Site history: Post 1992
The creation of New Greenham Park: from swords to ploughshares
Aware that the Common could be sold piecemeal for housing development and lost forever to the local community the Greenham Common Trust was formed, which purchased the former airbase on 24th March 1997. Around 750-acres of the airbase, including the runways and taxiways, were transferred to the control of the local authority to be restored, with further financial support from the Trust, as common land open to the general public. Visit our restoration page for more information.
On the 8th April 2000, the common was reopened with unrestricted access, providing a natural resource of regional importance and a haven for wildlife with the re-colonisation of the common by native species and the re-establishment of the natural heathland habitat.
Cattle grazing on the restored Greenham Common
The remaining 150-acres, consisting of aircraft hangers and buildings, were transferred to Greenham Common Trust to be regenerated as ‘New Greenham Park’, a mixed use business campus with provision for a centre for the arts and community recreation. The long-term plan for the management of New Greenham Park was the creation of a modern, environmentally friendly, mixed development. This regeneration included the refurbishment of many of the former military buildings, including Venture West, the former control centre for the cruise missiles. To learn more regarding the military history of Venture West click here.
The Enterprise Centre, New Greenham Park
In 2002 members of the Greenham Common Women‘s Peace Camp dedicated a commemorative site just outside the main entrance to New Greenham Park featuring a stone and spiral water feature and a six-foot high steel sculpture of a campfire, with a circle of seven standing stones within an landscaped setting. The sculptures symbolise the Greenham Common peace camp that had occupied the site for many years. Click here for more information.
The Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp commemorative & historic site at New Greenham Park.
Sarah Hipperson, a peace campaigner and a member of the peace camps for 19-years, said in 2005: “Greenham was the focus of the anti-nuclear protests for over twenty-years but has since become a symbol of reconciliation, cooperation and collaboration.”
The serenity of Greenham Common today is indeed a sharp contrast to the situation during the Cold War.
If you have found these pages interesting - you might like to click here for details of a photographic collection of the former airbase and its history.
Related Links
Greenham Common Trust
Greenham Common Photographic Project
GAMA site construction
Concrete to Common Land by Andrew Fleming
Restoration of Greenham Common