A veil of secrecy imposed by the Government over the new ownership of Shoebury Garrison should be lifted, says a Southend MP.

Southend East MP Sir Teddy Taylor asked a Junior Defence Minister in Parliament about to whom the Old Ranges at Shoebury had been sold and for what price.

His inquiry followed a contest between five rival bidders to purchase the site for development.

But Mr Peter Kilfoyle, shortly before he resigned from the Government, replied that although the site had been sold subject to contract by his ministry on January 20, he was not prepared to reveal the buyer and it would remain secret until the end of March.

He added that the details of the buyer and price of the site were to remain "commercially confidential" and would be withheld. But Sir Teddy says that the local community will want to keep a watchful eye on the site and that the secrecy is unnecessary.

He said: "I genuinely cannot see any reason why the Government should have decided to use a rare exemption from the Code of Access to Government information because there are no security issues involved at all.

"The people of Shoebury should be told who the purchaser is because no doubt they, as well as myself, would like to find out what the company has in mind for the glorious Garrison site.

"As the successful bidder does appeared to have offered an unusually high price for the site, we will obviously wish to keep a close watch on them to ensure that the site is used for the benefit of the local community."

Sir Teddy said he would further question how often the secrecy clause has been used and why it has been applied to the site.

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