Minister: No plans to mothball air base

Defence Minister Bill Rammell insisted that there was "no intention to mothball" RAF Cosford after coming under fire from Shropshire MP Mark Pritchard in the House of Commons.

Mr Pritchard, MP for The Wrekin, claimed yesterday that 400 civilians at the Shropshire air base could lose their jobs because of a delay in relocating 2,600 British troops coming from Germany to Cosford.

Military chiefs blamed the need to "accommodate other defence resource priorities" for the delay in moving 102 Logistic Brigade to Shropshire.

It means the base will not have a military presence after the Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering (DCAE) moves to St Athan in Wales in 2014/15 until the German transfer in 2018.

Tory MP Mr Pritchard, speaking in Parliament yesterday afternoon in a Defence and the World debate, called on Mr Rammell to guarantee there would be no job losses arising from the MoD decision to shelve the plans.

He said: "A significant number of people will need to leave RAF Cosford in Shropshire to be relocated to Wales as a result of the defence training review.

"The vast majority of people whom the MoD expects to move to Wales will be unable or unwilling to do so for a wide variety of reasons.

"I pay tribute to the PCS union for the hard work it does in my constituency. If the union is right - it often is - more than 74 per cent of the existing personnel at RAF Cosford will not be able to go down to St Athan as part of the project.

"But let us say that the majority do move to Wales. Previously the West Midlands region was unhappy about that, but had consoled itself by thinking that the British Army would backfill vacancies into places such as Cosford.

"However, the written ministerial announcement today of the delay until 2018 means that there will be a gap from when people leave Cosford until the British Army returns to the West Midlands. I hope the Minister will tonight say what will happen to RAF Cosford in that period."

In reply Mr Rammell said: "Let me be clear - there is no intention to mothball the site. On current planning, the Army will assume ownership of the site, following the Defence College of Aeronautical Engineering vacation, in 2015. It is planned for the 102 Logistic Brigade to occupy the site in 2018."