Great relief sweeps Moray - but decision comes too late for some

Published on Monday 18 July 2011 18:17

THERE were only muted cele-brations last night in the Moray town of Lossiemouth as Defence Secretary Liam Fox confirmed that, after nine months of anguish and uncertainty, the town's vital RAF base is to be saved.

The overwhelming feeling inside the base and across the community was one of immense and unqualified relief.

The wider economy has already suffered from the impact of the threatened closure of RAF Lossiemouth as a front-line station and the decision taken to close neighbouring RAF Kinloss.

Some businesses, including the main hotel, the Skerry Braes, have already closed, house prices have collapsed and trade in many of the shops has fallen dramatically under the cloud of uncertainty hanging over the town for almost a year.

Scores of campaigners, who had spent months fighting for the retention of RAF Lossiemouth, crowded into the social club of the town's football team to watch the announcement on television.

Tony Rook, an former RAF serviceman and chairman of the local business association, summed up the mood of the residents. "Everyone is breathing a huge sigh of relief," he said. "We have been living under a big dark cloud for months. And no-one is celebrating.

"Ever since Lossie has been under threat there has been a big decline in business, and it is going to take three to five years to repair all the damage that has already been done."

Mr Rook, who owns the newsagents in the town, said: "There is still going to be a lot of hesitation before people make big decisions about their lives. But on the positive side, we can go forward now that all that pressure has been released.

"The community can start to build itself back up and try to get to where we were before all this started."

Councillor David Stewart, chairman of the Save RAF Lossie-mouth Action Group, said: "We are absolutely delighted. We have campaigned for nine months now, and in my view the heroes of this victory are the 7,000 people who turned up for our march last year, which really sent a message to London about how strong the feeling was in Moray.

"It let them know we weren't going to sit back after losing Kinloss as an RAF base."

He continued: "This will give the area a huge boost and we will finally see the housing market start to move again, now that the uncertainty has been removed.

"House prices in this area have dropped by 20 per cent. Houses that used to go for 10 per cent over the asking price are lucky to be sold just now.

"Closing Kinloss was already like sticking a knife into the heart of Moray. It ripped the heart out of the place. But now we can move on."

Calum MacPherson, the area manager of Highland and Islands Enterprise and a leading member of the Moray task force, declared: "The passion, persistence and determination of the people of Moray has paid off."Moray skies offer unrivalled flying, and we are delighted that the RAF Lossiemouth families who have been at the heart of our communities for 70 years are to stay."

Councillor George McIntyre, convener of Moray Council, said: "RAF Lossiemouth's closure would have been an unthinkable double blow, and we are glad this has now been averted.

"Great credit goes to local people, who have worked together over the past eight months.

"We will seek more information from the Ministry of Defence on the future strategic role of our bases, but today we celebrate retaining RAF Lossiemouth and everything that means for our families and communities."