Bentley Priory: A piece of history for the few

Kyt · Feb 7, 2008

The mansion which housed Fighter Command during the Battle of Britain is to be developed for luxury homes. Sonia Purnell is given an exclusive look at how its past will be reconciled with a new future

Bentley Priory: A piece of history for the few - Telegraph

click on the links for piccies

Antipodean Andy · Feb 7, 2008

I seem to be saying this regularly of late but what on earth is your government on?! Do they have so little national pride that they are willing to sell off a literal part of Britain's finest hour? Add to that, reading the comments, the BoB memorial was funded privately and I suspect the money from any sale of Bentley Priory won't go to the RAF or the other armed services.

This incessant cost-cutting is making Britain poorer while the government gets richer. Pure greed and a disgrace.

Kyt · Aug 5, 2008

Bentley Priory Plan Gets Go-Ahead - Harrow Observer

HISTORIC Bentley Priory is to become an exclusive estate with a museum dedicated to its former function as home of the Fighter Command.

Harrow Council gave approval to the residential redevelopment of the 23-hectare ex-RAF site in the Green Belt in Stanmore yesterday (Wednesday) evening.

The rooms in the 17th Century Grade II* mansion house from where Lord Dowding co-ordinated the Battle of Britain in 1940 during the Second World War will converted into a museum while the remaining space becoming eight apartments.

A second building is to be turned into three homes, with 92 houses and flats built in clusters on the rest of the site.

Developers VSM Estates will build an Italian walled garden, spruce up the estate's vast open spaces and add a 59-space car and coach park to serve the museum, which will be run by the Bentley Priory Battle of Britain Trust set up especially for this purpose by the Battle of Britain Fighters Association.

The council granted permission for the scheme on the proviso that the Environment Agency resolves its dispute with the developer over what anti-flood measures are needed and that the Mayor of London Boris Johnson (Conservative) does not object.

Councillor Marilyn Ashton (Conservative), portfolio holder for planning, said: "I am delighted with this news. The primary importance here is the protection of the Grade II Listed Building and the preservation of the heritage and history of the Battle of Britain museum which forms part of the approval, ensuring that future generations will learn about the sacrifices that were made at that time."

Guy Gusterson, land director at VSM Estates and St Modwen Properties, said: "VSM Estates is delighted that Harrow Council has approved our plans for the redevelopment of Bentley Priory.

"The decision follows many months of hard work with all of our partners associated with this historically-important site and extensive consultation with the local community to produce this scheme.

"This will be a superb development that secures not only the history of Bentley Priory and the Mansion House but also delivers a viable solution for its future."

VSM ESTATES' COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTIONS

* £200,000 museum start-up costs and business case

* Up to £6.2m to convert house to museum

* £3m to set up trust to help fund museum perpetually

* 10-year-old woodland management plan

* £100,000 towards borough ecology centre

* £100,000 to improving Common Road

* Travel plan

* £100,000 towards education and health

* Plan for locally-recruited construction workforce

* Arranging 20 affordable homes off-site

* Money for maintenance of Bentley Priory Site of Special Scientific Interest

BENTLEY PRIORY MUSEUM

* Entrance Hall: Designed by Sir John Soane and will featuring shop

* Abercorn Room: Guides meet visitors and introductory materials

* Air Marshall Dowding's Room: Audio-visual exhibits and Dowding's office preserved behind glass

* Adelaide Room: Displays about the house during wartime

* Ante Room: Five special tables on air defence and projection exhibit

* Ladies Room: Museum exhibits based on imaginary talks with key characters

* Rotunda: Art gallery with portraits and searchable audio database of veteran pilots
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Brian S · Aug 6, 2008

Historic Buildings

What next,
Bletchley Park ?

CTNana · Aug 8, 2008

I used to live near this beautiful old place. The area is desperate for luxury accomodation costing a fortune!!! I can't think why it wasn't thought of before. It will also obviously give the nation's future generations the opportunity to try to understand the past when all of this history is swallowed up for the edification of the few!!! Sorry I forgot to say that I thought the developers promises will probably remain just that!

Kyt · Mar 4, 2009

buggeration

Battle of Britain museum at RAF Bentley Priory shelved (From Harrow Times)

PLANS to preserve the spiritual home of “The Few” have been shelved after a contract fell through.

The credit crunch has hit a housing project at RAF Bentley Priory, in Stanmore, dragging down proposals for a Battle of Britain commemorative museum at the same time.

The two schemes were bound together, with the development of flats and houses on the site helping the RAF Bentley Priory Battle of Britain Trust pay for the museum in mansion at the heart of the site.

Squadron Leader Erica Ferguson, a member of the trust, said: “It’s very sad. We were very close. We really believed the deal was going to go across the line and then in the end it didn’t.

“We were in the right place at the wrong time. For the veterans I think it will be a disappointment.

“We’d wanted to be able to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain by opening the museum and that’s not going to happen now.”

The two projects could both be brought back to life if the recession eases, but have been put on ice until next year at the earliest, when it is hoped the housing market will have recovered.

New attempts will then be made to find a developer.

The base was home to Fighter Command during World War Two and holds a place in the hearts of many former pilots.

The museum, which would have included historic rooms like Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding’s office, was intended to preserve their memory and remind future generations of the sacrifices they made.

For Dorothy Pope, of Runnelfield, Harrow-on-the-Hill, who survived the Coventry blitz, the museum had special meaning.

She said: “It’s so terribly sad. I think it’s important that coming generations know how much they owe to The Few.

“I still get a lump in my throat if anyone says Spitfire. They saved me. They saved my life but they saved democracy as well. I now live in a country with freedom of speech and freedom to operate.

