BUSHFIELD Camp has lain unused for more than four decades.

It is set to return to the spotlight as Winchester City Council draws up is new local plan. The military camp was earmarked for a ‘knowledge park’ but the economic situation makes that highly uncertain.

Meanwhile, a campaign is growing for the adjacent Bushfield Down to be preserved.

The question has arisen as to whether Bushfield Camp, the former Army base, can still be considered ‘brownfield’ land now that nature has been reclaiming it since the 1970s. The definition of brownfield land on the Planning Portal website of the Department of Communities and Local Government says it excludes “land that was previously-developed but where the remains of the permanent structure or fixed surface structure have blended into the landscape in the process of time.” Only the parade ground is still in good shape.

The photos taken in 1980, and reproduced by permission of Hampshire Library Service, show how the camp shortly after the Army moved out.