New housing development includes nuclear bunker
Local Democracy Reporting ServiceA new housing development will feature a disused Cold War nuclear bunker.
Developers are currently turning a former airfield in Alconbury, Cambridgeshire, into a development with around 6,500 new homes, as well as schools, shops, parks and spaces for businesses.
According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, many of the old airfield hangars will be demolished, but some are due to remain.
The nuclear bunker, also called "magic mountain", is now a Grade II* listed building and is the responsibility of the master developers, Urban and Civic.
Local Democracy Reporting ServiceThe bunker was designed to withstand a blast or chemical attack and would have been able to operate on its own for a short period in the event of an incident.
It was not designed to be a place of sanctuary, but was a place of work to process intelligence data collected by the TR1 reconnaissance aircraft.
Work on the bunker was completed in 1989, the same year the Berlin Wall came down, so was only in operational use for a short while.
Local Democracy Reporting ServiceBefore some of the building are demolished, they will be photographed and recorded.
The developers plan for the nuclear bunker to form part of a heritage area of the site.
A number of hangars will also be kept to highlight the history of the airfield.
The developers have not made a final decision on the bunker's role going forward, but are making sure it stays maintained.
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