Plan approved to bring historic part of Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes back to life

The new IoT will bring back to life Block D at the home of second world war codebreakers like Alan Turing, which has been the target of vandal attacks and is slowly crumbling away.

“Overall this currently redundant yet historically significant building will benefit from being brought back into use to provide significant public benefit; these proposals are therefore not objected to,” wrote senior planning officer Richard Edgington in his report.

The decision was made on December 10 and sent to applicants at Milton Keynes College by planning officers using their delegated powers.

The officers’ report says that the grade two listed Block D is in the top 10 of the council’s Heritage at Risk Register.

“It has been considered by GCHQ to be the ‘most important block in the park.’ Block D housed British counter intelligence from 1942 until 1945 and the end of the war.

“Post war Block D was partially retained by GCHQ and the Control Commission for Germany; then later by the Civil Aviation Authority in the 1950s and then as a magistrates court in the 70’s before 1992 when it became part of the Bletchley Park estate.”

But now it is a pale shell of its former glory being vacant and having “suffered significantly from damage caused by urban explorers and vandalism.”

The approved plans will also create a new single deck car park on the existing Bletchley Rail Station surface car park.

The South Central IoT would be one of 12 up and down the country. It will sit on the three hectare site and be a base for 1,100 students in technology subjects.