Sir Richard Mottram, permanent under-secretary at the Ministry of Defence, has defended last year’s controversial £1.6bn sale of the Married Quarters Estate to Annington Homes, writes Philip Smith of EGi.
Facing the Public Accounts Committee, Mottram denied the MOD had sold the 57,000 properties cheaply or acted unwisely in failing to transfer all the risks of ownership.
A National Audit Office report into the disposal noted that Savills did not have to compete for the contract to advise the MOD on the sale. Mottram defended the £11m spent on advisers and agents in the sale. As 0.8% of the final sale price, he said the sum was a smaller fraction of the final proceeds than is usually the case.
Savills estimated that some £470m would be needed to bring the whole estate up to standard. Mottram said: “Savills’ snapshot was quite accurate.”
