The RAF Site Today

The camps have closed, but reminders remain. The large green storage hangers are still there now used by many companies for storage etc., the tall perimeter fences can still be seen and even in the Quedgeley Social club, a few reminders remain. The scroll takes pride of place on the club wall telling the history of RAF Quedgeley, and the name, The Qunity Bar. It's not a spelling mistake, it was the name of the camp's own social club The Qunity Club, Qu.- Quedgeley, nity- United. Even in the church a piece of the site's history can be found, it hangs on the wall and was the old brass fire bell that used to hang outside the main gatehouse to the camp. The Plaque under it reads 'For nearly 60 years this bell hung outside the main gatehouse of No 7 M.U. RAF Quedgeley. Its hangs here now to honour the very many civilian workers who served the station until its closure in 1996. Rev Geoffrey Stickland. Officiating chaplain 1982 -1996 The Church is also where the camp's standard is laid up.

All the sites have now been sold off. Many have been built on with new houses, a few retain the old familiar large hangers which at present act as large covered storage areas. We now await to see the development on the largest single piece of ground, the old main site off Naas lane, where permission to build 2,600 houses has now been given. It’s hoped that the new owners, Quedgeley Urban Village Limited (QUVL) will try to remember the history of the site in some way, and not just knock it down and build yet another Quedgeley. The Kings Way, the name given to the site that will be divided from Quedgeley by the A38 by-pass. Quedgeley needs to be united as it was in the past. No one wants it to be separated from the heart of the community, but with such a large dividing major road running through its centre it’s hard to see how the two parts can become a single community. On the plans there is provision for a place of worship, a community centre, some small retail shops and possibly two new primary schools, several play areas and open space.

There’s even provision for allotments. About a third of the total site will still be used for industrial use and the old hangers used for storage. The remainder will be built on. The old Manor Farm will remain and hopefully be turned into a cultural centre. Certain older buildings such as the Officers mess will unfortunately have to be knocked down, but TPO (tree preservation orders) have been placed on many of the older mature trees and the long sweeping row of trees on its Eastern side will act as a good sound barrier between the new housing and railway line.

The new South West bypass from the Over bridge will provide access to the M5 motorway with very little need to go through Gloucester and the plan to ‘straighten’ the canal and take out the two mile bend will be beneficial. This will require a new "lifting" bridge to be constructed over the canal and the road will be linked into the Cole Avenue complex of traffic lights. The new owners of the site, QUVL, a consortium of builders, have said that they will give an S106 agreed payment of £6 million towards the cost of the last part of the South West Bypass. The plans for the type of housing on the site shows 840 properties will be of the social housing style that the Government wants and these will be built and run by the Gloucester Housing Association, with many being suitable for the young 'starter' people that want to either rent or part own so that they can get a foot on the ladder to enable them to have an house of their own one day. At the time of writing it is expected that the 'first' new residents of Kings Way will start to move in during August 2005 and the build rate should be one home each day for over 7 years, this will put a tremendous demand on the already stretched services in the area, but as they say you can't stop progress!!!