Colchester MP criticises Army housing deal

12.00.00am GMT Wed 24th Jan 2007

Criticism of the condition of Army family housing has been made in the House of Commons by Colchester MP Bob Russell - and he launched a stinging attack on the former Conservative Government for the sale of thousands of Ministry of Defence houses in 1996.

Speaking during Defence Questions, Mr Russell urged the Government to hold an investigation into the housing privatisation, and then went on to describe what he said was "asset stripping" by the company which bought all the MOD houses, Annington Homes.

The town's Liberal Democrat MP told the Commons: "If the money from the asset-stripping that Annington Homes undertook in my constituency were invested in family housing, every single married quarters in Colchester would be brought up to the Decent Homes Standard."

Responding, Defence Minister Mr Derek Twigg said that he understood Mr Russell's frustration at the deal with Annington Homes, but there was nothing that the Government could now do about that. He added: "It was clearly not part of a strategy to improve and continue to improve all Service accommodation."

There are an estimated 2,000 family houses occupied by Army families in Colchester, all of which are owned by Annington Homes but leased to the Ministry of Defence. Last week there was criticism that many houses across the country were in a poor condition.

Last year Mr Russell revealed that Annington Homes had made a gross profit of £4 million from the sale of just 40 former Army houses in Colchester which had been bought in 1996 for an average price of around £15,000. In recent years Annington Homes has also sold other houses on the Army housing estate off Layer Road, and is currently building a new estate of private houses on an adjoining area where it demolished sub-standard MOD houses.

Today Mr Russell said: "The last Tory Government sold the Army family houses to a private company for a very low figure. However you look at it, the public purse has been fleeced - and the profiteering by Annington Homes continues while many of our soldiers and their families are living in houses which are in need of improvement. It is a scandal, one which should be the subject of a full investigation by the present Government.

"Army families and the public purse are the losers in what has happened. If we expect our soldiers to put their lives on the line in military service for this country, the least we can do is to provide them and their families with decent homes to live in."