Dry Training (Hansard, 1 July 1985)

§ Mr. Maclean
asked the Secretary of State for Defence if it would be possible to carry out at Spadeadam all the dry training he now proposes should take place on land at Stainmore; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Lee
No.

§ Mr. Maclean
asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will now undertake urgent studies into the potential use of land on the north-west and south-east of the present firing points on Worcop ranges for the purposes of dry training.

§ Mr. Lee
No. This land is privately owned and we have no indication that it is to become available for purchase or lease.

§ Mr. Maclean
asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will now withdraw his proposal to acquire land for dry training at Stainmore in light of the decision by Eden district council to object to the proposal.

§ Mr. Lee
We have just received the council's response to the PSA's notice of proposed development. We are now considering the way forward.

§ Mr. Maclean
asked the Secretary of State for Defence what would be the future of Worcop and the live firing ranges if he fails to acquire additional land for dry training at Stainmore.

§ Mr. Lee
Use of Warcop training area would continue as at present. However, we would still face difficulties in providing suitable facilities for low level training for small units in military skills for which there is no need for live ammunition to be fired, and we would therefore continue to have a requirement to acquire a dry training area close by.

§ Mr. Maclean
asked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will publish the figures showing the maximum potential utilisation of Warcop at present and its actual usage over the last two years.
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§ Mr. Lee
There is a very heavy, continuing demand for the training facilities at Warcop training area, which are almost invariably used to capacity. It is not possible to produce realistic figures to show what the maximum potential usage of the training area would be as these will vary depending on the assumptions used in the calculation about the nature and pattern of the training being conducted. The usage in 1983–84 amounted to 112,324 man training days and in 1984–85 to 177,736 man training days.