MOD struggles to provide accommodation and facilities to the regulars. Can’t imagine it would go down well if they spent a load of money on buying us land
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Fixed that for you 
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Lol, like they have the monies for that. And maintenance. And staffing. And kit.
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lol I know, but one can dream right?
They could spin it off as a commerical venture, they could call it Cadet Adventures 
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That would require a certain level of commercial and business nouse to be applied. Which is eminently possible; we have a lot of knowledgeable people in the CivCom world. We just need to tap into it properly.
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FWIW I think we are too wedded to the idea of doing things as cheaply as possible. Spending a bit more on accommodation wouldn’t massively increase the cost of camps or courses (given what else we provide for free or at little cost). We could have a subsidy system for those who can’t afford a more ‘commercial’ rate.
Make an offer for these? Girlguiding to sell off their 5 activity centres
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So they say the sites need about £20 mil over the coming years to stay fit for use. My napkin maths:
Lets go with £20M over 5 years, split across about 45000 cadets. So that would be about an extra £7.5 a month per cadet for the next 5 years. Could we reasonably increase our subs slightly (which are amazing cheap in most places as is!) and properly look at out own accommodation/activity sites? The numbers potentially work!
At some point we do need to start becoming more self-sufficient as MOD resources are cut again and again.
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My prediction for the next 5 years…
Summer camp as known today becone a thing of the past.
Instead wings will book CTC/Defence Estate and follow the army cadet model taking most the wing in one big hit once a year.
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And DTE will cancel it a week before
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I begrudgingly ‘liked’ both your replies not because I like them, but because you’re both correct 
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Not wrong. Most defence accom down south is now ring fenced for ukrainian training so weve had to be smart with course booking etc
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That’s quite a short period to amortise it, but if the capital cost (purchase & refurb) were spread over a longer time then what we’d need to charge cadets over and above the running costs would be fairly minimal. Usage charges could be set to cover costs and hopefully there would be income from hirings.
It would actually be a good long-term investment in the Corps.
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I’ve used an Air BNB as staff accommodation for an Expedition before now. Outside of NACATC I can’t think of a time I’ve used DTE since long before Covid.
It’s so much of a poo-hole in most DTE I’d rather pay to stay elsewhere in most instances.
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I’d argue that the today’s summer camps are a poor, poor relation of those from even 10 years ago. Let alone Camp Crandtiz 2000 and the epic camps of the 90s!
And we stayed in 12x12s for weeks at a time without anybody catching fire!
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Which if you are not trained to the required standards then if it all goes wrong, you’re the one standing in court. Such inspections should really be carried out by those on a salary.
Corrected that for you…but @Batfink said it first.
Every decade that passes there are fewer camps, at less exciting places, for far fewer cadets.
The only element that has bucked this trend is the rise of “specialist” National camps be that RIAT, Drill&Ceremonial, Aerospace or other…therefore:
Is already happening
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Decline of the parent service sadly. Fewer flying stations that are all trying to do more with less.
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That’s nothing to do with WARMA
GMG. There is a mosquito in the bedroom. And it’s really annoying me.