4,500 damp and mouldy military homes to be repaired within two years
More than 4,500 military homes are to undergo work to repair damp and mould as the Defence Secretary announced plans to improve service housing over the next two years.
Damp and mould in service family accommodation is one of the key issues being tackled by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) as it unveiled how it plans to spend £400m to improve living standards for personnel and their families.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said accommodation was a "top priority", while Defence Procurement Minister James Cartlidge admitted to Forces News the standard of housing has not been up to scratch.
"We ask a lot of our Armed Forces, of our personnel," he said.
"Ultimately they are there ready to risk their lives for this country. We have to offer them accommodation to the appropriate standard.
"We have too often not had the appropriate standard."
The poor state of military accommodation has risen in prominence in recent times, with last winter seeing a number of personnel and their families speak to Forces News about issues with their accommodation, including mould and broken boilers.
Some families told Forces News about their concerns over black mould in their service accommodation and the effects they believed it was having on their children's health.
The MOD said over the next two years there will be kitchen and/or bathroom refits in more than 1,000 homes, plus boiler and heating upgrades for around 1,500 properties.
As well as the "damp and mould remediation package" for 4,500 homes, the MOD said major work would also be carried out on more than 4,000 other properties "to improve thermal efficiency, to prevent damp and mould, and reduce the cost of living for service families".
These works are set to include new doors, windows, roofs and the installation of external wall insulation.
Meanwhile, 1,000 homes that are not currently being used will undergo extensive "high-quality" refurbishments to increase the number of modern homes available to service families.
Mr Cartlidge said the MOD was taking the state of military accommodation very seriously, but warned there was "no silver bullet to fix the whole estate overnight at once".
"We have to prioritise," he said.
Accommodation contractors have increased their resources ahead of the winter months following issues last year.
The MOD said responses to housing problems last winter were not good enough, but said there had since been considerable improvement.
"Responses to housing issues last winter were completely unacceptable and action was taken to withhold payments from our accommodation contractors to the fullest extent possible," the MOD said.
"Substantial progress has been made to improve performance since then and we are approaching this winter with a dramatically lower number of open complaints and overdue works."
The MOD is working with contractors to further develop contingency plans for severe weather to ensure minimal disruptions to military families.
Mike Green, the chief executive of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, the estate arm of the MOD, said: "The service that many families experienced last winter was just not good enough and we have worked closely with our contractors to put plans in place to help us respond to the challenges that the colder months bring."
The £400m investment in service family accommodation was announced in the Defence Command Paper refresh earlier this year.
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