§ Sir W. Robson-Brownasked the Secretary of State for War whether, in view of the shortage of land for housing in the county of Surrey, he will release a major portion of the 20,000 acres held by the War Department freehold or on lease, or for which the Department has training licences; and whether he will consider transferring the training activities of the Army to the Yorkshire moors or to other areas of the country where land is not in such short supply as it is in Surrey.
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§ Mr. ProfumoI regret this is impossible. Most of the 17,000 acres owned, leased or licensed by my Department in Surrey are near the military centres of Aldershot and Camberley, where land is needed for essential training. I cannot move these training activities to another part of the country.
I doubt whether under the policies now regulating the use of land much of the land used for training in Surrey could in any event be given over to housing development.