Some of our members have contacted us about this BBC News Article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp352n8q743o, which we also saw for the first time on Friday morning.
What does this mean for Chetwynd Barracks?
The article reads as though the scheme to build homes etc. on vacant military bases (including Chetwynd Barracks) has been shelved!
The article also states that the partnership between the MoD and Homes England was quietly ended in April 2022, but that doesn’t seem to be correct. Homes England (as the potential Master Developer) have been represented at our meetings with the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) who manage the military estate for the MoD and are tasked with handling the disposal of unused/vacant sites, & their consultants Avison Young (AY) from 2020 up until October 2023.
However, it did come as a surprise when we were told recently (in July) by the DIO and AY, that the DIO was no longer partnering with Homes England! (We were told this in confidence as the information was not in the public domain, and therefore we could not tell you earlier). Nevertheless, we were assured that the plans for Chetwynd Barracks were still in process. We are due to arrange another meeting with them soon to discuss progress, timescales and when public consultation is likely to commence.
Our understanding is that the DIO has renewed its contract with AY to continue producing development plans etc. for Chetwynd Barracks, and as far as we understand it, they are still moving forward with the disposal and redevelopment of the site as planned, but as above the timescale for this is still to be shared with us.
We asked the DIO to comment on the article and for reassurance that the project is continuing. This is their response:-
“We are aware of the BBC news article, and can assure you that the disposal of these sites, including Chetwynd Barracks, has not been shelved. Nor was the partnership agreement with Homes England shelved two years ago. On the contrary, the partnership with Homes England remains in place but Chetwynd Barracks has been removed from the Memorandum of Understanding by mutual agreement. The MOD is now leading on the planning and marketing of the site. This is in line with standard MOD processes.”
This hopefully answers the question posed at the beginning of this post, and confirms that the barracks site will be developed. Two of the remaining questions of course are when, and how it will meet the Neighbourhood Plan Policies and Aspirations. Once we have some further clarity on these, we will of course share it with you.
As always please do feel free to ask any questions you may have on this week’s latest bulletin or anything else via the Contact Us page, and we’ll do our best to answer them via the Questions and Answers page.