The petition of residents of the Twickenham constituency,
Declares that the Ministry of Defence's proposed sale of the Kneller Hall site should not go ahead; further that the site has played an important role in the local community over many decades; and further that the Royal Military School of Music is historically important.
The petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to stop the sale of the Kneller Hall site.
And the petitioners remain, etc.—[Presented by Dr Tania Mathias, Official Report, 10 February 2016; Vol. 605, c. 1702P.]
[P001672]
Observations from the Minister for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans (Mark Lancaster MP):
The Minister for Defence Personnel, Welfare and Veterans announced on 18 January 2016 that, as part of the Government’s prosperity agenda, the MOD is committed to releasing land to contribute towards 55,000 new housing units this Parliament. Kneller Hall is one of the first 12 sites to be announced for release.
Kneller Hall is the home of the Corps of Army Music and the Royal Military School of Music, the facilities in which they are currently homed are ageing, inefficient and not fit for purpose. The site is not designed for its current use. To bring the site up to standard for its current use would cost at least £30 million. The commandant of the Royal Military School of Music has confirmed other sites would provide far better and greatly improved training facilities for his people.
The residents of Twickenham and its surrounding boroughs are not alone in their strength of feeling and, indeed, in their drive to want to retain a local Defence presence. However, the simple fact is that these plans are not directed at individual communities, regiments or bases. This is about ensuring that Government funding is in the right place to ensure the continued defence and security of the United Kingdom.
This is very much a two-stage process. The first stage is establishing that there is not a military use for the site, but the second stage—the future—is for the local community to decide. The MOD will engage with the local community and the local planning authority to decide the best future for the site, which will not be released before 2018.