise Missile Alert and Maintenance Area (GAMA) site at Greenham Common, home to Cold War missile silos and bunkers that are protected as a ‘scheduled monument' - a nationally important archaeological site that is given protection against unauthorised change.
In response to recent criticism from local councillors over their plans, Flying A have said they do not have a hidden agenda and that their plans were not something they had just dreamed up, adding that to allow permanent car storage would give the site a new lease of life.
Flying A's plans will go before the district planning committee of West Berkshire Council for a decision tomorrow (Tuesday). West Berkshire planning officers have recommended them for refusal on the grounds of the site's historic significance and because it is said to undermine district planning policy and cause “demonstrable harm”.
However, the director of Flying A Services, Mark Pople, has said: “Without repurposing this site, it would be derelict. We have done our homework, we have marketed the site and looked at what people have said, but this seems to be the way forward.”
A previous consent from 2007 permitted temporary car storage for up to ten years on parts of the site, and the owners said that after extensive marketing, permanent car storage was the only viable option to obtain income to help secure the site's long term maintenance and preservation.
But English Heritage, Greenham Parish Council, Burghclere Parish Council and Kingsclere Parish Council have all objected to the plans on the grounds of the historic significance of the scheduled monument and the significant harm the proposals would cause it, the impact on local traffic and the predicted increase in air, light and noise pollution at the site.
Recently, district councillor Julian Swift-Hook (Lib Dem, Greenham) launched an online petition to try and protect the site, and vowed to lobby the White House and the Pentagon to try and prevent the site from becoming a “giant car park.”
Flying A have said they are keen to create a historical museum on the site, contrary to Mr Swift-Hook's view that this “vague promise” was not credible.
The district planning committee meeting starts at 6.30pm tomorrow in the council offices, Market Street, Newbury.
Members of the public may attend.
