North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan yesterday contributed to a Westminster Hall debate on the state of military accommodation, telling MPs and the Minister for Defence of issues in her constituency.
The MP has been continually raised the need to improve the state of housing at Shawbury and Tern Hill, earlier this year raising to public attention the ‘rat-infested’ state of housing at Tern Hill and months-long waits for damp and mould repairs at both bases in her constituency.
Defence Minister James Cartlidge paid tribute to Helen in his opening remarks, telling MPs that she had ‘raised this issue with me previously in oral questions and has been a doughty campaigner on it.’
Helen Morgan told MPs that it was ‘symptomatic’ of failures in the housing contract for military families that in North Shropshire alone she had handed off ‘hundreds of pieces of casework directly to the minister in order to get them resolved’.
She also again raised specific cases including crows falling down the chimney of homes, families without hot water for weeks, gas safety certificates left incomplete, frozen pipes, broken boilers, and mould.
Helen Morgan, MP for North Shropshire, said, “Shropshire’s military families deserve the very best, but too often have had to put up with unacceptably poor housing. Since becoming North Shropshire’s MP, I have had to forward hundreds of cases to the Minister where repairs have been left incomplete, mould and damp have taken over houses, and rats have infested barracks – it just isn’t good enough.
“I was pleased to use the last debate of the year to raise this issue again, and will continue working hard to campaign for our military families going into 2024.”
Helen also asked the Minister for Defence directly about Clive Barracks, “On the point about bases that is to be closed, Clive Barracks is due to be closed in 2029.
“Is there is a risk that, because it has a finite lifespan, we are not putting in the investment we need and that we are accepting poor-quality accommodation for what is still a good number of years? What is the Minister’s plan to address that?”
James Cartlidge MP, Minister for Defence, responded, “That is a fair question. I was talking about the minimum standards that we require, which apply to about 96% of our estate. To reassure the hon. Lady, they apply irrespective of whether the accommodation is not planned for disposal or otherwise.”
North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan has continued her ongoing campaign for improvements to military housing in the county, once again raising the state of mouldy housing at Clive Barracks with the Defence Minister in front of the Commons.
North Shropshire MP Helen Morgan has questioned the Minister for Defence over poor conditions for soldiers living at Clive Barracks, near Tern Hill.
Helen Morgan has issued a call for contractors at RAF Shawbury to give military families the respect they deserve.
Shropshire MP Helen Morgan led a debate in the House of Commons after securing Parliamentary time for the unacceptably poor state of service family accommodation.
Helen Morgan has urged the Government to sort out substandard forces accommodation after a survey revealed military morale to be at rock bottom.
Helen Morgan has met representatives from the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), the Pinnacle Group, and Amey PLC – the key providers of repair and maintenance for military housing in Shropshire. This comes after Helen had publicly raised the issue of poor-quality housing and maintenance for military families across the county.
Helen Morgan is calling on the Government to hold the contractors responsible for military accommodation to account after hearing from local families living in cold, damp and mould-ridden homes.
