POOLE MP Robert Syms has said control of the Royal Marines housing in Hamworthy should be taken away from the Ministry of Defence.

He suggested transferring control of the 178 family homes and 638 single-accommodation places from Defence Estates to Poole Housing Partnership (PHP).

Mr Syms said the Royal Marines– including the Special Boat Service (SBS) – were not people who complain but are frustrated at the lack of response when they have problems with their homes.

“The defence housing people do not seem to understand customer service. PHP have the infrastructure. They look after houses in Hamworthy already. It could be sub-contracted to them,” he said.

He made the comments to the Echo after a Freedom of Information request revealed the vast majority of soldiers stationed in Dorset are still living in low-quality accommodation.

At Blandford, 91 per cent of single soldiers live in accommodation rated in of the bottom two categories of four. The figure for Bovington is 68 per cent, and 54 per for Poole.

Family accommodation is better after government investment. At Blandford 40 per cent of families have homes in the top grade. The figure for Bovington is 43 per cent, and in Poole 55 per cent.

But the new housing is still only aimed at meeting the government’s Decent Homes Standards. Bath-rooms, for example, are only supposed to be less than 30 years old. Mr Syms said: “It’s all relative to what most people would consider a modern home. A lot of the PHP people have much better housing than the troops in Poole.”

The MoD said that by 2013 little, if any, family accommodation would fall into the bottom two grades. It also plans to improve communication and consultation with tenants.

A spokesman said: “The purpose of the (Blandford) garrison is evolving. Plans to modernise accommodation will be developed in due course.”