Accredited official statistics

MOD Land Holdings: 2000 to 2023

Published 25 May 2023

This is an annual publication which provides figures on Ministry of Defence (MOD) land holdings in the UK, by top level budget holder, country, type of use and whether owned, leased or with legal rights.

This edition provides statistics for 2000 to 2023 (figures are given for 1 April each year), and updates figures released in the 2022 edition of this publication, which provided statistics up to 1 April 2022.

This publication does not provide information on the overseas Defence estate and includes land declared as surplus to defence requirements.

Main Points and Trends

• On 1 April 2023, the MOD owned 232,200 hectares of land and foreshore in the UK (either freehold or leasehold), which is about 1.0% of the total UK land mass^{[footnote 1]}. The MOD also held rights over a further 111,300 hectares, which is a further 0.5% of the total UK land mass. On 1 April 2023, the total UK land holdings for the MOD was 343,500 hectares (1.4% of the total UK land mass).

• Since 1 April 2022, the total land holdings have decreased by 200 hectares. The reduction contributes towards the MOD’s ongoing commitment to reduce the estate.
• The Army had the largest area of land owned or with rights held on 1 April 2023, at 259,800 hectares (75.6% of the MOD total).
• England accounts for the largest portion of land owned or with rights held, at 253,400 hectares (73.8% of the MOD total), a decrease of 100 hectares since 2022.
• Training areas and ranges occupy the largest area at 260,200 hectares (75.8% of the MOD total, this includes land which is owned, and that MOD has legal rights over), a decrease of 100 hectares since 2022.

Further information: [email protected]

Responsible statistician: [email protected]

Background quality report: Background quality report

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Please refer to the Supplementary tables containing all data presented in this publication.

Introduction

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is one of the largest landowners in the country, operating over an estate approximately equal to 1.4% of the UK land mass. MOD sites are used for training, accommodation and provide a base from which operations can be instigated. The estate is currently managed by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) and third party organisations, who have a remit to ensure the safety, sustainability and rationalisation of the estate. The MOD has published land holdings and building statistics since 1981.

The information in this publication, and the accompanying supplementary tables, have been taken from the Infrastructure Management System (IMS). IMS was implemented by DIO in 2014 as a mechanism to manage the defence infrastructure more effectively. Prior to the implementation of IMS, an asset verification exercise took place to capture accurately the defence estate. DIO have a clear process to ensure that IMS is updated with any changes to the estate, so the information about the defence estate is reflective of the current situation. A number of inclusions and exclusions apply to the figures in this publication. Further details of these can be found in the Methodology section of the report and Background Quality Report.

A National Statistics publication

The United Kingdom Statistics Authority has designated these statistics as National Statistics, in accordance with the Statistics and Registration Service Act of 2007 and signifying compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

The continued designation of these statistics as National Statistics was confirmed in 2017 following a compliance check by the Office for Statistics Regulation. The statistics last underwent a full assessment against the Code of Practice in 2012.

Designation can be broadly interpreted to mean that the statistics:

• meet identified user needs;

• are well explained and readily accessible;

• are produced according to sound methods; and

• are managed impartially and objectively in the public interest.

Once statistics have been designated as National Statistics it is a statutory requirement that the Code of Practice shall continue to be observed. Further details about how this report has been developed since its confirmation as National Statistics can be found in the Background Quality Report.

UK Land Holdings for Defence

UK Land Holdings by Type of Ownership

There are several ways that land can be held by organisations, DIO manages land through the following three ways:

1. Freehold – land which has been bought on a permanent basis.

2. Leasehold– land which is held by an organisation for a definitive period of time.

3. Rights Held – land which is held on a (most usually) short term and contractual basis or through grants for a specific purpose. MOD holds a lot of land in this way because it is a more cost effective and flexible way to meet the changing operational requirements for defence.

As of 1 April 2023, the MOD managed 343,500 hectares of land within the UK. In total, this is about 1.4% of the UK land mass. This is a decrease of 200 hectares over the past year. The reduction contributes towards the MOD’s ongoing commitment to reduce the estate.

Chart 1: Type of holding, as of 1 April 2023

A graph showing the type of holding percentage split for freehold, leasehold and rights held.

Source: DIO (IMS)

Chart 1 shows that just over two thirds (232,200 hectares) of the land was owned (either freehold or leasehold), which is 100 hectares less than the figure reported on 1 April 2022.

On 1 April 2023, the MOD held a further 111,300 hectares through legal rights, which is 100 hectares less than the figure reported on 1 April 2022.

UK Land Holdings by Top Level Budget Holder

Following budget delegation in 2020, ownership of the training estate transferred from the Defence Infrastructure Organisation to the Army, this resulted in the Army becoming the Top Level Budget Holder with the largest land holding.

As shown in Chart 2, the Army owned or had rights over the largest area, at 259,800 hectares (75.6% of the MOD total), and much of this comprises of the training estate (93.8% of the Army’s land holding is training estate).

Chart 2: Top Level Budget holder, as of 1 April 2023

A graph showing the top level budget holder area percentage split.

Source Data: DIO (IMS)

The ‘Other’ category in chart 2 includes Head Office, Defence Business Services, Ministry of Defence Police and Trading Funds (such as Defence Electronics and Components Agency, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, and UK Hydrographic Office).

Navy Command includes the Defence Nuclear Organisation.

