PLANS for a new village on the old Mepal airfield have been revealed. The village would include up to 450 new homes built around a square with a village pub, shop and post office, cricket pitch, and bowls green. Heating for the homes, which would range in

PLANS for a new village on the old Mepal airfield have been revealed.

The village would include up to 450 new homes built around a square with a village pub, shop and post office, cricket pitch, and bowls green.

Heating for the homes, which would range in size from starter homes to larger houses and include socially rented properties, could be generated by the nearby Sutton straw burning plant.

The plans on a brownfield site zoned for industry have been outlined by developer, Lasercharm, which is already pushing ahead with a project to provide a hi-tech data centre on Sutton's Elean Business Park.

The £100 million centre would give individual companies the opportunity to store all their customer data and legal documents on one site and create about 1,000 new jobs. Lasercharm intends to put both schemes up for public scrutiny in Mepal and Sutton on January 24 and 25.

A company spokesman said of the plans for the new village: "We are simply gauging opinion at the moment."

Cllr Peter Moakes, vice-chairman of East Cambridgeshire District Council's planning committee said that the district council welcomes the data centre and the jobs it will create.

Exhibitions of the plans will take place at Mepal Village Hall on Thursday, January 24 from 2.30pm to 7.30pm and at The Glebe, 4 High Street, Sutton on Friday, January 25 from 2.30pm to 7.30pm.