Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment he has made of the sale of land which was the site of his Departments former fuel store depot at Chorlton by Backford, Chester, is subject to the Crichell Down rules.

In January 2019, it was declared that land at Backford Depot at Chorlton by Backford in Chester was surplus to Ministry of Defence requirements and was to be sold by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation.

In accordance with Treasury Guidelines, any disposal action commences with an investigation of whether the Crichel Down Rules (CDR) apply, this was undertaken for the Backford site and the CDR were found to apply. Potential Former Owners were asked to identify themselves following an advertisement in January 2019. The Department is currently in negotiations with a Former Owner and the CDR process is ongoing.