The Ministry of Defence owns 1% of all UK land

vivatifosi

I've just been reading 'A country that lives within its means, Spending Review 2015', which can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/447101/a_country_that_lives_within_its_means.pdf

On page 17 of the document is this statement:

3.29 The government has taken strides to reduce the size of its estate, getting out of expensive buildings that it no longer needs,and releasing surplus public sector land. This is vital to reducing running costs, promoting economic growth, and meeting the government’s housing ambitions.

In the last Parliament, the government met its target to sell surplus land with capacity for 100,000 homes. But taxpayers still own over £300 billion worth of land and buildings, with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) alone owning approximately 1% of all UK land.

Operating from such a diversified estate also drives other costs, including the £115 million a year the MoD spends on vehicle hire, including to travel between different sites.The government has committed to dispose of public sector land for at least 150,000 homes by 2020. As part of the spending Review, departments will setout how they will meet their share of contributions to this target.

That's an astonishing amount of land, even if the target for houses to me feels a bit conservative.

Thought I'd start a thread in case anyone is interested in discussing.

michaels

1) I am definitely a buttaxpayer
2) I am not sure some on this board would be too pleased if we built all over Salisbury Plain....even assuming they do all the remedial work properly first and don't just build over the unexploded ordinance.

vivatifosi

michaels wrote: »

2) I am not sure some on this board would be too pleased if we built all over Salisbury Plain....even assuming they do all the remedial work properly first and don't just build over the unexploded ordinance.

Well, that's one way to develop boom towns I suppose (sorry, I'll get my coat).

Have corrected the buttax typo, which is a shame as it was tempting to leave and may well be a useful instrument for future budget balancing.

padington

They own a pretty extensive tunnel network too. We weren't just going to beat the nazi's on the beaches. We were going to slip into their beds in the middle of the night and slit their throats and anyone that made them tea with a smile, should they have got that far.

ukcarper

Tyneham in Dorset some property still there.

warwicktiger

bit worried about the MOD having suitable targets

antrobus

vivatifosi wrote: »

...That's an astonishing amount of land, even if the target for houses to me feels a bit conservative.
...

At 1st April 2014, the MOD owned 227,300 hectares of land and foreshore (either freehold or leasehold), and held rights over a further 222,000 hectares. In total, this is about 1.8% of the UK land mass ....Training areas and ranges occupy the largest area at 377,400 hectares (or 84% of the MOD total).

Annual statistics on the Ministry of Defence's land holdings.
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/mod-land-holdings-bulletin-index

The training areas and ranges include;

Salisbury Plain 38,000 hectares
Otterburn, Northumberland 22,900 hectares
Sennybridge 14,500 hectares
Dartmoor 12,760 hectares
Catterick 8,000 hectares
Spadeadam, Cumbria 3,642 hectares

For example, most of Salisbury Plain and Catterick is also farming land, except for the bits used for live firing. Sennybridge consists of the top of Epynt, which is a Welsh mountain, and basically bog, plus 2,500 hectares of leased forest, whilst Spadeadam was "mostly remote and uninhabited until 1957 when the Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile Test Centre was built", and is now "sub-let for timber production to the Forestry Commission".

Not prime building land, then.:)

Andy_L

AIUI a far chunk of the MoD's estate isn't theirs to dispose of freely. It was either bequeathed (with restrictive covenants) or was taken over during the war. Both of which require it to be made good & returned to the original owners/heirs when no longer needed.

Generali

Andy_L wrote: »

AIUI a far chunk of the MoD's estate isn't theirs to dispose of freely. It was either bequeathed (with restrictive covenants) or was taken over during the war. Both of which require it to be made good & returned to the original owners/heirs when no longer needed.

Presumably the Government could simply change the rules with suitable compensation being paid.

ukcarper

The Army is has just left Bordon in Hampshire and the area is to be redeveloped. Property is relatively cheap compared to nearby towns mainly because of poor transport links no train line congested roads. Some improvements to roads in local area are planned but as far as I can see it will not relieve the bottlenecks further along the route.

There was a plan to reinstate old railway line to the Alton Waterloo line but it has been dropped.

C_Mababejive

Oh thats nothing...

Duchy of Cornwall 53,100 Hectares
Duchy of Lancaster 18,700 Hectares
Duke of Buccleuch 97124 Hectares

the total land area of that lot is 168,924 hectares


1 Hectare =10,000 m2

If we take a generous house plot including garden of 160m2 then for every hectare we could build 62 such houses and so for the whole area we could build...well a hell of a lot generously sized detached houses...

Of course much of it is managed farm land and open space which is also subsidised by generous tax payments to land owners and of course last of all, we must question their actual claim to ownership since mostly they dont own it. It was gifted to them for favours in battle and similar and by people who they themselves didnt own it.

Of course HM Queen "owns" it all really