Many of you may have seen in the news that the Service Family Accommodation (SFA) in England and Wales owned by Annington and leased by the MOD has been bought back so that MOD/DIO will once again own the housing stock in all of the UK.
Because it leased housing in England and Wales, DIO was significantly restricted in what it could do to improve SFA and the estate in general. Now that ownership has transferred back to the MOD, DIO can really look at the estate, work out what is working and what isn’t and take action where appropriate to modernise it.
In the past it could only make basic improvements, but often these were expensive and on old properties. Now there is the opportunity to look at a multitude of options which could include full refurbishments, purchasing new builds, or knocking down and rebuilding on existing estates.
A review is planned for all opportunities to be considered along with options for funding the projects, and AFF has been assured that the thoughts and ideas of families are actively welcomed to ensure you end up living in the best possible housing.
AFF will work closely with DIO to ensure that your ideas are captured, listened to and fed into the review as early as possible – look out for further updates on aff.org.uk over the next few months.
Radical changes will not happen overnight although planning applications have been submitted for 265 new homes at RAF Brize Norton, and plans will be submitted in the spring for around 300 new houses at Catterick Garrison.
We recognise that you will have many questions. As the review is still in its infancy, not many can be answered with much detail but as soon as we have more understanding of the outcome of the review, we will update families. In the meantime, if you have any questions contact housingsupport@aff.org.uk