Council gives away six historic houses in Milton Keynes

MK Council has given away six historic almshouses to the The Parks Trust so they can be restored.

This week the Trust has officially taken on the 999-year lease of the properties, which are in Great Linford Manor Park. They will all be restored and half of them will be rented out on the private market.

And MK Council will be funding part of the renovation costs.

Built in 1696, the homes were designed to provide shelter and education for poverty-stricken people in the parish. They are Grade II* listed buildings.

But over the years they have fallen into disrepair and now have structural problems. Maintaining them is costly, and an initial survey suggested that the necessary structural renovation will top £1.3m, say council officers

The Parks Trust, the independent charity that look after over 6,000 acres of green space and parkland in Milton Keynes has entered an agreement with Milton Keynes, says the almshouses form part of the wider historic landscape of Great Linford Manor Park.

A Trust spokesman said: "Subject to planning, The Parks Trust intends to fully restore the building with a view to letting out three of the Almshouses as commercial offices and the larger central schoolhouse as a private residential property.

"The Trust would like to make the remaining three Almshouses available to the public as an interpretation space, a community resource room and a public toilet, including separate provision for an accessible toilet. This will complement The Parks Trust’s wider National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery Community Fund landscape project to ‘reveal, revive and restore’ the 18th century English Landscape Pleasure Garden."

The Almshouses renovation will cost around £1.3m and will be funded jointly by The Parks Trust, Milton Keynes Council and a grant from the National Lottery Community Fund.

Ben Allott, Head of Property at The Parks Trust said, “the prominent position of the Almshouses within the historic landscape makes them an ideal location for a new lease of life as a community hub and interpretation space. The restoration of the Almshouses demonstrates how the collaborative relationship between Milton Keynes Council and The Parks Trust can lead to beneficial outcomes, in this case for MK’s people and its heritage”.

The renovation works will take around eight months from the grant of planning permission.