Scandal of army properties unfit for heroes ending with enhancements forward of schedule
John Healey has now ordered a further 250 military properties to receive priority upgrades over the coming months – a 25% increase on the original target set out just eight months ago
The Defence Secretary has vowed to end the scandal of poor military housing after improvements to 1,000 of them were completed ahead of schedule.
John Healey has now ordered a further 250 military properties to receive priority upgrades over the coming months – a 25% increase on the original target set out just eight months ago. The programme of housing improvements has seen upgrades made to almost 700 properties in England, over 150 properties in Northern Ireland, over 100 in Wales and over 50 in Scotland.
Speaking exclusively to The Mirror at a barracks in Colchester, Mr Healey claimed the progress was good for morale, good for retention, and vowed to finally end the Tory scandal of poor military housing.
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Mr Healey said: “One of the biggest scandals in this country in recent years has been the shameful state of the homes that we have asked our service personnel and their families to live in.
“Cold, damp, leaky roofs, mould on the walls of some children’s bedrooms.
“Within six months of the election, you saw me take back into public ownership 36,000 military family homes, put an end to the worst ever Tory privatisation and now we’ve started a £9 billion pound investment over the next decade, where we will upgrade, or rebuild nine out of 10 at Forces family homes.”
“What we’re confirming today is that we’ve hit the target we set ahead of time, which was to pick a thousand of the worst homes and overhaul those, which means this Christmas more families are in homes fit for Heroes.
“It’s an upgrading that you or I or anyone wanting to set up home with our families for the first time would be proud to live in, and for the first time, I feel proud that we’re starting to write this wrong.
“We can genuinely say over the coming years, we’ll fix this scandal once and for all.”
Homes across the country have received a complete makeover including new flooring and other improvements such as replacing unreliable boilers and heating systems, repairing hundreds of leaky roofs and installing new bathrooms, kitchens, windows and doors.
Mr Healey claimed the measures were good not just for morale, but also in ensuring people stay in the forces.
He said: “When people say why is morale at rock bottom, as it was a few years ago, why are a record number are leaving the forces, and very often it’s the quality of homes and the families forced to live in those, so I expect and want this to have an impact on raising morale, and and an impact on raising recruitment”.
Cpl Jack Crean, his partner Nina and their one-year-old son Charlie have just moved into one of the newly refurbished homes at Bassingbourn Barracks in Cambridgeshire.
He said: “We are really pleased to be in our new home for Christmas. Everyone is a lot happier here, especially Charlie. It’s nice to live in an up-to-date house, it works so much better for the whole family and if I was to go away, I know that my family is in a clean, modern house.”
