4.
ACCOMMODATION FOR SERVICEMEN AND FAMILIES RETURNING FROM GERMANY (Previous Reference: OPD (67) 15th Meeting, Item 2)
The Committee considered a memorandum by the Secretary of State for Defence (OPD(67) 34) on the rehabilitation of camps and provision of family accommodation in the United Kingdom for two brigades and four RAF squadrons
from Germany.
THE MINISTER OF DEFENCE FOR ADMINISTRATION recalled that the Committee had agreed on 17th March (OPD(67) 13th Meeting, Item 2, Conclusion (2)(i)) that we should withdraw one brigade from Germany as soon as possible after 1st January 1968, and should reserve our right to make further withdrawals after 1st April 1968 when the offset agreement recently concluded between the United Kingdom, the United States and the Federal Republic of Germany expired. Proposals to rehabilitate camps to accommodate two brigades had been approved at a cost of £1.5 million and the necessary services should be completed in time for the arrival of units of the first brigade between January and March 1968. Planning for the withdrawal of the second brigade
was proceeding; the estimated cost of rehabilitating and improving the camps
was £1.5 million and unless approval were given very soon for the work to
begin, essential services would not be complete in time to start receiving
the second brigade by April 1968. If a second brigade were not withdrawn
from Germany, the accommodation prepared for it would be needed if there were
yet further withdrawals from elsewhere overseas. The 1,447 houses needed
for the families of the first brigade were now being bought at an estimated
cost of £6.5 million. About 150 houses were required for the RAF Wessex Squadron due to be withdrawn from Germany in early 1968, at a cost of about
£0.6 million. A further 1,563 houses would be needed for the families of
the second brigade. The cost of buying these, together with furniture, was
about £8 million. If it were decided to redeploy further RAF squadrons
from Germany, 650 additional houses would be required at a cost of about
£3.5 million.
Discussion showed general agreement with the proposal to buy 150 houses for the families of the Wessex squadron. There was also general support
for the view of the Committee on the Accommodation of Service Families that
the purchase of houses on the civilian market was preferable to the provision
of mobile homes or caravans; although the initial cost was considerably higher, the houses could be resold if no longer required. The proposals
to rehabilitate single accommodation for the units of the second brigade
were also agreed, although it was pointed out that the camps should not be
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