Fulwood barracks to close in shock MoD move

It is one of 56 Ministry of Defence sites set to close across Britain, the Defence Secretary announced this evening.

Sir Michael Fallon told the Commons the closures will include eight sites in Scotland and three apiece in Wales and Northern Ireland, in the biggest announcement to date in the review of the Ministry of Defence (MOD) estate.

Sir Michael said the estate was too big and costly to run, with the latest batch of closures paving the way for a more modern military.

According to an MoD document published an hour ago, some of the troops stationed at Fulwood – those from the 42 north west brigade – are to be relocated to Weeton in Blackpool.

42nd Infantry Brigade is a deployable brigade under the command of 1 (UK) Division. It is comprised of four Infantry battalions: The 2nd and 4th Battalions of The Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment and the 2nd and 4th Battalions of The Mercian Regiment, all of which recruit from the North West of England.

Garrison ward councillor Stuart Greenhalgh said: “I was very surprised to hear the news. While in this day and age you hear about these places closing, I didn’t have any inkling that something on this scale was even being planned.

“It has generated a thousand questions. What’s going to happen to the buildings? Are they staying or are they going to be flattened?

“The barracks are certainly a landmark in Preston, and Preston is a garrison city. It’s part of our heritage and our history.

“The front of the barracks is magnificent and the thought of it being flattened would be a great loss.”

Coun Christine Thomas said: “I think people will be shocked that there’s not been any kind of lead-up to this closure. It will take some time to see what this will mean for the community and what the impact is going to be.

“We had not been consulted about it and I’m shocked that it has not been a part of a community consultation. I think people should have been given the chance to have their say on something that will affect their community.

“The barracks have been a part of our community for so long and it’s hard to imagine them not being there.”

Last year’s Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) outlined the MoD’s aim to reduce the size of its estate by 30% before 2040.

The MoD had previously announced the closure of 35 sites, freeing up enough land for up to 39,000 new homes and potentially generating around £930million.

Nia Griffith, the shadow defence secretary, said Labour recognised “there is a need to modernise” the defence estate.

She said: “The Government is right to seek to restructure the estate to ensure that we optimise our military capability and deliver value for money for the British taxpayer.

“The changes proposed in this report are very considerable in scale and there is a real need to ensure they are delivered in a way that does not cause undue challenges to our forces and their families.”

Ms Griffith also sought assurances that the money raised through the sale of sites would be kept by the Ministry of Defence rather than going to the Treasury.

Sir Michael said: “The Ministry of Defence owns I think around a thousand sites in all - 300 very large sites - and I’m announcing today the disposal of 56 of those 300 large sites.

“So yes, it’s a large number of disposals but it is based in each case on military advice as to how the capabilities the armed forces need can be better clustered and on how the families of those who work for us can be better looked after in terms of job opportunities for their partners and more stability for their children.”

He added: “All of the receipts, not some of them but all of the receipts, will come back in to the defence budget.”

Julian Lewis, Tory chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, stressed the importance of the UK’s armed forces retaining the ability to expand in time of war.

He asked: “Are you satisfied that our relatively small forces will have the capability to regenerate in time of war if they do not have a sufficiently large defence estate to occupy in times of emergency expansion?”

Sir Michael replied: “The strategy being published today does not include so far the training estate where obviously to regenerate forces, as you said in time of war, we would obviously seek to rely on the training facilities we have and we are looking carefully at those at the moment.”

SNP defence spokesman Brendan O’Hara condemned the closure plans.

He said: “While we have been primed to expect big reductions in Scotland’s defence footprint, having now heard the statement, I fear that when a Government department tries to spin cutbacks as being investment concentrated in fewer, better locations what they are actually saying is ‘prepare for a savaging of what remains of Scotland’s defence footprint’.”

Mr O’Hara said it would be “absolutely unacceptable if once again Scotland’s service personnel and our conventional defence capability has been hollowed out and sold off because of this Government’s obsession with nuclear weapons”.

Sir Michael rejected Mr O’Hara’s concerns as he said the Government is investing in defence infrastructure north of the border, including increasing employment on the Clyde from 6,800 to 8,200.

He said: “That is not savaging Scotland. That is investing in Scotland.”

SNP MP Drew Hendry (Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey) expressed anger at the planned closure of Fort George, the home of the Black Watch.

He said: “A decision to abandon the Highlands with the closure of the garrison at Fort George after 250 years of service and sacrifice would be bad enough.

“Given the disgraceful lack of engagement with our communities and even the Scottish Government, what assurances will the minister now give if this is correct to the 750 people in supporting jobs that are affected, the communities economically hit and to those who were told that the Fort was the permanent home of the Black Watch?”

Sir Michael said Fort George is not due to close until 2032.

“There is plenty of time to consult with the local authority and others about the future use of that site,” he said.

“Fort George is a very old barracks, it costs £1.6 million a year to run, it’s extremely expensive to upgrade and it is not appropriate for a modern infantry unit.”