Discussions began straight after the Second World War about how the site of RAF Church Lawford might be used. The area with the runway fell into Church Lawford parish, with the areas of housing being in Long Lawford parish – although in both cases they remained the responsibility of the Air Ministry until decommissioned and handed back.
By mid-1963 it was announced that RAF Church Lawford would close.
By early 1969 some of the land on the site had been made available to the farmers that had originally farmed the land. At this stage the housing in the Circle and the Crescent was being retained by the Ministry for married quarters.
During the 1960s permission was given for indoor vehicle storage on the site, Progressive Vehicle Deliveries Ltd and their subsidiary Motor Vehicle Collections (MVC) moving in to a 17 acres site during 1966. There followed a dispute about outside storage, which was then allowed on a temporary basis, and there was also industrial action on the site due to the changes being made in the business. Another area was permitted to be used for storage for plant related to the gas pipeline being laid in the area. By the 1970s permission had been granted for an industrial estate on a small portion of the perimeter of the site next to the Royal Ordnance Corps facility – this soon became the home for DK Packing and Casemaking. There was much debate regarding the name of the facility, especially after the opening of the Church Lawford Business Centre in Limestone Lane, as illustrated in this Rugby Advertiser article of January 1989.
Further attempts were mooted to build housing on the airfield site – as recently as 1990 there were suggestions that the site of 60 scattered homes might be developed to ease pressure on the growing Cawston area, There was much opposition to this idea. Permission was given in 1990 to create Ling Hall quarry, and the subsequent Land Fill and Solar Farm activity mean it will be at least a century before the land is restored for normal use – the timeline is discussed here.
The advent of the Quarry and Recycling facility did not completely remove the threat of additional housing on Lawford Heath – in 1998 there was a proposal by Batchelors Homes to build 20 houses on Green Belt land near the Ryelands area on Lawford Heath.