RAF Woodhall Spa could be turned into a ‘golf holiday park’

The former RAF Woodhall Spa site could be turned into a golf-based holiday park, it has emerged.

The Ministry of Defence confirmed last year that the station land was being sold because it was “surplus public sector land”. Two councils, East Lindsey District Council and Lincolnshire County Council, have now both expressed an interest in buying the site, reports Lincolnshire Live, with the latter stating that there have been conversations between the two parties about “collaboration on shared ambitions”.

Currently, 80 percent of the land is a golf club that is used by RAF Coningsby. However, officers have said that the course is “at best a municipal pay and play standard” and would take “significant investment” to attract private membership, especially considering other nearby courses.

RAF Woodhall Spa last year. Image from Facebook

East Lindsey District Council has several potential plans for the land, including converting it into a golf-based holiday park. There are reportedly also proposals to convert the site into a crematorium, a woodland burial ground or an industrial redevelopment.

The Ministry of Defence values the land at around £1.6 million but East Lindsey District Council believes it could be worth £1.3 million or less.
RAF Woodhall Spa opened in 1942 as a satellite station for RAF Coningsby. It was a missile base from the late 1950s to 1965 when most of the land was sold off for farming and mineral extraction.

The rest of the station closed completely in 2003 and the Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust established a nature reserve at the former air base in 2015. Most recently, a temporary mortuary was set up at the station as part of “worst case scenario” plans during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic.