With every passing day, the recent announcement by oor very ain defence secretary, Liam Fox, on the future of Edinburgh’s military bases, looks increasingly bonkers.
To recap briefly, Dr Fox told an astonished audience that Dreghorn and Redford barracks in the south-west of the capital, and Craigiehall to the west, were to be sold off and a new “superbarracks” established at Kirknewton a handful of miles down the A70 – the infamous “Lang Whang” – to the south-west.
The puzzled silence that met this statement has now been replaced by an increasing murmur of incredulity, as both civilian and military commentators seek a logical and intellectually coherent explanation for the decision. Search as they may, all are dumfoonirt.
It can’t be for money, for even the habitually financially inept Ministry of Defence (MoD) could not be party, surely, to such a cack-handed attempt at asset stripping. Best estimates seem to indicate that the combined amount that would probably result from the sale of Dreghorn, Redford and Craigiehall might be in the region of £70 million. The figure being bandied about in the media for the likely cost of the new establishment at Kirknewton is close to £400 million.
That seems to leave a deficit of £330 million, although the MoD has a history of smoke and mirrors when it comes to such sums, usually by allotting them to different budget headings. Even so, it appears to be a pretty poor trade-off.
Then there is the fact that the supporting infrastructure of married quarters, training areas and so on is already in place around the existing barracks – the Pentlands for manoeuvres and small arms ranges and Colinton for MoD housing, for example. And they are close to hand for the Tattoo and public duties at Holyrood Palace. Plus not that long ago considerable sums were spent on Dreghorn, making it at the time the most modern barracks that the army had.
Kirknewton has no such infrastructure and all of it will have to be built from scratch. Yes, we all know there’s going to be a new training area established in the Borders, centred around the unsuspecting village of Greenlaw, but it’s hardly next door to Kirknewton and the roads between the two are not best suited to military convoys and heavy equipment.
And what about the people who will live there? Kirknewton is at one end of one of the most desolate roads in Scotland, in an area of some of the heaviest rainfall in the country. It will be bad enough for married families, but for single soldiers there is nothing to do, bar overwhelm the one local pub which is looking at a potential financial bonanza. Compared to being where they are at present, it’s Nowheresville.
No, the plan to move there just doesn’t pass the common-sense test. What I want to know is whose idea is it? If it’s the defence secretary’s own pet project then we’re in even deeper trouble than I thought. But let’s give him the benefit of the doubt and assume it’s the brainchild of some advisor, or advisory committee, deep inside the MoD. In which case I’d like to know who he/she/they is/are, and check whether they’re still on their medication. These people work for us, and we should be told.
The SNP finds itself in an interesting position in all of this. On the one hand, rightly concerned that Scotland is not short-changed when it comes to defence footprint and expenditure, it is keen that the promised brigade is stationed north of the border when British troops are relocated from Germany. And who wouldn’t welcome a brand-spanking-new military barracks as Scotland heads, albeit slowly, towards independence?
On the other hand, we don’t want to be sold a pup. Neither the economic nor the military case for the sale of the Edinburgh bases and the establishment of the new one at Kirknewton seems to hold water.
All of which just goes to persuade me further that they’re making it up as they go along. Desperate to save money, the MoD is now in “any decision is better than no decision” mode. This is merely the latest in the aircraft-carriers-without-aircraft logic that seems to be the new doctrine. There is, in fact, no plan.
Meanwhile, an MoD spokeswoman pronounces to the media: “Much of the criticism is coming from people concerned about the impact on Edinburgh and from former officers. They really need to think about what is best for those who are now serving their country.”
If only her employers would practice what they preach.
– Stuart Crawford is a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the Royal Tank Regiment.
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