Campaigners have joined forces with government officials and local authority chiefs to demand the “best possible deal” for Fife following the decision to axe RAF Leuchars.
Senior community leaders held a summit with representatives from Fife Council and the Scottish Government in the town on Wednesday. Top of the agenda was a bid to ensure Fife does not suffer, either economically or socially, as a result of the RAF’s departure.
Amid fears of a “fallow period” ahead of the arrival in Leuchars of army troops, it is understood senior UK Government ministers are being urged to “speed up” the transition.
Meanwhile, a fresh letter has been sent to defence secretary Liam Fox, requesting his presence in Leuchars to explain his decision to end the RAF’s century-long association with the area.
Carroll Finnie of the Residents’ Action Force Leuchars, and chairwoman of the town’s community council, was among those taking part in the discussions.
“Basically we are still angry about the decision taken by Dr Fox but we want to move forward now,” she told The Courier. “The decision has been made and we need to know the impact of exactly what is coming.
“Everybody agreed that we need to secure the best possible deal for Fife during the transition from RAF base to army garrison.”
The recently formed Typhoon force, which was stood up at Leuchars just a few months ago, is set to move to RAF Lossiemouth in 2013.
An army headquarters should be set up in Fife within a year of that happening. However, there are fears troops will not be ready to move in until at least 2015 and the transition may not be complete until 2017. With the timeline so vague, campaigners are pressing for greater detail.
They fear the fragile local economy could be shattered if the transition is allowed to drag on.
“We need more information so that local people can move forward,” Mrs Finnie said. “We hope to be able to open up channels of communication with the army and really want to speed up the transition as much as possible.”
Although keen to look ahead and plan for the future, Mrs Finnie said members of the residents’ action force still have “unfinished business” with Dr Fox.
“We are all very disappointed in the defence secretary. He has not given us any details about the transition and we are very keen to have a face-to-face discussion with him in fact there is a letter being sent to him today to request a meeting.
“We still want to know why he made the decision as we simply don’t understand it. I think that will be an important step for the community in allowing us all to move on and plan for the future.”