Profits replace protest

James Mawson unearths an unlikely winner of a Queen's Enterprise Award

Say Greenham Common and the first thing that springs to mind are the women who protested there against cruise missiles in the early Eighties. But times have changed at the former air force base, which has been turned into a business park and has just received the Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The Greenham Common Trust, set up to redevelop the site after the missiles were taken away 13 years ago, was given the award for excellence in sustainable development.

A registered charity, chaired by Classic FM founder Sir Peter Michael, the trust was formed in 1997 by local people and now runs the business park. It bought parts of the airbase, declared redundant for military purposes in 1992 and left derelict. The cruise missiles, source of the campaign by the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, were removed from the base in 1990. The military is now trying to sell another part of the site, which contains the bun-kers used to store the missiles.

The trust borrowed £10m to buy the site. After developing the 150-acre business park, it was able to repay the debt and restore 750 acres of common land for use by local people. Its chief executive, Stuart Tagg, outlined the other plans afoot.

"Our aim is to transform the airbase into a modern business park," said Mr Tagg. "This would help sustain local social projects and charities, encourage innovative industry and provide diverse employment opportunities in a pleasant, safe and accessible environment. Although it's harder to do, we try to create facilities for all types and sizes of firms, from services to research and development to industry."

Mr Tagg added that an arts centre on the site receives £160,000 a year and local charities get £140,000 from the park's profits. "We have converted the base's school into a hospital and the mess into a school for those with hearing difficulties," he explained. "We have also funded cycle routes from the business park across the common to Newbury, have set up a free shuttle bus, and 10 per cent of our electricity comes from renewable sources."

But Mr Tagg stressed the park was run on commercial terms. "The Queen's award demonstrates that we have done something special. This was a brownfield site, without any nuclear contamination but with quite a bit of oil pollution. We hope it will possibly help to attract some more firms to the park, especially those who take a wider perspective on business."

Keith Ulyatt, a spokesman for West Berkshire council, said: "This innovative public-private partnership is a model for other brownfield areas. There is justice here as the common's use has come full circle. [Historically,] it used to be for commoners and now it has cattle grazing on it."