Scandal of shoddy military homes as cash is lavished on asylum seekers
ROGER WATSON
THE announcement that £9billion is to be invested in refurbishing military housing for British servicemen and women sounds like a welcome move, but it came only days after it was revealed that the government has probably already spent over £15billion on homes and hotels for asylum seekers. This is against a backdrop of an estimated 7,500 homeless ex-forces personnel, more than 400 empty barracks with thousands of potential beds, and plans to make more of these available to asylum seekers.
I have more than a passing interest in military accommodation having spent some time in it during my own service with the Army. I now have a daughter and a son-in-law who are serving officers with the Royal Army Medical Service and the Royal Engineers respectively. At one time my wife and I had three children serving in the armed forces, therefore visits to army barracks and garrisons are a regular feature of our lives.
My own experience was mixed. There was a general sense of decay about many of the places I visited. Mandora mess at the Cambridge Military Hospital in Aldershot (closed in 1996) was renowned as a dump among Royal Army Medical Corps officers. I stayed there once and I well recall the hazardous neglected moss-covered path to the front door. This opened into a hall which spoke of former grandeur but reeked of current neglect. The accommodation and general state of disrepair within the mess fulfilled the lowest expectations.
There have long been complaints from serving soldiers and officers about the poor state of barracks, where single soldiers tend to live, and military housing allocated to families. I also hear about this from members of my own family. Damp, mould and cold are common complaints.
In a recent article in Country Squire Magazine I described a visit to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, where my son-in-law is seconded for two years. Suffice to say the contrast, especially in the quality of the housing, with the British Army offerings was stark. The houses are spacious, in well-kept grounds and nicely spaced out. I noted that one house which was between occupants was being steam-cleaned and refurbished in preparation for the new family.
While my daughter and son-in-law have had good housing in North Yorkshire (former RAF accommodation, which tends to meet higher standards than Army homes), their most recent accommodation, also former RAF housing in the north-east of Scotland, left much to be desired. I cannot see them returning to British Army accommodation after their US experience.
Our serving daughter lives in Catterick, but no longer in military accommodation. Having opted out, she and her husband have bought a house. In any case, things are not good on our largest garrison. Much of the housing, bizarrely, has been allocated to Afghan families. Women in the garrison are afraid to visit the local shops due to the constant and threatening presence of young Afghan males. Behind the fence on the garrison where soldiers are accommodated in barracks and in housing, rubbish is piling up as bins are not being emptied and rats are thriving. Morale amongst soldiers and their families is, reportedly, low which is hardly surprising. Meantime, an estimated £50million is being allocated to refurbish sites at Inverness and Crowborough which are the latest destinations for asylum seekers (see this article in Wednesday’s TCW).
Military matters, such as housing soldiers and care of veterans, and accommodating asylum seekers should be separate issues. But successive governments (the last Conservative government was complicit) have linked the two issues in the mind of the public by prolonged poor treatment of our armed forces while lavishing asylum seekers with a standard of accommodation that many British families, including those serving in the armed forces, could not afford even on holiday.
The cynic in me wonders if the latest allocation of £9billion is really designed to benefit military families and, if it does, for how long. The British armed forces have been severely depleted since the early 1990s, nearly halved in number. A halt has been called to this trend with calls for an increase in personnel. If promises to increase the numbers of armed forces are honoured in the same way as promises to cut immigration (i.e. reciprocally) then it is possible that plenty of new refurbished accommodation will become available for asylum seekers. I wonder if that is really the plan.
This article (Scandal of shoddy military homes as cash is lavished on asylum seekers) was created and published by Conservative Woman and is republished here under “Fair Use” with attribution to the author Roger Watson
••••
The Liberty Beacon Project is now expanding at a near exponential rate, and for this we are grateful and excited! But we must also be practical. For 7 years we have not asked for any donations, and have built this project with our own funds as we grew. We are now experiencing ever increasing growing pains due to the large number of websites and projects we represent. So we have just installed donation buttons on our websites and ask that you consider this when you visit them. Nothing is too small. We thank you for all your support and your considerations … (TLB)
••••
Comment Policy: As a privately owned web site, we reserve the right to remove comments that contain spam, advertising, vulgarity, threats of violence, racism, or personal/abusive attacks on other users. This also applies to trolling, the use of more than one alias, or just intentional mischief. Enforcement of this policy is at the discretion of this websites administrators. Repeat offenders may be blocked or permanently banned without prior warning.
••••
Disclaimer: TLB websites contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of “fair use” in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, health, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than “fair use” you must request permission from the copyright owner.
••••
Disclaimer: The information and opinions shared are for informational purposes only including, but not limited to, text, graphics, images and other material are not intended as medical advice or instruction. Nothing mentioned is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of The Liberty Beacon Project.
Leave a Reply