British Firm Gets OK to Build Nuclear Shelter for 1,000
A property development company has been given government permission to build Britain’s biggest private nuclear shelter with room for 1,000 people.
Albert Brown, managing director of the Phoenix Property Co., said Monday there has been plenty of interest from people prepared to pay his firm the equivalent of $4,470 to reserve a place in the event of a nuclear attack on Britain.
The underground shelter will be on the outskirts of Peterborough in Cambridgeshire, 75 miles north of London.
U.S. Air Force Bases
Cambridgeshire has a large concentration of U.S. Air Force bases. The planned shelter will be about 30 miles from Molesworth, where 64 U.S. nuclear cruise missiles are due to be based by 1989.
Brown said construction is expected to begin next year. The shelter will contain a six-month food supply, living accommodations, a medical unit, a small cinema, a chapel, a gymnasium and a library.
Nicholas Ridley, secretary of state for the environment, granted permission for the shelter, according to a government spokesman.
Britain has a system of underground bunkers designed to house civil defense coordinators and other key personnel in the event of a nuclear attack. But there is no overall government plan to provide shelter for all 56 million Britons in a nuclear war.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
