Stop the Rougham Relief Road!

The town of Bury St Edmunds is growing, and visitors to the Airfield will be aware of the large amount of housing development to the North and East of the Airfield, between it and the town itself. The town planners wish to build a relief road between the houses and the A14.

It appears that in spite of numerous petitions objecting to the proposed development around the Rougham Airfield site, the construction of the associated Relief Road for commercial traffic from the Moreton Hall Industrial Estate through the Rougham Industrial Estate to join the A14 has now been approved.

The proposed route is the most direct one (and therefore probably the cheapest), and is the only one which is presently under consideration. It will divide the Airfield, running within the curtillage of the Tower and its buildings, which are Grade II listed. It will also adversely affect the dignity and tranquillity of the site of the recently dedicated Memorial to the American Servicemen who were based at Rougham Airfield in the second World War.

Here's a photo taken from the North side of the airfield, looking roughly South-east. The surrounding roads are picked out in orange and the airfield land is highlighted. The proposed road is the red line. You can see how close it passes to the Control Tower Museum (ringed in blue) and how it cuts through one of the runways (blue lines).

If the road is built as proposed, the Tower, Museum and Memorial will have a highway used by an increasing volume of commercial traffic within a few feet of their position, raising serious security considerations. The amenity use of the Airfield by the various Clubs, Organisations and private individuals who currently enjoy it will it be considerably affected, as will all the public events which now take place on the Airfield.

Alternative routes are of course possible, and serious consideration should be given to the one favoured by supporters of the Tower and Airfield, which follows the route of the Airfield’s southern perimeter track and existing road, passing through the Rougham Industrial Estate and exiting at General Castle Way to link with the new Junction 45 of the A14. This route is picked out in yellow on the photo above.

It is to be hoped that when the final decision on the route is made, the historical importance of the Control Tower site and the peace of the Memorial will be taken into consideration, and that the Airfield will be left intact to develop as a site of historic interest and continue to be free to operate as West Suffolk’s Open Air Venue.

Please join us in objecting to the road being built along the currently proposed route. Here's a Word document to download which gives some more details. This is a list of influential people to contact to register your views. Please also sign this petition online. Thank you for your help.