Present Use
Following the closure of the RAF station, some of the land around the runways was returned to farming. Tangmere Airfield Nurseries have built huge glasshouses for the cultivation of peppers and aubergines.
Until 1983 37 acres (150,000 m2) of barracks, admin blocks and repair workshops remained derelict until bought by Seawards Properties Ltd. Housing soon spread around the airfield, and much RAF building was demolished and officers' houses retained as homes. However, some original RAF buildings remain, including 3 large hangars, the Control Tower and one of the ‘H Block’ accommodation buildings.
The vast majority of the airfield is now farmed, and since 1979 the runways have slowly been removed thus returning the whole airfield back to large scale farming once again. The control tower forms part of the farm.
There are current negotiations on whether to build houses on it as essentially it is a brownfield site. Latest figures of the number of houses the airfield could sustain was 1300.
Read more about this topic: RAF Tangmere
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