Up to 25,000 students to study at base (From Swindon Advertiser)

Up to 25,000 students to study at base

6:40pm Friday 27th January 2012 in Local By Emma Dunn

RAF Lyneham

THE defence technical training centre planned for RAF Lyneham will see up to 25,000 students at the campus every year.

Fears that Lyneham could become a ghost town when the RAF leaves in December were allayed last year when the Ministry of Defence revealed their plans for the training centre.

More detailed plans for the site were heard at a public meeting on Wednesday, where about 100 residents were told that the centre would be fully established by 2020, with nearly 2,000 students and staff at the site by 2015.

Captain John Sunderland, chief of staff, defence technical change programme, said: “Some of those 25,000 are there for a week and some of them are there for a year, but a lot for a number of months.”

At present, colleges and training centres across the country teach personnel from all three military services. The move will mean thousands of personnel from the services will be located at the base to learn all the technical skills they need, including vehicle maintenance, engineering and IT. The centre will use some of the existing buildings and new ones will be built.

“We have an aspiration for defence technical training at Lyneham to be fully established by 2020. The core infrastructure for what is actually built is yet to be worked through,” said Capt Sunderland.

The population of RAF Lyneham at the moment stands at about 1,000 people, but they will leave by the end of the year.

It is expected that 1,950 students and staff will be at the training centre by 2015, rising to 4,300 at any one time when training is fully established. It is thought that 46 per cent will be Army, 31 per cent RAF and 23 per cent Royal Navy but the meeting heard that the plans are still at the concept stage.

Military civilian integration programme manager, Ian Cambrook, said: “The last time I stood in front of you was in December 2009 when we were looking at the future of the site and frankly at that time the prospects were pretty bleak. This will be a major boost for the area.”

The meeting heard the future of the community centre, youth club and the parent and toddler groups are yet to be decided.

Alison Bucknell, (Con, Lyneham), said residents who are concerned about any of the plans should contact the steering group.

“If you want to raise any issues channel your questions through the Lyneham Steering Group or contact your local member,” she said.

A planning application will be submitted next year. Contact the group at www.lynehamvillage.

com or wiltshire.gov.uk/mci.