After months of delays we finally heard from the Ministry of Defence yesterday that Cosford has not been successful in its bid to become the national home for defence training.

This news will understandably be met with dismay by staff at the base, their families and the community around Cosford, and our thoughts are with those affected.

I know from those people that have responded to our Let’s Fly Cosford campaign, many of whom are Shropshire Star readers, that there has been unprecedented local support to bring the bid to Cosford.

I would like to extend a massive thank you to each and every person who has added their support to the campaign, whether by letter to the Shropshire Star, attending a local event, filling in a postcard or by logging onto the campaign website.

Whilst yesterday’s news is very disappointing, it is clear that Des Browne, Secretary of State for Defence has heard the message from the West Midlands loud and clear.

He has asked Metrix, the winning consortia to build at Cosford a Learning Resource Centre, develop a National Training Research and Development Support Centre and with the Ministry of Defence examine how the programme might support the establishment of the National Manufacturing Skills Academy.

These are all proposals that the Let’s Fly Cosford Campaign Group put forward to the Ministry of Defence last summer and means that we could still secure the high value jobs and economic boost that we were always seeking.

The next few months will see us continuing crucial discussions with the Ministry of Defence and Metrix to work on the detail of how these exciting developments can make a real difference to the economy of Shropshire.

We know that we can count on the ongoing support of the people of Shropshire to secure a long-term and prosperous future for the Cosford base.

John Edwards, Chief Executive Advantage West Midlands on behalf of the Let’s Fly Cosford Campaign Group