The firm’s nearest ward sees Labour strongly opposed to development with up to 40,000 new residents.

• Three of Cambridge’s long-standing councillors have urged Marshall to stay and have vowed to do everything they can to prevent the company from relocating.

“Our local Labour Party is unanimous in wanting Marshall to stay. Back in 2010 we successfully fought the then Lib Dem administration’s plans to have the company move, and we will do so again. Public opinion is overwhelmingly against the idea, with the vast majority of Cambridge residents wanting to see the aerospace jobs and business retained in Cambridge.”

• Site not appropriate for huge housing scheme

“If housing is to be built in the Cambridge area it needs to be done in the right place, with proper transport and local infrastructure. Traffic currently around the airport is at gridlock, and another 12,000+ homes and the air pollution it would cause is just unthinkable. Housing targets can be met alongside the current local and area plans without such an enormous scheme which would be overwhelming.

• Company reneging on 2010 pledge to stay, instead profiteering from Council deal

“As part of the agreement to stay, the City Council removed the airfield land from the greenbelt, allowing Marshall to expand their business and providing what they said was a long term platform for remaining in Cambridge. Of course, this removal also created a massive uplift in the value of their land, but the agreement was there to help the business, not a City Council gift of billions to be gleefully banked whilst moving the 40 miles to Cranfield.”

• Jobs and skills loss could be immense

“There are 1700 mainly local people employed by Marshall Aerospace. The skills and effort of past Cambridge workers helped build this business, and current apprentice schemes are still vital, including for the children and grandchildren of local residents. Other local Cambridge firms are also highly dependent on the airport business. We know of workers with services of 30+ and 40+ years to the company; 25 families have 3 or more people whom together and have worked at the company for 100 years; there is one family with a combined service of 210 years. Today over ¼ of the workforce are under 30, and about 600 employees are under 25. This successful Cambridge company has been dedicated to building the skills of their workforce, with over 10,000 apprentices trained being in the last 100 years. We have plenty of jobs in academia and in the science parks, but the roles undertaken there do not include the sorts of jobs and skills that Marshall Aerospace does and which would be sorely missed.”