Last night Channel 4 Dispatches looked at the UK’s housing situation, with a focus on the land sold off by the MOD. This morning there is continued coverage of the closure of Public Interest Lawyers (PIL) and speculation about the closure of Kinloss Barracks.
Housing crisis
Last night, Channel 4 Dispatches looked at the Government’s plans to “get Britain building” and investigated whether enough affordable houses were being built. The reporter argued that the Government’s 2011 commitment to build 100,000 homes by selling off unused publicly owned land – the biggest contributor being the MOD – has not been met. The programme claimed that a number of MOD sites have been sold for less than their estimated worth, often to buyers without planning permission and that despite having sold off enough land for an estimated 39,000 homes, only 64 have been built.
An MOD spokesperson said:
Our plan is about generating money to spend on our armed forces by selling land we don’t need for new homes we do. We’ve already made £500 million through land sales and around 6,000 houses are currently being built on that land. Every single pound we make gets spent on defence. Sometimes we sell land without planning permission. That’s so we stop spending taxpayer money on maintaining a site we don’t need and spend it on things like our new fighter jets or aircraft carriers instead. We make no apology for doing that.
Dispatches also claimed to discover deals with big developers which could have potentially lost the taxpayer money – using the examples of Brompton Road Station and Prince Phillip Barracks. They were critical of the sale of Brompton Road Station to ‘Ukrainian oligarch’ Dimitri Firtash for £53million, in particular that he only paid for a third upfront and that he has investigated by the FBI on suspicion of 'racketeering' and 'money laundering' since.
An MOD spokesperson said:
The site was sold on the open market to achieve best value for money for the taxpayer and we were not aware of the FBI investigation into Mr Firtash at the point of sale. The sale followed all guidelines set out by the Treasury and the MOD is satisfied that all necessary legal checks were carried out.
Looking at Prince Phillip Barracks, the report questioned the role of Sir Tim Laurence at Capita – speculating he was able to negotiate a good deal for his own benefit. There was also suggestion that only 15% of homes built here will be affordable.
An MOD spokesperson said:
The MOD ran a full and rigorous competition for the development of Prince Philip Barracks. Sir Tim Laurence was not present during the competitive dialogue for this tender, nor was he part of the competitive bid team. Furthermore, no member of Capita or PA Consulting was involved in the evaluation of bids or selection, this process was undertaken wholly by MOD civil servants.
Public Interest Lawyers (PIL)
There has been further reporting including in the The Telegraph, the Daily Mail, The Times and The Express this morning around the closure of Public Interest Lawyers (PIL). Coverage picks up on the Defence Secretary praising the news and on the commitments made by the Prime Minister to stop law firms making 'spurious' claims against troops.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said:
This is the right outcome for our armed forces, who show bravery and dedication in difficult circumstances.
For too long, we’ve seen our legal system abused to impugn them falsely.
We are now seeing progress and we will be announcing further measures to stamp out this practice.
Kinloss Barracks
In Scottish media this morning – in the Daily Record, The Scotsman and the Times Scotland – there is coverage of the claims by SNP MP Angus Robertson that the MOD by close the Kinloss military base, stating this would break a promise to keep the former RAF base in his constituency as an Army barracks. Robertson has claimed that “defence cuts have hit Moray hard with the widely condemned decision to scrap the Nimrod fleet. That should never have happened and if Kinloss were to close so soon after the Tory’s promises it would be a real kick in the teeth.”
An MOD Spokesperson said:
MoD land currently spans about half a million football pitches. We are looking to sell what we don’t need so new homes can be built on it. Every penny made will be invested back into defence on things like the new maritime aircraft at Lossiemouth or the ships being built on the Clyde. We’ve currently named 22 sites but no decisions about future ones have been taken.