The Ministry of Defence has defended its sale of the Ensleigh and Warminster Road sites in Bath, after various reports last year stated the land had been sold for a fraction of its value.

The land at Ensleigh was bought by Skanska from the MOD for £3.9 million in April 2012, which it then sold to another property developer for £8 million in 2014.
The reported difference in value of £4 million for Ensleigh and £16.5 million for Warminster Road was attributed to the inclusion of planning permission – which was not sought before the MoD sold the land.
Bath’s MP Ben Howlett has secured clarification from the Ministry of Defence regarding the sale of the two MOD sites in Bath.
In a letter seen by the Bath Echo, Mark Lancaster TD MP, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and Minister for Defence Veterans, Reserves and Personnel, confirmed that the sites were sold in line with Treasury Rules, as rapidly as possible.
The decision to sell without planning permission was taken to ensure that the sale was swift and avoided unnecessary running costs which would have been incurred had the sale taken longer.
Treasury Rules dictate that sites have to be sold within three years and planning permission could not have been sought in this time period on the two sites.
Ben said: “It is matters like these where Ministerial clarification can provide a useful insight into how and why decisions are taken which at the outset may not always seem logical.
“I am grateful to the Minister for taking the time to clarify the position of the MOD in detail and I hope residents are reassured by his letter.”
1 Comment
Kirsten Elliott
Thursday 23rd February, 2017 at 13:56Is it Treasury practice to sell land it doesn’t own? And it definitely did not own Warminster Road site. It was supposed to hand it back. Still in pursuit of real owners.