Council bids to buy former Dambusters RAF base

A council is bidding to buy the former RAF Scampton air base.

West Lindsey District Council said it hoped to turn the site near Lincoln into an aviation testing centre, as well as commemorating the base's military history.

Groups who want to take over the site, famed for its role in the World War Two Dambusters raid, have until Friday to register their interest with the Home Office.

The government will then ask for formal bids and business plans, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

At a meeting on Monday, councillors unanimously agreed to put the submission forward with some saying it was the "easiest decision" they'd ever made.

Sally Grindrod-Smith, the council's director of planning, regeneration and community, told the LDRS: "There are huge possibilities for the site, specifically in the defence sector.

"A number of investors want to make Scampton their home and we'd love to facilitate that," she said.

"There would be significant career opportunities in defence, aviation, drone technology, science and engineering."

Scampton has a history dating back to World War One, but is best known as the home base for the Dambusters raid of May 1943, when Lancasters from 617 Squadron used bouncing bombs to attack German dams.

The site closed in 2022 and was earmarked as a base to house migrants, until plans were scrapped last year.

If chosen by the government, the council would immediately sell the airbase to its development partner Scampton Holdings to begin work, potentially creating thousands of jobs.

Artist impressions of how the redeveloped site could look were unveiled earlier this year.

Liberal Democrat councillor Leslie Rollings said, if successful, the council's plan could "transform West Lindsey and Lincoln over the coming decades."

"It is one of the few places in the UK where satellites can be launched and aircraft can be built and tested due to its extra long runway," she said.

The sale of the site could be completed by November 2026.

Listen to highlights fromLincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch thelatest episode of Look Northor tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.

Download the BBC News app from the App Store for iPhone and iPad or Google Play for Android devices