Depot revamp MOD reveals plan to invest £270m in military base
THE military base at Ashchurch, near Tewkesbury, is to get a £270million revamp and is to stay open until at least 2040.
The Ministry of Defence said the renovation of the site, off the A46 and close to junction nine of the M5 near Tewkesbury, would happen between 2022 and 2026.
There have been doubts about the future of the facility in recent years but bosses have now confirmed that it has a long-term future.
They said DE&S Ashchurch, to give the vehicle storage and distribution centre site its formal name, will see the MOD retain elements there to 2040 and beyond.
Officials said the renovation of the site would be conducted under the Vehicle Storage and Support Programme. There are 580 staff at the base. There is a mixture of service personnel, civil servants and contractors.
The MOD also confirmed that a planned release of the eastern part of the site to the local authority, for housing, would happen.
Tewkesbury Borough Council said the land had the potential for “a few hundred” homes, but it said this was purely conceptual. It said the number would be determined through the planning process.
It said about 15 hectares of land would be opened up to help meet a housing shortfall in the area.
Councillor Mel Gore (C, Isbourne), the authority’s lead member for built environment, said: “I am really pleased to hear that a significant investment is being planned for the Ashchurch MOD site. This is excellent news for the area.
“The release of a parcel of land is also welcome news - the land being made available will help address a shortfall of housing in the area and will be worked in with the overarching Garden Town programme to build a new community for Tewkesbury over the next 30 years.”
Original plans for the MOD site to be unlocked for housing development, as part of the Joint Core Strategy, were put on hold in November 2016, when the Defence Infrastructure Organisation announced that a significant portion of the site would be needed for at least 10 years. The Garden Town project could see 10,195 homes built in the area over the next 30 years.