The derelict site with metal fencing on the corner of Buckingham Road and Sherwood Drive is the location of the former Cricket Pavilion erected by the Leon family when they lived at Bletchley Park. Sadly, subsequent owners have allowed the site to fall into disuse and the cricket pavilion is now a ruin following a fire several years ago.
BPARA has been campaigning for this site to be acquired by the Town Deal Board for conversion to a public/green area with a memorial to the most famous of the Codebreakers, Alan Turing, for several months. Although BPARA is non-political, we are pleased that Cllr Alan Rankine, representing Bletchley Park Ward on MK Council, has taken this idea forward via Cllr Rankine motion for this site to be acquired as part of a re-vamp of the current entrance to Bletchley Station -this was debated at the Full MK Council Meeting on 20 October.
The current visitor experience around Bletchley Station is not attractive and leaves an extremely poor impression of Bletchley. In the next 2 years, East/West Rail will be operating via Bletchley, new visitor attractions will be open at Bletchley Park and the Institute of Technology will be fully operational – the western rail station entrance and Sherwood Drive must undergo an urgent major facelift to make it more attractive and user-friendly for visitors, as well as for those who work or study in Bletchley and for residents.
BPARA forwarded the attached Cllr Rankine motion response in support of this motion to MK Council – 19 BPARA members also made similar submissions, and these will be published on the MKC website. As the BPARA Chair was abroad and unable to attend the meeting, BPARA wishes to thank Committee member, Shankar Parameswaran, who deputised and ably delivered the Speech – Cllr Rankine motion at the meeting.
The motion was unanimously approved and can be viewed at https://youtu.be/3sML33tNMKo, the section starting at 1.54. Local media has also reported on the motion via Shabby station area should be transformed into attractive gateway for Milton Keynes town, say councillors | Milton Keynes Citizen and https://www.mkfm.com/news/local-news/milton-keynes-conservatives-propose-plan-to-transform-bletchley/
As Town Deal Board Member, the BPARA Chair will take forward Cllr Rankine’s regeneration proposal ‘Beautiful Bletchley – Creating a Visitor Experience’.
