§ Mr. SwireTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what recent assessment his Department has made of environmental damage to(a) Woodbury Common, (b) Dartmoor and (c) Salisbury plain training areas caused by military exercises. [109637]
§ Dr. MoonieThe Ministry of Defence has always been committed to minimising any environmental damage caused by our training activities, an approach which has now been formalised through the Defence Estate Strategy and taken forward through the implementation of ISO 14001, the Environmental Management System.
A wide variety of military training activity is undertaken on Woodbury Common, Dartmoor and Salisbury Plain Training Areas and specific surveys of the environmental impacts of this military training are carried out as part of Departmental management plans. As part of existing management plans, recent surveys have been undertaken to ensure environmental impacts are managed within agreed limits in consultation with statutory bodies.