Government defence ministers are invited to see 'truly awful' state of HMS Collingwood accommodation for themselves

The state of disrepair in HMS Collingwood over the last 12 months has been revealed by 'fed-up' sailors.

Caroline Dinenage, MP for Gosport, has made the invites in the hope that it will spur more rapid action on improving the state of HMS Collingwood, which falls under her constituency and houses more than 2,500 navy personnel.

She has spoken with key figures Dr Andrew Murrison, minister for defence people, veterans and service families, and Alex Chalk, minister for defence procurement incumbent about the poor standards at Collingwood and HMS Sultan, also in her constituency.

As reported in The News, some sailors have dubbed the base ‘HMS Colingrad’ after the Russian city reduced to ruins during the Second World War. Sailors speaking anonymously revealed the problems that plague the base after a flood on the site in Newgate Lane earlier this year brought morale to a new low. Besides reports of maggots and silverfish, they told of long-running problems with broken showers and radiators, blocked and overflowing toilets, and fire alarms that sound continuously late at night.

Sailors at HMS Collingwood are calling for better facilities at the Navy's largest training establishment.

Ms Dinenage said: ‘Now that we have it in writing that Sultan is not going to close, they really need to invest in the accommodation.’ The base had been under threat of closure – but is now safe.

‘And Collingwood is in a terrible state. It will be good to get senior people from the government coming here to visit the bases – when they can see it for themselves, that kind of focuses the mind. It’s important for them to see it rather than rely on what they’re being told.

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‘I have invited them both, and I’ve not had it formally in writing yet, but they have both said it would be a possibility, and that’s what I am working towards at the moment.

Gosport MP Caroline Dinenage, speaking in the House of Commons

‘In the meantime I have had meetings with both the commanding officers of HMS Collingwood and HMS Sultan and they have both told me that money is finally coming through. They have always had their own small pot of money to invest in improvements, but these problems were too much to be fixed without that extra money.’

Following an announcement of £1.6bn in spending to improve defence accommodation, Ms Dinenage also took the opportunity during defence questions to raise the poor accommodation standards at the local sites with Dr Murrison. She said: ‘I warmly welcome the announcement of £1.6 billion to repair and refurbish on-site base accommodation. As the Minister rightly says, the accommodation at both HMS Sultan and HMS Collingwood is truly awful.’

Dr Murrison replied: ‘We are spending money on HMS Collingwood and I hope that it will be brought up to spec shortly.’

A spokesperson for the navy previously said: ‘HMS Collingwood is the largest training establishment in the Royal Navy estate and we continue to invest in the infrastructure. We acknowledge the recent issues with heating and flooding but these have been dealt with in a timely manner putting the safety of our trainees first.

‘However, we also do not recognise some of the photographs as being taken at HMS Collingwood and nor have there been any recent reports of insect infestations.’