Major defence training centre destined for Wales

Defence Secretary Des Browne has announced that St Athan, in the Vale of Glamorgan, South Wales, will be the home to a massive new Defence Training campus.

As suggested under the Defence Training Review, St Athan has been selected as the site for a central services' training facility. This will better support joint operational deployments and allow the training estate to be rationalised.

The Metrix Consortium has been awarded Preferred Bidder status for Package 1 of the Defence Training Review programme, and Provisional Preferred Bidder status for Package 2.

Bidders were asked to select the sites that would best meet the Services' training requirements. It is anticipated that eventually the current defence training estate will be reduced from about 30 sites to about 10 in the future, with a main campus to be located at St Athan.

Significant investment at all the major sites, including a largely new facility which will be built at St Athan, will ensure the best possible living and learning environment for service personnel.

It is reported that the centre will see the creation of 5,000 jobs and around £58 million for the local economy in Wales.

A five-year transition period will follow the signing of the contract, which is anticipated for the second half of 2008. New technology and training methods will be deployed by the consortium for the 6,500 personnel expected to attend the centre.

However, senior military officers will retain overall responsibility for the effectiveness of the training, ensuring the military ethos underpinning effective training is retained.

The government expects that greater involvement of industry in training support will release more military personnel for front line duties.

Improvements and investments are also planned on a number of other training sites.

(SP/KMcA)