This topic contains information on land holdings and buildings owned by the Ministry of Defence.
Publications
The annual statistics compendium of the Ministry of Defence
A summary of the annual statistics compendium of the Ministry of Defence
A summary of the annual statistics compendium of the Ministry of Defence
Overview
The Ministry of Defence is one of the largest landowners in the country, with an estate equal to over 1 per cent of the UK land mass.
The estate, spread over 4000 sites, is critical to the success of the Armed Forces and is held solely to support the delivery of defence capability. It is used for training and accommodation purposes, and may provide a base from where military operations are set in motion.
The MOD estate consists of property assets ranging from barracks and airfields to rural training areas and is valued at about £20 billion. The annual cost of new construction, maintenance and property management is over £2 billion.
The estate is managed by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, an organisation of the Ministry of Defence. Estate statistics are published annually as part of the UK Defence Statistics publication.
Technical Data
The Defence Estate includes freehold and leasehold land and foreshore holdings, and also rights held.
Rights held is land and foreshore over which the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has limited rights under grants and rights.
Larger areas of the Defence Estate include:
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Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire
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Catterick and Feldom Training Area in Yorkshire
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Otterburn Training Area in Northumberland
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Dartmoor Training Area in Devon
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RAF Spadeadam in Cumbria
- Sennybridge Training Area in Powys
Statistics on the size of the Defence Estate, broken down by type of ownership, country, parent service area and type of use, are published annually as part of the UK Defence Statistics compilation. The size of the estate is measured in thousand hectares.
Defence Infrastructure Organisation also has responsibility for managing all the Service Families Accommodation (SFA) for the Armed Forces in the UK.
In 1996, most of the MOD’s housing stock in England and Wales was sold to a private company, Annington Homes Limited. From this housing stock, the homes required for service families were leased back. This was on the condition that the MOD released a minimum number of properties over 25 years for disposal by Annington Homes Limited.
Statistics on the number and condition of SFA dwellings in the UK are published annually as part of the UK Defence Statistics compilation.
Glossary
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Foreshore
Foreshore is the land between low and high tide marks.
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Freehold
Freehold is land and foreshore owned by the Ministry of Defence (MOD).
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Hectare
A hectare is equivalent to 10,000 square metres. (A thousand hectares is 3.86 square miles.)
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Leasehold
Leasehold is land and foreshore leased by the Ministry of Defence (MOD).
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Rights held
Rights held are land and foreshore that are not owned by, or leased to the Ministry of Defence (MOD), but over which the MOD has limited rights under grants and rights.
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Service Families Accommodation (SFA)
SFA is provided for entitled Service personnel in accordance with Tri-Service Accommodation Regulations, as well as for other entitled or eligible personnel. It is also provided for core welfare purposes. SFA can be temporarily used for other defence purposes such as single living accommodation.
Contact Details
For statistical enquiries about this topic, please contact:
Head of DASA WDS
Email: dasa-enquiries-mailbox@mod.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 20 7807 8792
Defence Analytical Services and Advice 3-K-50 MOD Main Building Whitehall London SW1A 2HB
