§ Mr. SalmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) when the defence housing at RAF Neatishead was disposed of; and how many dwellings were disposed of; [125567]
- (2) when the defence housing at RAF Neatishead was last renovated prior to disposal; and what the cost was of the renovations; [125568]
- (3) how much was received by his Department in total and by unit for each house disposed of at RAF Neatishead. [125569]
§ Dr. Moonie[holding answer 13 June 2000]: There are no married quarters sited at RAF Neatishead. Personnel serving at that unit are housed in Service Family Accommodation (SFA) at either nearby Coltishall or Norwich, which has 644 properties available to accommodate families serving at RAF Coltishall, RAF Neatishead and other Service establishments in the area.
The majority of the Married Quarters Estate (some 57,000 properties or 95 per cent. of the total married quarter estate) in England and Wales was sold to Annington Homes in November 1996 on a 999 year lease. The Ministry of Defence retained the freehold. The properties were sold as a package with the receipt of some £1.6 billion going direct to the Exchequer rather than the Ministry of Defence; properties were not individually priced, so no unit cost is available.
Prior to 1996, SFA was managed by the three Services individually, and the costs of maintaining them was included in the wider provision for maintenance of Defence Establishments as a whole. It is not possible therefore to separate the costs incurred in maintaining SFA serving RAF Neatishead prior to the leasehold sale to Annington Homes.