Works and Engineering Minister Alex Scott said yesterday that the former submarine tracking station at Tudor Hill, Southampton was in already in a vandalised state when the United States handed it over to Government in 1995.

He comments came after it was revealed that the site - once a highly secure Cold War outpost - had been broken into, damaged and sprayed with graffiti.

Mr. Scott said the Police were aware that there had been criminal activity in the area and regularly sent patrols there as much as they could.

And he said his conversations with Bermuda Land Development Company (BLDC) Chief Executive Officer George Smith yesterday had revealed that security patrols do regularly go up to the area to ensure it is not being trespassed on.

Mr. Smith told The Royal Gazette: "It would take the Regiment to stop people coming into the baselands. We do the best that we can. We did know that there was a difficult situation up there."

Mr. Scott pointed out that political activist Graeme Outerbridge had been incorrect when he said the buildings had been handed over by the Americans in pristine condition and added that he should not have gone into the site without permission from the BDLC.

He said: "This vandalism is not something that has just happened recently. It is my understanding that Government received the facility from the Americans in a similar condition."

Mr. Scott described how officials from the US and Britain toured the site with officials from the Environment Ministry in the years following the handover and had remarked on the damaged state that the buildings seemed to be in.

He said he believed the site to be a valuable resource from a real-estate point of view but added: "The buildings are earmarked to be demolished and it is not a property that the BLDC is prepared to invest in order to ensure that it is completely secured."

But he added: "It has not been left for vandals to have the run of the place without any monitoring."

Mr. Scott explained the demolition of the buildings, which contain asbestos, would not be done until a development proposal has been approved by the Tourism Ministry.

"We have introduced potential developers to the site and that is a practice that continues."

On the security front, Mr. Scott said he was satisfied with the job currently being done by Police and BLDC security personnel but added that putting a security fence up again would only encourage more people to go up there and steal it, as they have done before.

But he did say that more prominent signage might be a good idea in case people should stumble on the place and not know that it is private property.

Mr. Outerbridge accused the BLDC of "wasting an asset" by not delegating enough personnel to maintain the site.

But Mr. Smith said security patrols visit the site almost every day. However, he pointed out that the BLDC's resources were too limited to keep a permanent eye on the entire baselands, which include hundreds of acres at Southside, Morgan's Point and Daniel's Head.

Asked why the security fence which had been ripped out by vandals had not been replaced, Mr. Smith said: "It would be impossible to completely fence the properties like that. People cut it away as soon as it is put in place."

He also said he felt Mr. Outerbridge - who came upon the vandalised buildings last weekend while taking photographs - should have called to notify the BLDC that the security fence was gone rather than "trespassing" on the site.