East Anglian Air Ambulance Approved for Base Relocation

The East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA), a lifesaving charity in the United Kingdom, has received planning permission to relocate its Cambridge air base to a new purpose-built facility in Cambridgeshire.

South Cambridgeshire District Council approved the application on April 8, 2026, for the charity to establish its new operations at New Shardelowes Farm, located on Balsham Road in Fulbourn.

The decision follows plans submitted by the charity in November to move its western base from its current location at Cambridge City Airport. The relocation is necessitated by the planned closure of Cambridge City Airport by 2028.

Facility Details and Operational Scope

The proposed facility at New Shardelowes Farm is designed to support the charity’s 24-hour emergency medical operations. According to the EAAA, the new site will include the following infrastructure:

• Helipads
• A hangar
• Offices
• A medical store
• Sleeping accommodation

The EAAA operates across four counties, providing emergency coverage for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk. The charity maintains two bases in total, with its second location situated at Norwich Airport.

The importance of the service was highlighted by Richard Hindson, the EAAA director of operations and infrastructure, who stated that the service directly treated more than 900 people in 2025.

Funding and Next Steps

While planning permission has been granted, the charity must now secure the financial resources required to construct the base. The organization has described the creation of the new Cambridgeshire air base from scratch as its largest project to date.

Creating a new Cambridgeshire air base, from scratch, is our biggest ever project and we need to raise a significant sum of money to make this happen

Richard Hindson, director of operations and infrastructure at EAAA

The charity announced that it will launch a fundraising appeal to raise the necessary funds following the approval of the planning application. However, the EAAA indicated that specific details regarding the fundraising target and the nature of the effort would not be revealed until later in April 2026.

Richard Hindson characterized the planning approval as just the start of our journey to a new home, emphasizing that the charity acted quickly to identify a site that would ensure the continued provision of its vital medical services in the region.