Britain’s Armed Forces will see the biggest upgrade to their housing in half a century under a £9billion package announced by the Government. The new plan will deliver a “generational renewal” of military accommodation, with more than 40,000 homes to be modernised, refurbished or rebuilt, alongside a drive to see 100,000 new civilian and military homes built on MoD land. Speaking to the Daily Express at RAF Bassingbourn in Cambridgeshire, Louise Sandher-Jones, the Veterans and Peoples Minister, herself a former soldier, said she had “lived in some pretty shocking accomodation” while serving.

She said serving personnel had “real concerns over insulation, the type of heating and power they had,” and confirmed that “nine in ten of the military housing stock” would benefit from the investment. Ms Sandher-Jones added that the new funding meant the department had “got our marching orders” and that it was ”fantastic to see the work that’s already started.”

However, it was confirmed that none of the 66 homes currently being refurbished at the base had received any of the new funding, with works instead financed under an older scheme.

The MoD’s new scheme will be delivered over ten years, focusing on long-overdue repairs to service housing and installing new kitchens, bathrooms and heating systems for Armed Forces families.

Defence Secretary John Healey said a decent home was the least “British forces personnel and their families” deserved.

He said the announcement marked a “decisive break from decades of underinvestment.”

The overhaul follows years of complaints about damp, mould and poor conditions, which ministers say have damaged morale and retention.

Around 14,000 homes are said to be in line to receive substantial refurbishment, or even to be replaced entirely, as part of the scheme.

The Express was not allowed to speak to any families currently housed on the base.

It follows a deal which saw 36,000 family properties brought back into public ownership, which the government says will save the taxpayer £600,000 a day. The government says that these savings are now being reinvested into the new program.

Surplus land, which is not in use on the MoD estate, will also be used to build over 100,000 new homes, which will be available for both military and civilian families.

A new Defence Development Fund will also be set up, with the proceeds from releasing land for development, reinvested into future projects.

Shadow Defence Secretary, James Cartlidge, pointed out that the deal to buy back the defence housing was done under the previous Conservative government.

He said: “When I became Minister for Defence Procurement in 2023, I saw first-hand the poor state of military housing. Whilst we invested £400m in our winter plan in 2023 to address damp and mould, which led to a sharp drop in complaints, it was clear to me that much of the estate needed a complete rebuild. However, this was not possible given the estate had been sold off in 1996, and Governments since – including Labour from 1997 to 2010 – had made no serious attempt to buy it back.

“That’s why I took the decision in Government in 2023 to buy back the estate, and I led intense work to get the Treasury on board and the deal under negotiation by the time of the election.

“Now that the deal has legally completed we have an extraordinary opportunity to improve forces’ housing, and we will be carefully scrutinising Labour’s efforts to deliver their strategy, much of which is similar to the ‘homes for heroes’ policy I announced in June. With retention still a huge challenge in the military, it’s important that the Annington deal really does result in a comprehensive regeneration of the defence estate – our service personnel and their families deserve no less’.”