Heyford Park is a long-established brownfield regeneration site on the former RAF Upper Heyford airbase, where redevelopment has been underway for more than a decade. The site has delivered homes, a school, retail and community facilities in line with approved planning permissions. The site has already had extensive remediation works completed, conducted alongside environmental stakeholders including the Environment Agency, including digging over 70 boreholes on site and testing contamination in ground water, and soils using a methodology agreed with the EA and Cherwell. 

As with many airfields, the historic use of the site means that there is potential for legacy contamination, including Per-Polyfluoroalkyl (PFAS) which are commonly associated with historic firefighting activities which occurred prior to our ownership. This is not unique to Heyford Park. The prevalence of PFAS in the environment across the UK has been well publicized in the last few years, and the possibility of it being present at Heyford Park has already been identified in the site’s environmental assessments and Ground Conditions studies. These reports confirm that further targeted investigation is appropriate in specific areas, alongside the assessment of other potential contaminants such as hydrocarbons. This is standard practice for the regeneration of brownfield sites. 

The identification of PFAS as a potential risk does not mean that unacceptable harm is occurring and the PFAS measured in this location is some 5km from our site and could have come in part or wholly from other sources, these other potential sources including an ex-military site and landfill site would also need to be investigated. The UK planning and environmental regulatory processes are designed to manage such issues through investigation, risk-based assessment and where necessary remediation and monitoring, with these actions secured via planning conditions. 

The regeneration of Heyford Park through a controlled and regulated planning process offers far greater environmental protection than leaving the land unmanaged or undeveloped. The development will proceed in line with national planning and environmental guidance. Where contamination is identified, land will be remediated to ensure that it is safe for its intended use. This is precisely why it is better to redevelop brownfield sites where historic uses which could give rise to contaminants are identified and can then be remediated through its re-development.