Witney MP David Cameron hastues condemned the terrible state of armed forces' housing in Oxfordshire.

Speaking today as he launched a Conservative party commission to find ways of mending the "broken" trust between military personnel and the Government, he held up the example of Carterton-based Sgt Duane Barwood - killed in Iraq on Friday - as why service personnel putting their lives at risk needed to be given the best support.

He criticised armed forces' accommodation across Oxfordshire and suggested improvements were needed most urgently in RAF Brize Norton, in his own constituency, which had "some of the worst forces' housing in the country".

Referring to Carterton, he said: "It has a whole series of empty flats left to vandals and used to take drugs, which gradually downgrades the whole neighbourhood. It wouldn't take a lot to get in there and do something about it.

"Forces families' welfare should be higher up the in-tray of the MoD. The military covenant isn't just about our responsibilities and obligations to our troops on the frontline. It's about our responsibilities and obligations to them back in Britain too."

Town and district councils, the local Neighbourhood Action Group and the RAF Families Consultative Group have also pressed for the former servicemen's quarters in Upwood Drive, to be bulldozed.

RAF Brize Norton spokesman Kate Zasada said: "If Mr Cameron is making his point to highlight the condition or quarters for service personnel as a whole, then I congratulate him."

But she stressed the flats in Carterton were not under RAF Brize Norton's control, but the responsibility of Defence Estates.

Carterton mayor Phil Scott added: "The place looks really derelict and people who drive past get a really bad impression."

Mr Cameron's comments follow a report in the Oxford Mail last week, highlighting the concerns of families living near the flats.

Young mother Victoria Gulley, married to a serviceman at RAF Brize Norton, said: "They are a eyesore - all of us avoid the underpass across Upavon Way."

Brize Norton currently accommodates 3,700 military personnel in single units and family homes.

The MoD has promised nearly 670 extra bed spaces by 2012 and the 600 flats in Upwood Drive to be replaced by 800 family flats by 2013.

A MoD spokesman said: "It will take time to put things things rights, but this is one of our top priorities and we are making progress."

As well as forces' housing, the commission will also look at the treatment of veterans and the care of bereaved families.

The results of the commission, which will report back in the summer.