§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will list, for each local authority area in south Yorkshire, how many residential properties are currently owned by his Department; and if he will list, by location, those residential properties which are empty, giving the type of accommodation available, the length of time each property has been vacant, and its intended future use;
(2) if he will set out the numbers and locations of empty service married housing quarters in south Yorkshire.
§ Mr. Archie HamiltonAs at 30 September 1992, the latest date for which figures are available, MoD owned the following service married quarters in each local authority area in south Yorkshire:
Number Barnsley metropolitan district council 2 Doncaster metropolitan district council 446 Rotherham district council 0 Sheffield city council 22 The following properties were vacant:
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Location Sheffield Finningley Total Vacant 2 144 Vacant under one year 1 94 Vacant one to two years 1 20 Vacant over two years 0 30 Ninety-seven of the quarters at Finningley were being considered for disposal, while the majority of the remainder at Finningley and those at Sheffield were undergoing or awaiting major maintenance work to enable them to be re-occupied by service families. The vacant properties were houses with either two or three bedrooms.
In addition, negotiations were in hand to dispose of 119 properties at Finningley to a housing association at a discount, in return for nomination rights for personnel leaving the services over the next few years.