HC Deb 04 July 2002 vol 388 cc521-2W
Mr. Key

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the area is of the munitions depot at West Dean, Wiltshire; and what percentage is(a) buildings, (b) roads and hard standing, (c) farmland, (d) woodland and (e) designated as a SSSI. [65714]

Mr. Ingram

The Defence Munitions Depot, Dean Hill has a total area of some 236 hectares (583 acres). Building development is of low density and disbursed across the whole site. There are 1.3 hectares of underground storage within the hillside and approximately five hectares of buildings. These are connected by an infrastructure of roads, rail, services and bonded storage which is contained within a footprint of approximately 75 hectares or 31 per cent. of the total. 36 per cent. of the site is let for agricultural purposes, while woodland constitutes 15 per cent. The site of special scientific interest (SSSI) extends to some 43 hectares or 18 per cent. of the total, and it should be noted that part of the woodland is within the SSSI.

Mr. Key

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what proportion of(a) stored munitions and (b) engineering and munitions maintenance work is carried out at Dean Hill for each of the three armed services. [65732]

Mr. Ingram

48 per cent. by volume of the munitions stored at Dean Hill are held in support of the Navy and 52 per cent. in support of the RAF. However, munitions stocks held at Dean Hill represent less than four per cent. of munitions stored by Defence Munitions on behalf of all three armed services.

In the last year, 49 per cent. of engineering and munitions maintenance work at Dean Hill was carried out in support of the Navy and 51 per cent. in support of the RAF. Again, however, this represents about four per cent. of the processing capacity within Defence Munitions.

Mr. Key

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the criteria used to decide which munitions depot to dispose of; and if he will list the depots against which Dean Hill competed. [65733]

Mr. Ingram

An internal rationalisation study, known as Defence Munitions Rationalisation Study 2 (DMRS 2), started in 2001, and examined the best utilisation of Defence Munitions (DM) facilities throughout the United Kingdom. An earlier study (DMRS 1) had already recommended two other site closures at DM Welford on Berkshire and DM Smalmstown near Carlisle in 2000.

Even after the impact of the closure of the Welford and Smalmstown sites has been taken into account, DMRS 2 confirmed that spare capacity remains in DM's explosives storage and processing capacity.

The DMRS 2 team examined munitions storage, processing and supply issues. Most of DM's eight principal depots cover a variety of these outputs. The study drew these elements together to determine how the necessary capacity could most efficiently be retained. Taking all of these elements into account, it was concluded that only the capacity and facilities provided by the DM Depot at Dean Hill, near to West Dean village in south Wiltshire, was not critical to the delivery of DM's outputs. The other Defence Munitions depots are required either for the volume of explosives storage and processing capacity they offer and/or have specialised (often unique) facilities to outload and issue munitions to customers.

All eight Defence Munitions depots were included in the review. Apart from DM Dean Hill, these are DM Beith in Ayrshire, DM Crombie in Fife, DM Glen Douglas in Dunbartonshire, DM Gosport in Hampshire, DM Kineton in Warwickshire, DM Longtown in Cumbria and DM Plymouth in Devon.