HC Deb 11 April 1989 vol 150 cc513-4W
Mr. John Cartwright

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the sums spent on maintenance, repairs and improvements to his Department's land and buildings at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, during each of the past 10 years.

Mr. Neubert

The sums spent on maintenance, repairs and improvements by my Department within the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich (the Directorate General of Defence Quality Assurance and MOD lodger units) during the last 10 years were as follows:

Year Maintenance and Repair £000 Improvements £000
1979–80 1,125 188
1980–81 1,083 277
1981–82 1,212 300
1982–83 1,552 357
1983–84 1,802 471
1984–85 2,272 715
1985–86 1,785 1,593
1986–87 1,846 1,584
1987–88 1,749 2,427

The improvements from 1985–86 include expenditure needed to house DGDQA units moved from Harefield, Middlesex and Garland road, Plum stead.

Mr. Cartwright

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will set out the total area of the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, already declared surplus to requirements and the area of(a) the Royal Arsenal west and (b) the Royal Arsenal east to be released for redevelopment after the relocation of the Directorate General of Defence Quality Assurance.

Mr. Sainsbury

The total area of Royal Arsenal, Woolwich is approximately 94 acres; 12 acres in Royal Arsenal west have already been declared surplus to requirements. A further 67 acres in Royal Arsenal west and 15 acres in Royal Arsenal east would be released for redevelopment after the relocation of the Directorate General of Defence Quality Assurance.

Mr. Cartwright

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the progress of his Department's discussions with the London borough of Greenwich about the future redevelopment of that area of the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, already declared to be surplus to requirements.

Mr. Neubert

Preliminary discussions with the London borough of Greenwich have now been held on site and we plan to have a further meeting shortly where the discussion will widen to include possible uses of the entire area of potentially surplus land at Royal Arsenal west. This follows the decision announced on 9 March 1989 to move the Director General of Defence Quality Assurance from Woolwich to Teesside, a proposal at present the subject of consultation with the trade unions.

I will keep the hon. Member informed of progress.