§ 27. Mr. Ian BruceTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the future use of his Department's facilities at Bovington and Lulworth in Dorset. [25120]
§ Mr. SoamesAt present, my Department's facilities at Bovington are occupied by the Royal Armoured Corps centre training regiment and the Army base repair organisation Bovington. The Gunnery school at Lulworth is part of the RAC centre and comprises an RAC wing and infantry wing. A detachment of ABRO is also located at Lulworth. These activities will continue at Bovington and Lulworth in the future. It is our intention further to develop Bovington as the centre of all armoured fighting vehicle driving, gunnery and signals training; and to move naval gunfire support training from Lulworth to Dodman point in Cornwall from this autumn. Bovington and 141W Lulworth are also being considered as a possible location, alongside the RAC training centre, for the third armoured reconnaissance regiment.