Kneller Hall a lost cause

Dear Mr Carter, Date Line Thursday 13 April 2017 Thank you for your email of 14 March to the Ministry of Defence in which you raised concerns about the closure of Kneller Hall and the future of Army Bands. I have been asked to reply. As you are aware, the MOD announced in January 2016 that, as part of the MOD’s Better Defence Estate Strategy, Kneller Hall would be vacated in 2020. This strategy will provide Defence with a more effective, affordable estate that better enables military capability and contributes to Government housing targets. This means collocating units who are currently single occupiers of sites that are often disproportionately expensive. Significantly, the money received through the sale of these sites will be reinvested in Defence. As you acknowledge, the current facilities at Kneller Hall are ageing and need significant investment to raise them to meet the required standard. While the future location of the Royal Military School of Music and headquarters of the Corps of Army Music is yet to be decided, we intend for it to be a more suitable modern facility to assist us in continuing to deliver military musicians of the highest standard well into the future. I hope this is explains the situation. Yours sincerely, Army Secretariat