“Britain is possibly the best country in the world, Britain and America anyway. They would not exist but for these people.”

But the base is also cherished by the community in Stanmore, residents around the borough and air force enthusiasts across the country.

John Williams, chairman of the Stanmore Society, said: “I think residents will be disappointed. The museum is certainly further away rather than nearer now.”

Bentley Priory was taken over by VSM Estates after the RAF withdrew in May, and Harrow Council has given the go ahead for the projects.

Guy Gusterson, land director at the company, said: “Although we have not been able to conclude negotiations with a specialist developer at this point, we are confident that a suitable housebuilder will be appointed in due course who can deliver this exceptional development.”

The base was opened to the public for the first time in 80 years in September, with thousands of people taking tours of the Grade II* listed mansion house and relaxing on the lawn outside.

More open days will be held this autumn, with the dates expected to be September 10-13.
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Antipodean Andy · Mar 5, 2009

I would suggest that the open days in September, right before BoB day, are the perfect chance for the public to show how much the site means to them and the nation - much like they did last year.

Kyt · Mar 25, 2009

BBC NEWS | England | London | World War II museum 'threatened'

Plans for a World War II museum in north-west London could be jeopardised by the recession, a council has said.

Developer VSM Estates planned to sell the former RAF Bentley Priory site, in Stanmore, for conversion into apartments and a museum by 2010.

Harrow Council has said VSM is struggling to sell it due to the downturn in the property market.

VSM said the museum was central to its plans and that it would resume its attempt to sell the site in 2010.

The air base, which was the command centre during the Battle of Britain, closed in May last year and its operations were moved to nearby RAF Northolt.

The site was sold to VSM by the Ministry of Defence.

A condition of the sale was that a museum be established on the site commemorating the efforts of Spitfire pilots in World War II.

Harrow Council's portfolio holder for planning, development and enterprise, Marilyn Ashton, said: "While the site remains unsold, there is no prospect of this museum opening.

"There is therefore the real risk that this crucial piece of Second World War history will be effectively mothballed, possibly for years, until the economy stabilises."

Ms Ashton called on the government to "find a way to support a museum at a site which ensured the UK's freedom in the war against Nazism".

An MoD spokeswoman said VSM was now responsible for the site's development.

She said: "While there is no enduring operational use for RAF Bentley Priory, the MoD was clear throughout the sale of the site to VSM Estates that the heritage associated with it should be preserved in a sustainable manner."

A spokesman for VSM confirmed that it had been unable to finalise negotiations with a previous bidder.

"VSM Estates proposes to retain ownership of the site until the property market improves, and it is predicted that the site will be marketed again in 2010," he said.

The development firm was confident the museum would be built "as soon as is practicable", the spokesman added.
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Kyt · Jun 17, 2009

MoD under-fire over musuem for "The Few" at RAF Bentley Priory (From Harrow Times)

THE Ministry of Defence has been accused of “stonewalling” over plans to turn an RAF base into a Battle of Britain museum.

Bentley Priory was home to Fighter Command during World War Two and is thought by many to be the spiritual home of “The Few”.

The base was sold by the MoD in May last year but the Bentley Priory Battle of Britain Trust hopes to turn its most historic rooms and corridors into a commemorative museum to those who gave their lives during Britain's “finest hour”.

Councillor Marilyn Ashton, responsible for planning at Harrow Council, said talks over the possibility of the MoD funding the project collapsed after a meeting at its offices, in Whitehall, on Friday.

She said: “I find it ironic that just days after the Prime Minister represents our nation at the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings in France, the same Government again stonewalls over helping to support the memory of those fighter pilots who stopped the Nazis invading Britain.

“We all know that had it not been for the actions of that handful of young men - some as young as 19 - during the summer of 1940, then history might have taken a very different course.

“Yet while untold millions are pumped into bust banks, there is apparently nothing in the coffers for even a modest sum to open a museum at Bentley Priory. There would be no free market for financiers without the freedom these people died to give us.”

The MoD's withdrawal from the base sparked outrage and many in the community still talk of the department selling the country's heritage.

Dorothy Pope, of Runnelfield, Harrow-on-the-Hill, who survived the Coventry blitz, was shocked at the suggestion the ministry might not fund the museum, which she said was necessary to educate young people.

She said: "It's just flabagasting. This is so amazingly important. I'm absolutely fed up with children who are not aware of what happened during the war, who don't know what D-day is.

"I say to them 'have you any idea what life would have been like for us today if those men hadn't given their lives, their limbs and their courage'."

She added: "When history is forgotten it can happen again and when it isn't, it doesn't. Ingratitude is a horrible characteristic and the ingratitude of the gift those men gave us is outrageous.”

The museum was due to be funded through a housing development planned for the historic site, off The Common, in Stanmore.

Under planning permission granted to VSM Estates, the temporary owner of the site, any developer would be contractually obliged to provide cash for the project.

These plans could still go ahead but a contract due to be signed between VSM and a developer collapsed at the beginning of March in the wake of the credit crunch.

The base has been taken off the market for a year in the hope the economy and the housing market will improve.

Squadron Leader Erica Ferguson, of the RAF Bentley Priory Battle of Britain Trust, said: “We have an excellent deal and we are very grateful to Harrow for closing that deal for us.

“We just want it to be delivered and we would rather it be delayed than miss out.”

Hannah Fletcher, a spokesman for the MoD, said her department recognises the base is of “great historical significance”.

She said it had worked to secure the funding agreement which she described as “a long-term sustainable solution for preserving its heritage”.

She said: “Unfortunately, negotiations with the previous preferred bidder were halted due to the current economic climate but the MOD and VSM are working hard to find another developer.”
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