THE Ministry of Defence is seeking to maximise the windfall it can generate by selling off its Sir John Moore Barracks site to a developer. We revealed last week that Littleton and Harestock Parish Council has launched a campaign to have 25 hectares of the base converted into a nature reserve.

In a letter to the Chronicle, published on this page, three local councillors say the MoD is pushing for more than a thousand new homes on this land on the grounds that it is ‘brownfield’

This is pushing the definition of the word to breaking point. The land has never been ‘brownfield’. It has never been anything other than undeveloped open space. The MoD has effectively run the area as a nature reserve and in the 1980s and 1990s used to promote its green credentials in its care of this land. Claiming it as brownfield because recruits have used bit for cross-country runs or held training exercises will not wash.

The MoD through its Defence Infrastructure Organisation needs to recalibrate its ambitions for this area. These 25 hectares should not be developed in any way.