A new Whitehall working party has been set up to discuss the future of three Ministry of Defence sites in Bath.

Staff at the Foxhill, Warminster Road and Ensleigh sites in Bath could be moved to the larger Abbey Wood complex (pictured) in Bristol under the Bath Accomodation Project, which aims to rationalise the MoD’s West Country estate.

The original plan was to keep the Ensleigh site open, but Defence Minister Kevin Jonas said last month that all three sites, employing nearly 3,000 people in total, could be vacated.

The sites would be empty by 2012 and used to fulfill Bath and North East Somerset council’s targets for new housebuilding, avoiding the need to build on greenbelt land.

The working party will include local authority officials and Defence Estates staff.

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