Sir, The work undertaken at Bletchley Park during the Second World War in breaking German wartime codes played a significant part in winning that war and securing our future. The work included the decryption of messages enciphered on the German Enigma machines and the breaking of the German “Fish” High Command teleprinter ciphers. Bletchley Park also played a significant role 65 years ago in the design and development of Colossus, one of the world’s first programmable electronic computers. It is therefore fitting that the world’s first purpose-built computer centre should be home to the National Museum of Computing.

Over the years, Bletchley Park has survived building redevelopment (1938), an air raid (1940), the destruction of sensitive material and information (post-1945) and more recently (1991), a second attempt at demolition and redevelopment. That Bletchley Park has survived to the present day is due to the foresight of Milton Keynes Borough Council, which declared the park a conservation area in February 1992, and the formation of the Bletchley Park Trust just three days later.

The trust currently runs this gem charitably, receiving no external funding. Although there has recently been some progress in generating income, without fundamental support Bletchley Park is still under threat, this time from the ravages of age and a lack of investment. Many of the huts where the codebreaking occurred are in a terrible state of disrepair.

As a nation, we cannot allow this crucial and unique piece of both British and world heritage to be neglected in this way. The future of the site, buildings, resources and equipment at Bletchley Park must be preserved for future generations by providing secure long-term financial backing. Is it too much to ask that Bletchley Park be provided with the same financial stability as some of our other great museums such as the Imperial War Museum, the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum?

Times Archive, 1977: Bletchley Park secrets revealed

Codebreakers were regularly cracking Enigma from the spring of 1940 using the earliest computers ever to be built

• Scharnhorst dash aided by decoding failure

• Enigma disclosures

Professor Keith van Rijsbergen
Chair, 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, Computer Science & Informatics sub-panel

Professor Bill Roscoe
Director of Oxford University Computing Laboratory

Professor Jean Bacon
University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory

Professor Lawrence Paulson
University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory

Professor Ian Sommerville
Professor of Software Engineering, University of St Andrews

Professor Robert Churchouse
Emeritus Professor, Cardiff University, formerly at GCHQ 1952-1963

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