Lincs and Notts air ambulance submits new HQ plan

Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance have submitted proposals for a new headquarters building near Lincoln.

The proposed site would see the charity’s head offices built at land near RAF Waddington on A15 Sleaford Road.

Under the plans submitted to North Kesteven District Council, the charity would purchase the land which is currently owned by the Ministry of Defence.

Visuals of the proposed headquarters submitted by Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance.

Staff, crew and helicopters would be based at the new headquarters which would include a hangar and a two storey office building.

Currently, the charity’s operations and offices are based separately.

The air ambulance helicopter is operated from RAF Waddington, while the charity has offices in Bracebridge Heath and Colwick in Nottingham.

More visuals of the new headquarters, which would include a hangar and offices.

Under new proposals, the headquarters would provide an air operations facility as well as office space for staff and volunteers to work.

The building would also house a rapid response vehicle for when the charity’s helicopter is grounded due to bad weather.

A grant of £1.8 million was awarded to the charity earlier this month by the Department for Health and Social Care to help fund the project.

The chairty hopes the new headquarters will help in its bid to move to a 24/7 operations before the end of the year.

How the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance HQ would look from the A15.

Karen Jobling, chief executive officer at the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance, said: “We are delighted to announce our exciting plans for a new home for the Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance, which subject to planning permission, will be situated just a stone’s throw away from our current airbase at RAF Waddington on the A15 Sleaford Road on MOD surplus land who have agreed to sell us the land.

“This incredible development for our charity, which will see our staff, crew and helicopter all based under one roof for the very first time, will be situated just 200m from where it is now; directly adjacent from the RAF base.

“We’re incredibly grateful to everyone at RAF Waddington for allowing us to use this base as our home for the last 25 years, and we’re delighted that our very close proximity means that we can continue to build on our close relationship with military personnel and the RAF station overall.”

SUBSCRIBE TO LOCAL DEMOCRACY WEEKLY, our exclusive email newsletter with highlights from our coverage every week and insights and analysis from our local democracy reporters.