THE former RAF Uxbridge base is best known for the vital part it played in the Battle of Britain, but the site is being given a new lease of life as a housing estate.

House builders Charles Church have begun an ambitious scheme to create a new community on the site, which has already attracted interest on a national scale.

The St Andrew’s Park development is expected to take up to seven years to complete and will be set in 45 acres of parkland.

When complete, it will provide more than 1,200 homes, along with a primary school, GPs’ surgery, theatre, community buildings, a hotel, commercial space and a retirement home.

Of the 23 homes initially released, 16 have already been reserved, including four detached houses on the edge of the park in Vine Lane.

These four homes, starting at £724,950, were the first properties to be offered for sale.

“These are really superb homes in an exceptional location and the interest they have attracted has reflected that,” said Ian Menham, Charles Church Thames Valley managing director.

“These first sales are an important milestone on the seven-year journey we are now beginning.”

The site has a rich history as it was here that No. 11 Group RAF were based, responsible for the aerial defence of London and the South East.

A bunker, known afterwards as the Battle of Britain Bunker, was built nearby to house 11 Group Operations Room, which controlled the group’s fighter squadrons.

The operations room was also responsible for providing air support during the evacuation of Dunkirk in May 1940 and the D-Day Landings.

It was while exiting the Battle of Britain Bunker, now a museum, that Sir Winston Churchill gave his famous wartime speech: "Never was so much owed by so many to so few."

For more information on St Andrew’s Park, visit www.charleschurch.com or call 0843 487 0947.