Andrew Gwynne – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Gwynne on 2016-01-06.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many golf courses his Department owns; and what plans his Department has to sell such property.

Mark Lancaster

There are currently 11 operating golf courses, one pitch and putt centre and one driving range on Ministry of Defence (MOD) land.

Of these 11 courses seven are on land leased by MOD that have no other direct connection to the Department, one is occupied by the United States Air Force and three are military encroachments.

The majority of the golf courses located on MOD land are linked to sites that will be addressed as part of the MOD Estate Footprint Strategy to release surplus land.

Once the future use of any site has been agreed, MOD will look at how to make best use of land that will be retained or bring to the market sites that are being vacated. This will include the potential release of the golf course element.

As part of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation’s ongoing work to rationalise the Defence estate the courses at DMRC Headley Court and Ballykinler are being examined for potential disposal through the Department’s standard disposal process. Ballykinler and RM Condor are no longer in use as golf courses.