Cublington Airport

Cublington Airport is an unbuilt airport plan.

It was proposed by the London Third Airport process. Strong local opposition and the Prime Minister Ted Heath's strong support for the Maplin Airport plans (jokingly dubbed 'Heathograd' in the same way that Thames Gateway Airport was dubbed 'Boris Island') meant that the plan was dropped in favour of that. The eventual winner of the process was Stansted Airport.

Sitting in the Vale of Aylesbury just west of Leighton Buzzard, and a couple of miles north of Aylesbury, the site was huge. Parts of the B4032 at Stewkley and the A413 at Creslow (just north of Whitchurch) were inside the rectangle earmarked for the airport, though not all that rectangle would have been full of development. The northeastern side of the rectangle ran close to, and roughly parallel with, the B488. Slightly further away, but still within a mile, is the A418 running roughly parallel to the southeastern side of the rectangle.

New Roads

Access from the north would have come in the form of an expressway from M1 junction 14 south to the airport's NE side (to better serve the airport, Milton Keynes would be narrower on the 'V' axis, but would extend as far as Winslow on the 'H' axis, and so this expressway would run to the south of MK, rather than through it).

Access from Aylesbury would be a new road running from a northern bypass/A413 junction to the Sputhern corner of the Airport. This is marked on plans, along with the western section of the Aylesbury northern bypass, as a motorway.

Access from London had three options. It is possible more than one of these would have been built (maybe all three)

1. The Cublington Airport Motorway from Ringway 3 south of Rickmansworth, via the M25 at Sarratt, staying on high ground north of Chesham and Tring to pass through the Chilterns, then ending at the Southern corner (interchanging with the route from Aylesbury. This route would have probably also included upgrading the A41 from Hunton Bridge to Berrygrove to motorway.
2. A route from Ringway 3 north of Elstree, running roughly parallel to the M1 as far as Hemel Hempstead, then across the Chilterns in the Gade valley (where the A4146 - then B488 - runs), turning north at Dagnall and bypassing Leighton Buzzard to the north, ending at the road from the north at the edge of the airport site.
3. An upgrade of the A6 and A405 from South Mimms to Park Street Roundabout and then, at the other end of the M10, taking the Gade valley-north of Leighton Buzzard route of option 2.

Legacy

The opposition to the airport had mobilised the area to be good at blocking infrastructure projects they did not want. The Wing Bypass plans 20 years later were successfully blocked, however the Linslade western bypass 20 years after that was constructed despite protests.

Links

• SABRE Forums discussion of a map showing the road plans