Recycled aggregates from a former military runway in Norfolk are set to be reused on major highway construction schemes nearby.

Around half of the 140,000t of crushed concrete and asphalt material extracted from RAF Coltishall north of Norwich is to be used to build road improvements at Postwick Junction to the east of the city, beside the A47.

The highway junction is to serve a proposed business park called Broadland Gate and will form part of the new Norwich Northern Distributor Road. Work to build the junction could begin next spring.

Norfolk County Council confirmed on Friday that a planning application is about to be submitted for the aggregate removal from the runway.

Material will be screened and stockpiled on site and removed when necessary for the Postwick contract. The balance will go to other local highway schemes that get the go ahead.

The council's project manager for the former RAF site Neil Smith said: "If the council can use aggregate from one of its assets to build new infrastructure there are clearly good commercial savings to be had."

He added that making use of secondary materials from the RAF base would also save the need to import primary aggregates from Leicestershire.

RAF Coltishall started operating in 1938 and was sold by the Ministry of Defence in 2006 to the Ministry of Justice. Some of the airmens' accommodation is used to house prisoners. The site was bought by Norfolk County Council earlier this year.

(Photo: Sgt Jack Pritchard, Crown Copyright MOD)

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