RAF Lyneham to close
The Ministry of Defence has announced that RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire is to close by 2012.
The RAF base has 50 Hercules transport aircraft and 2,500 personnel.
Many of the military personnel and the aircraft are to be moved to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire. The civilian members of staff are expected to lose their jobs.
The MP for North Wiltshire, James Gray, has warned of the effect of the closure on the local community. He described the closure as ‘a devastating Government announcement’.
The Conservative Shadow Defence Secretary, Bernard Jenkin stated that his party had warned of the closure but the Government had denied it.
He warned of extra pressure on RAF Brize Norton with the additional aircraft, and also warned that the UK’s defence capability could be damaged if the single runway at Brize Norton was to close because of an accident or terrorist attack.
Mr Jenkin stated: “The big question is whether Brize Norton’s single runway could have provided enough capacity to support all the military flights to and from the Gulf during the recent conflict.
“If this single runway was forced to close due to an accident or terrorist attack, then the rapid deployment capability would be crippled.”
But the Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram took issue with such Conservative concerns over the closure decision.
Speaking on BBC News 24, Mr Ingram insisted that he was “satisfied” with the security implications of the move.
He said that the initial recommendation had come as part of a strategic review conducted by the RAF which he had accepted.
As for the specific Tory concerns over runway security, Mr Ingram remarked: “All of this is looked at. There are other airfields which can be used – all of these things have been taken into account.
“And Brize Norton – by the very nature of the length of its runway – would have to sustain a very major attack of a substantial nature before it would become unusable”.
