Homes for heroes: Extra £1.5bn to be invested in forces housing through SDR

More than £1.5bn of additional funding will be ploughed into Armed Forces accommodation to improve the stock, the Defence Secretary has announced.

John Healey, who was speaking during a visit to RAF Wittering in Peterborough, said the funding would be confirmed as part of the Government's imminent Strategic Defence Review (SDR).

The money will be used to tackle the poor state of forces' housing through urgent repairs and maintenance, from fixing unreliable boilers and leaky roofs to tackling damp and mould.

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It is hoped these latest measures will support recruitment, retention and morale.

Mr Healey told BFBS Forces News "this is personal for me" as he had been Housing Minister in then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government and was also the shadow housing secretary from 2015 to 2020.

"I would say we're delivering for defence. Just this year, we have repurchased 36,000 military family homes," Mr Healey said.

"We now have the control to be able to start to upgrade them and plan for the future."

The additional £1.5bn means more than £7bn will be spent this Parliament on service family accommodation and new-build single living accommodation.

Antony Cotton, the Coronation Street actor and Armed Forces advocate, welcomed the news.

"These are basics - to have a house that doesn't have black mould on the walls and that is fit for purpose in a modern age," Mr Cotton said.

He said Armed Forces families and personnel would now begin to "see tangible change".

But the 49-year-old actor warned that if the measures were not delivered he'd be "knocking on the door".

Elsewhere, the Government's Consumer Charter will lead to immediate investment in the urgent renovation of 1,000 homes that most need repair.

The charter will also introduce basic consumer rights for forces families, including essential property information and higher move-in standards, more reliable repairs, a named housing officer for every family and access to a robust complaints system.

"[What] we've put in place now is a consumer charter, which means that the basic standards that anyone like you or I would expect from the homes that we move into will be there for Armed Forces families," Mr Healey added.

It follows the Government's deal to bring back 36,000 military homes into public ownership.

The SDR will say the Ministry of Defence should improve the overall standard of military accommodation, including prioritising sites that most urgently need repair.

"The Strategic Defence Review makes the commitment to put our people at the heart of our defence plans," the Defence Secretary said.

This housing announcement follows the release of other policies in the Strategic Defence Review, like the above-inflation pay rise for the Armed Forces and a new digital targeting web to increase the lethality of the Armed Forces.