Beith wins campaign to save RAF Boulmer from closure

11.00.00am GMT Thu 10th Jan 2008

Alan Beith MP has won his campaign to keep the Air Surveillance and Control System at RAF Boulmer near Alnwick.

Berwick's Lib Dem MP Alan Beith is glad to hear that his campaign to save RAF Boulmer from closure has worked.

Speaking as the Ministry of Defence announced that the plans to close RAF Boulmer have been scrapped, Mr Beith said

"I am delighted that the Ministry of Defence has finally seen sense.

"I believe that a key part of my campaign was the help I enlisted from the National Audit Office, who demonstrated that the original figures - on which the decision to close the base were made - were not sound, and that the cost of rebuilding RAF Boulmer's facilities elsewhere would be colossal.

"RAF Boulmer is important in terms of our national defence but is also very significant in supporting our local economy and its loss would have had serious consequences for our area. I am very pleased that RAF Boulmer, its personnel and their families now has a secure future here."

Alan Beith has fought against closure of the base since this was announced in 2004. By 2005, the Armed Forces Minister admitted that the costs of relocating the units based at RAF Boulmer would be higher than the original estimate and that the plans to close the base should be reviewed. Alan Beith then asked the Auditor General to begin a National Audit Office assessment of the figures used, and the NAO confirmed that the original calculations were flawed.

The announcement made today that RAF Boulmer will remain the hub for the Air Surveillance and Control System for the foreseeable future.