Standard bearing the squadrons battle honours placed in the safe keeping of Ely Cathedral. In 1963, 1971, 1980, 1981 and 1982, RAF West Raynham was the location of the Royal Observer Corps annual summer training camps for eight weeks when up to 500 observers attended each week for technical training sessions. Other ranks were accommodated in spare barrack blocks and officers in the officers' mess. In 1980 the start of the camps coincided with a no notice station three-day Tactical Evaluation (TACEVAL) inspection by RAF Strike Command and much consternation was caused when a full-time ROC officer arrived at the main gate in a car loaded with radioactive sources needed for an ROC training session. With the arrival obviously not expected by the TACEVAL directing staff the vehicle was placed under armed guard and the ROC officer bundled into the station guardroom where he remained locked up for several hours until the senior ROC officer was located to vouch for him. Closure and redevelopment In 1994, RAF West Raynham was shut down by the Ministry of Defence. The airfield and technical site remained the property of the MoD but the site was disused and its houses left empty and falling into disrepair. In 2002 Norman Lamb, Member of Parliament for North Norfolk, labelled the situation a "scandal" as at the time there was a shortage of affordable housing in the region. Though empty, the MoD had retained RAF West Raynham as a strategic reserve, however in 2004 it was decided that the base would play no future role in the defence of the country. Lamb campaigned for the houses to be turned over for civilian use, and it was announced in October 2004 that 170 homes at RAF West Raynham would be sold. In December 2005 it was announced that the whole site would be sold by tender. The site was purchased by Roger Byron-Collins' company the Welbeck Estate Group in a joint venture with Hodge Homes in April 2006, then resold it in October 2007, as they had been unable to install the necessary infrastructure. Tamarix Investments bought RAF West Raynham in October 2007; they planned to build new homes on the site and a hotel, as well as renovate the standing houses. The plans included turning the site into an eco-village, with a biomass generator to supply power. The 170 houses at RAF West Raynham will be repaired