Dame Caroline Dinenage, Member of Parliament for Gosport, has lobbied Defence Minister, Dr Andrew Murrison MP, about accommodation standards at local defence establishments such as HMS Sultan and HMS Collingwood.
Caroline recently met with the Commanding Officers of both military sites to discuss concerns that had been raised with her regarding the quality of living accommodation.
Following an announcement of £1.6 billion in spending to improve defence accommodation, Caroline took the opportunity in Defence Questions to raise the poor accommodation standards at the local sites.
Caroline said:
“I warmly welcome the announcement of £1.6 billion to repair and refurbish on-site base accommodation. As the Minister rightly says, the accommodation at both HMS Sultan and HMS Collingwood is truly awful.”
“Meanwhile, we hear that in the Portsmouth area alone millions of pounds a year are being spent putting people up in hotels while Fort Blockhouse in my own Gosport constituency, which he knows very well, remains empty.”
“When are the MOD going to address this?”
The responding Minister, Dr Andrew Murrison MP, said:
“I know she knows Fort Blockhouse intimately, as indeed so do I. It is aesthetically charming, but it is beyond reasonable repair, where accommodating service men and service women are concerned.”
We are spending money on HMS Collingwood and I hope that it will be brought up to spec shortly.”
Afterwards Caroline was grateful to have a conversation with Dr Andrew Murrison MP to discuss this in more detail and has invited him to the Gosport Peninsula to see for himself the challenges and opportunities of the accommodation in some of our local naval establishments.
