The former RAF base still used as airport set to become 'Cambridge East' neighbourhood

It feels as though there is an announcement of new homes planned for Cambridge and South Cambridgeshire almost every other week, with the landscape set to change gradually over the next few years and decades. One area earmarked for development is set to become a new neighbourhood called 'Cambridge East'.

Under the plans, the area would be completely transformed from its use today as an airport – instead becoming home to thousands of people. That airport, of course, is Cambridge Airport, often called Marshall's.

The airfield, owned and managed by Marshall Aerospace, opened in 1938. During the Second World War, it was used by the RAF and known as both RAF Cambridge and RAF Teversham, after the village situated next to the airfield.

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Several units were stationed at the base, including units focused on training pilots. It seems that the RAF was involved at the base until around the late 1950s.

'Rare' Grade II listed building

The iconic main control and office building visible from Newmarket is Grade II listed, according to Historic England. The listing describes it as "a rare and little altered example of an interwar airport control, club and terminal building."

In 1948, a woman named Richarda Morrow-Tait used the airport as the launch for her round-the-world flight, flying first from Cambridge to Croydon. It took her a year and a day to complete the trip – which had been planned to last only six to eight weeks, according to the BBC.

The airport weathered several decades, with proposals for it to move and several name changes. For a few years in the 2010s, it offered commercial charter flights to Italy and the Channel Islands, but these passenger services ceased in 2016.

In May 2019, the owners of the airport announced that it would be closed by 2030 at the latest as part of a planned relocation. The aerospace company was given the green light in 2023 to move to a new facility at Cranfield University.

Early plans for a new neighbourhood

There are now proposals to redevelop the airport into a neighbourhood to be called 'Cambridge East' as part of the Greater Cambridge Local Plan. According to the project website, this is intended "to create a new urban quarter that transforms the east of the city, delivering new homes, jobs, facilities, infrastructure, and opportunities for Cambridge".

Initial 'engagement' to shape designs and proposals was carried out in 2023, with initial proposals for feedback expected to come in 2025. Although there is no detail as of yet, it is clear that the proposals will radically change the area from the airport that so many are familiar with.