§ Mr. Needhamasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement about the future of RAF Kemble.
§ Mr. WigginThe studies into the feasibility of transferring tasks from RAF Kemble have been completed and the findings were made available to the trade unions sides, with whom full consultations have taken place, and other interested parties on 1 December 1981.
It has now been concluded that it would be feasible to redeploy the aircraft sevicing and storage tasks carried out by No. 5 maintenance unit from RAF Kemble at RAF Abingdon, RAF St. Athan and RAF Shawbury. A decision about the new location for the RAF aerobatic display team must await the outcome of other deployment studies, but no difficulty is foreseen about finding a suitable alternative base. It is therefore planned to close RAF Kemble by 31 March 1983. Considerable financial savings will accrue as a result of closure.
Every effort will be made to minimise the number of redundancies resulting from the closure and also actively to encourage other potential uses for the facilities.