The Parks Trust has entered an agreement with Milton Keynes Council to take on a 999-year lease of the Almshouses in Great Linford Manor Park.
The Parks Trust is an independent charity that cares for over 6,000 acres of parkland and green space in Milton Keynes.
The Almshouses are a Grade II* listed building that were built 1696.
They form part of the wider historic landscape of Great Linford Manor Park, which is currently undergoing a National Lottery Heritage Fund and National Lottery Community Fund project managed by The Parks Trust.
If planning permission is accepted, the charity hopes 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 three remaining Almshouses will then be made 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 8-months from the grant of planning permission.
For more information about the Great Linford Manor Park project click here.
You can find out more about the history here.
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