UK Land Holdings by Country

On 1 April 2023, the majority of land holdings were in England. The England land holdings were 253,400 hectares (73.8% of the MOD total), a decrease of 100 hectares since 2022.

As of 1 April 2023, the Scotland land holdings stood at 64,900 hectares (18.9% of the MOD total), the Wales land holdings were 23,300 hectares (6.8% of the MOD total), and the Northern Ireland land holdings were 1,800 hectares (0.5% of the MOD total). Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland land holdings have remained largely the same since 2022.

Chart 3: Type of land held by country, as of 1 April 2023

A graph showing the type of land held by all MOD then by the UK home countries.

Source: DIO (IMS)

A map showing the type of land held by the UK home countries

UK Land Holdings by Type of Use

Chart 4 below shows that on 1 April 2023 training areas and ranges occupied the largest area, at 260,200 hectares (75.8% of the MOD total), this has decreased by 100 hectares since 2022. Training areas and ranges also make up 99.2% of the land MOD holds legal rights to (110,400 hectares out of the total 111,300 hectares).

Research and development occupies 35,700 hectares (10.4% of the MOD total) which has remained approximately the same compared to 2022. Barracks and camps use have increased by 200 hectares since 2022 to 14,000 hectares, while Service family accommodation decreased by 200 hectares to 3,300 hectares. Other types of use have stayed broadly the same.

Chart 4: Type of use, as of 1 April 2023

A graph showing the type of use percentage split for airfields, training area and ranges, barracks and camps, storage and supply depots, research and development, and other.

Source: DIO (IMS)

Detailed figures on the MOD’s UK land holdings at 1 April each year since 2000 can be found in Table 1 (by top level budget holder), Table 2 (by country) and Table 3 (by type of use): MOD Land Holdings Bulletin Index

Methodology

The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) is the estate expert for defence, supporting the armed forces to enable military capability by planning, building, maintaining, and servicing infrastructure. We are responsible for enabling defence people to live, work, train and deploy at home and overseas. Our vision is to equip defence with a significantly smaller, more efficient, better quality estate.

For more information, visit the Defence Infrastructure Organisation website

Data Sources and Quality

The land holding figures are derived from the DIO Infrastructure Management System (IMS) which contains information on all non-sensitive property assets that are owned, occupied or over which the MOD hold rights. The figures in the publication do have notable inclusions and exclusions which are as follows (these caveats apply to all figures from 2011):

• The figures presented include land occupied by all MOD TLB holders (including United States Visiting Forces (USVF) occupied sites); all Trading Funds and Agencies (including Defence Electronics and Components Agency, Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (DSTL) and the Hydrographic Office).

• Civil estate (for example offices) owned by MOD that are currently being used by another Government Department, and not at all by MOD, are excluded.

• The reserve (or volunteer) estate is included from 2016, this is due to a data quality improvement. Comparable figures for earlier years are not available.

• The Rights figures for England & Scotland include those agreements where Training on Private Land (ToPL) has been formalised with the landowner through a legal agreement.

• In Wales significant amounts of ToPL occurs on an informal agreement basis so these figures are not included. As most of the land held under Rights agreements is used for training, which is driven by operational requirements, the extent of Rights held can vary significantly from year to year.

• Information on PFI (Private Finance Initiative), dockyard, and AWE (Atomic Weapons Establishment) assets are currently being reviewed, any updates will be reflected in later publications.

• Changes to the estate which have not been captured on IMS at the time the data was extracted for this bulletin are not included.

Data quality improvements to the IMS were reinforced as a result of recommendations from the National Audit Office 2010 report: ‘A Defence Estate of the Right Size to meet Operational Needs’. Further information about these improvements and other aspects of data quality can be found in the Background Quality Report.

Further Information

Rounding

Within this publication, all figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred hectares or to one decimal place for percentages. Where rounding has been used, totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not equal the sums of their rounded parts.

Revisions

In the accompanying supplementary tables, a small amendment has been made to the 2018 and 2021 for Rights Held by Other. These were previously both marked as ‘[low]’. A minor error was noted, which has been revised in this edition.

Corrections to the published statistics will be made if errors are found, or if figures change as a result of improvements to methodology or changes to definitions. When making corrections, we will follow the Ministry of Defence Statistics Revisions and Corrections Policy. All corrected figures will be identified by the shorthand [r], and an explanation will be given of the reason for and size of the revision. Corrections which would have a significant impact on the utility of the statistics will be corrected as soon as possible, by reissuing the publication. Minor errors will also be corrected, but for convenience these corrections may be timed to coincide with the next annual release of the publication.

Contact Us

This publication has been produced by the Data Exploitation team in the Defence Infrastructure Organisation.

We welcome feedback on our statistical products. If you have any comments or questions about this publication or about our statistics in general, you can contact us as follows:

Data Exploitation team (DIO)

Email: [email protected]

If you require information which is not available within this or other available publications, you may wish to submit a Request for Information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to the Ministry of Defence.

If you wish to correspond by mail, our postal address is:

Data Exploitation (National Statistics)
Defence Infrastructure Organisation Head Office
St George’s House
DMS Whittington
Lichfield
Staffordshire
WS14 9PY

For general MOD enquiries, please call: 020 7218 9000

1. The best recorded estimate of total UK land mass 244,376km² or 24,437,600 hectares. This figure is published by United Nations Statistics and can be found at the following link. https://unstats.un.org/unsd/demographic-social/products/dyb/documents/dyb2021/table03.pdf ↩