LABOUR’S rock-solid commitment to our Armed Forces has been underlined with Monday’s launch of the new Defence Housing Strategy – one of Britain’s most ambitious building programmes.
Defence secretary John Healey made the announcement in parliament and it will be the most significant change for Armed Forces housing in 50 years.
And as a champion of our service personnel I welcome this strategy that will kickstart a generational renewal of military housing.
It will mean:
- Nine in ten military homes (more than 40,000 houses) will be modernised or upgraded to new, higher standards, with 14,000 homes rebuilt or substantially refurbished.
- More than 500 military homes are being upgraded in the north west of England
- The initiative will be funded by the government’s record uplift in defence spending and the Strategic Defence Review’s commitment of record investment into Armed Forces accommodation
- A ‘forces first’ approach – underpinned by a new standalone Defence Housing Service to better manage military homes while keeping them in public hands, putting the voices of forces’ families at the forefront and delivering home-ownership opportunities for military personnel and veterans
- Delivering for the nation by kickstarting a 10-year programme of housebuilding on surplus defence land, with the potential for more than 100,000 new homes for civilian and military families, delivering billions of pounds in economic output and supporting thousands of jobs
- It will serve as another example of defence as an engine for growth
It also means there will be tougher requirements on contractors to that homes are clean and functional when families move in, quick repairs when things go wrong and housing officers to help.
The strategy is the most comprehensive plan ever set out for the renewal of military family housing and development of defence land.
