New hope for RAF Cosford
Saturday 25th September 2010, 11:32AM BST.
RAF Cosford’s hopes of staying alive as a military base received a boost today with reports that plans to move defence training to South Wales are facing the axe.
Labour’s award of a £14bn project for a new state-of-the-art defence training super centre to St Athan is unlikely to be given the green light by the coalition because of its huge cost, according to a Government source.
It opens up the possibility of studies for a much lower-cost replacement – which may mean a reprieve for RAF Cosford near Wolverhampton and secure its future.
It has been estimated that the livelihoods of approximately 30,000 people in Staffordshire and Shropshire depend on the continued operation of the defence training centre at the base.
Its future was put in doubt last year after the contract to become the principal training centre for all three armed forces – and with it, the creation of at least 2,500 jobs – was awarded to RAF St Athan.
The source said: “The logic for something on that site remains compelling – the model does not. It’s not impossible that something will go ahead, but it won’t be a gargantuan private finance initiative.”
Decisions on the future of the UK’s defence and security needs, including RAF Cosford, are under review.
The planned academy has been viewed as vulnerable as the coalition is keen to axe £20bn of defence contracts structured as PFIs, with St Athan not yet under contract. The MoD said today decisions would be announced in October.
Shifnal South and Cosford councillor Stuart West said: “A lot of people think Cosford only benefits the people right next to it, but its impact is absolutely vast.
“Moving was a daft idea.”
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it sounds like good news for cosford hope things do pick up there about time it did all so help the local shops as well
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The proposed South Wales development was purely a political gesture to prop up Labour support in South Wales.
Remember that the MP for Wolverhampton South East was a member of the Government that decided to betray (yet again) the people of this area. Remember that successive governments have bribed companies to remove themselves from Wton and her neighbours to South Wales, Northern Ireland, the North-East of England…. all for political reasons.
It is worth noting that 90% of those companies that have relocated have gone out of business as soon as the subsidies ran out.
Cosford is a better location for the training of our forces because it is significantly more accessible.
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It’s good news that we are not moving more English jobs to Wales (pop.3M)and lets hope we don’t move any to Scotland (pop.5M). Let them make their own jobs. Although there are only 50M English we give subsidies to the Welsh, the Scots, the EU countries, Asian third world, African third world, legal/illegal immigrants and god knows how many more “deserving” causes like Palestine and similar. When will these takers pay their own way? They treat England like a bottomless pit of money and all the time our government scheme to divest us of our wealth.
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Great news for Cosford. Charity begins at home. We need to look after what we’ve got here. So many people would have been affected by the loss of RAF Cosford.
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The sense in Cosford’s geographical location – direct rail service to London on the doorstep M6 M5 ten miles down the M54, a trained and experienced workforce already in place. But don’t cheer too much the good ole Express and Start has clearly not read the Telegraph’s list – RAF Museum Cosford (along with Hendon) is under threat from Government cuts- I didn’t see that in the headlines anywhere
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It will be good if cosford stays but it will only stay because the planned super training school at St Athan is being deemed to big for our much reduced armed forces. Why have a facility that can train 15,00 a year when you only need to train 8,000 a year.
The museums won’t go, they will just have their funding cut, so people will have to pay to see enter them again.
It’s sad that the conservatives, which are mean’t to conserve our way of life, traditions and heritage are about to completely rip it apart, so that they can help their banker mates. Labour has destroyed a lot of what made britain great but these lot are going to wipe us off the map.
Raf to lose 50% of their combat aircraft. Tornados and harriers to go. three bases to be shut.
Navy to be reduced to the smallest in europe bar portugal. No combat aircraft(Labour got rid of Them). Two carriers( One of which will never go to sea) 8 Frigates, 4 Destroyers. The amphibious fleet completely removed.
The Army to lose up to 20% of its manpower. Infantry Battlions Slashed to save money and more reliance on the TA(not having a go at the TA by the way, you do a cracking job in Afghanistan).
Its easy to get rid of capability, but mush harder to build it back up.
We are being screwed all over and i have not even started on the cuts in public services that are going to be announced.
God help us all
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