Wyre Forest District Council has granted permission to transform a substation that once powered a Cold War nuclear bunker into a two-bedroom holiday let at Drakelow Tunnels near Kidderminster, Worcestershire. The applicant plans to cover the brick exterior with black cladding. According to the approved plans, the substation was one of three on the site built in 1943 before being decommissioned in 1994.
These substations were used to power the entire underground site, which served as a shadow aircraft factory, RAF storage depot, and later a Cold War regional government headquarters. The proposed holiday let at substation C would be a one-storey building with a flat roof and two parking spaces. Substation C was the only property approved for conversion, with the other two having no vehicular access.
One of the unaffected dwellings is also a designated bat habitat and was part of a wine storage planning application in 2021. The identity of the applicant and the timeline for the conversion work have not been disclosed, nor have any conditions attached to the planning permission or the expected impact on local tourism.