Wiltshire to Westminster
24th January 2002
By James Gray MP for North Wiltshire
Courtesy of the Gazette & Herald
www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk
The Threat to RAF Lyneham seems to have dominated my week. Monday's (14th January) Defence Questions gave me the chance to quiz Defence Minister Lewis Moonie on the subject.

His answer was predictable enough, but the more that we can all do to keep the issue in the public, the better it will be. The Government is carrying out a study of where to base the new A400M cargo plane, which comes into service in 2010. If it's Brize Norton, then the future of Lyneham is under threat. By Thursday (17th January), the whole A400M contract was under question, with the German Defence Minister coming to the UK for secret discussions.

When I saw the defence ministers at a Westminster reception on Thursday, they denied that there was any problems with the order, but Ii just wonder.... There are a lot of jobs in the Bristol area which depend on it, so I hope it goes ahead. Then, on Friday (18th January), we had our launch for the Save Lyneham petition. Good coverage from BBC West, HTV, Radio Wiltshire Sound, as well of course from the Gazette.

And a very decent number of people are becoming involved in the campaign. So we need your signatures now, or at least by the time of the public meetings on March 15, after which I will presenting the petition to Parliament. Copies are available from my constituency office at 8 St Mary Street, Chippenham, from Cascade in Wootton Bassett High Street.

The Defence Minister's decision could go either way, so it's essential that we leave no stone unturned. We are sending a very detailed weighty submission on defence and local consequences of closure. Alongside that, we want a really good local campaign, and the petition is a central point of that. So don't leave it to a chance - play your part in saving what the county council tell me is a £75 million local business by signing up, or even better collecting some signatures.