By Julie Waters
HOLYWOOD’S Kinnegar army base has been bought by the PSNI for £4.9m to provide new training facilities.
The former army barracks and World War II prisoner of war camp stretches across a 54 acre site close to Belfast Lough.
According to a report that is due to be discussed at an Ards and North Down Council committee meeting, the Ministry of Defence had ‘concluded the disposal process’ for the base and the PSNI was the ‘preferred bidder’.
Council officials explained the PSNI ‘has now commenced the legal process for the transfer of the site’ and ‘this might take several months to complete’.
However, the report stressed the PSNI ‘was keen to move at pace and, upon gaining the site, would be moving into occupation’.
Once the plans for the new training facilities are completed, the report said the PSNI ‘would be keen to come and present these to the council’.
According to recent press reports, the purchase price of the site was £4.9m but the full cost of transforming the former barracks into a training complex will not be known until a business case is prepared.
The sale of the former Kinnegar barracks was first announced by the Ministry of Defence back in 2016, when it revealed the Holywood base would be one of 56 sites sold in a land review.
It is understood the sale was delayed following the Covid-19 health crisis as the barracks was turned into an emergency mortuary for victims who lost their lives during the pandemic.
In the past 18 months, the barracks was also named as potential accommodation for asylum seekers but this was later ruled out by the then Immigration Minister Robert Jenrick.
