'£20m sell-off' of historic city bases

Ministry of Defence chiefs have decided to end the army's long association with Craigiehall, Redford and Dreghorn in favour of a new super-barracks close to the village of Kirknewton in West Lothian.

The new base, for one of the UK's five new "multi-role brigades", will become home to around 2,000 military personnel and will be built to partly accommodate units returning from Germany over the next few years.

A new training area will also be required to accommodate the new base at Kirknewton, although a site has yet to be finalised. Glencorse Barracks, in Midlothian, will also be expanded to accommodate extra troops over the next few years.

It is thought the MoD may be able to generate upwards of 20 million through the sell-off of three sites, where about 1,750 personnel are currently based.

Redford Barracks, which dates back to 1909, is dominated by two grade-A listed buildings, while Dreghorn was opened in 1939.

The decision to leave Craigiehall, which has been occupied by the army since 1939, will also lead to the loss of a major army command post in Scotland, as the MoD has decided to axe Headquarters 2nd Division along with two other HQs in favour of a single support command base in Aldershot.

All three sites in Edinburgh are expected to be sold off within the next four years with the first units due to be move into the new base at Kirknewton by 2017.

The Lib Dem MP for Edinburgh West, Mike Crockart, said: "The plans as outlined by the Defence Secretary break with near 400 years of history between the Royal Scots Borderers - comprising the Royal Scots and the King's Own Scottish Borderers - and the City of Edinburgh for purely commercial gain.

"What is worse is that they come less than a month after people lined Edinburgh's streets to celebrate UK Armed Forces day. The changes will undoubtedly uproot local families and cause severe damage to many areas of our city.

"For them to have been announced in such an underhand manner in the last week of parliament is indefensible and amounts to nothing short of historical vandalism."

Elaine Aitken, Tory councillor for the Colinton area, said the news had come "out of the blue" and claimed the closure of the two barracks at Redford and Dreghorn would have a major impact on the local community.

"The army is such an integral part of the local community at the moment and plays a very active role in things like our schools.

"This announcement was a real surprise, it didn't seem to be on the radar at all and has come out of the blue for people in the area. We'll have to get a lot more detail about the impact this is going to have, particularly as so many homes in these areas are military homes."

Meanwhile, the new base at Kirknewton is expected to have a major impact on the small West Lothian village and the roads network in west Edinburgh.

The airfield's use by the military dates back to 1941, when it was first deployed by 289 Squadron, and it later became home to German prisoners of war. The US Air Force went on to use the airfield as a storage facility in the 1950s and 1960s. It has been used a training base by the MoD in recent years.

Labour councillor Ricky Henderson, whose Pentland Hills ward covers the airfield site, said: "This will have a huge impact in the area with the number of troops they are talking about, as Kirknewton is a pretty small village with only a few hundred homes in it. We'll need to take a good look at things like how it may affect traffic and the surrounding roads network."