Army Basing Newsletter – February 2018 This publication aims to regularly update you on the Army Basing Programme (ABP) announced in 2013 stating some 4,000 additional Service personnel plus their families would relocate to Salisbury Plain by 2020. Wiltshire Council Visit to Perham Down: The MOD Army Basing Team invited Baroness Scott of Bybrook, OBE, Leader of Wiltshire Council, local Wiltshire councillors, the Corporate Director for Growth, Investment and Place (Alistair Cunningham) together with the local Community Engagement Manager (Marc Read) to see recent development at Perham Down on 18 January. In addition, General Wardlaw (Director of Basing and Infrastructure), Mark Duddy (ABP Programme Director) and Allan Thomson (Aspire’s Chief Executive) provided a briefing on the scale and development of the £1billion programme, which is on track to deliver facilities inside and outside ‘the wire’ within the required 2020 timescale. The party also drove through the recently completed Ashdown Housing Estate in Tidworth. Construction Programme: Construction work continues at pace on garrisons (Tidworth, Larkhill, Bulford and Perham Down). As reported previously, many new buildings, extensions and refurbishments are underway or have been completed. Additionally, the school build programme required for the increased military population is well established with St Michael’s Primary School at Larkhill now very prominent on the landscape. Planning permission to extend the Avon Valley College at Durrington was granted, on 11 October 2017. Planning applications for the new school at Ludgershall and extending Wellington Academy were submitted on 1st December 2017 and 8th January 2018 respectively. The tenders for these two schools are due to be returned in mid-April 18, so that all places will be available in August 2019, in good time for the arrival of the Army units arriving in the summer of 2019. Plans for the final Larkhill Service Family Accommodation (SFA) phase (160 homes) were exhibited to the public at Durrington on 23 January 2018. Roadworks: A number of road improvements are necessary in Larkhill, Bulford, Tidworth and Ludgershall, as well as off-site junctions around the A303. This will lead to some delays while road closures and restrictions are implemented. MOD’s ABP Team issued a traffic notice on 31 Jan 2018 for the approximately one month closure on Double Hedges (Bulford), with a second road closure (Bulford Rd) at the Canadian Estate a little later. Further restrictions will be necessary at The Packway (Larkhill), in Tidworth, which are now in the detailed planning phases, and at Ludgershall. The position of the new crossing on Tidworth Road, near Wellington Academy, has been agreed and will be implemented shortly. The Army Basing Team has asked for local communities’ forbearing while this essential work is undertaken. Any roadwork queries should be directed to [email protected]. Archaeology: A presentation on the remarkable finds at Larkhill was provided to an invited audience, including the press, on 31 January 2018 in Andover. The finds include discovery of an ancient Causeway, which pre-dates the Stonehenge monument by nearly a thousand years and is helping to re-write the origins of the World Heritage Site and a complex set of tunnels and trenches used for WW1 training purposes. There have been other discoveries in Bulford, and Tidworth and it is hoped some of the artefacts can be displayed locally, once cataloguing has been completed. Community Facilities: As part of the section 106 agreement for the SFA, the MOD is making available a number of sports and community buildings for use by local groups. To take advantage of these facilities, groups are invited to register on Aspire’s website at: https://aspiredefence.co.uk/adsl/sports-and-community-access-scheme/. Future Activity • Summer 2018: St Michael’s Primary School build is due to complete enabling transfer from Figheldean • By August 2019: Additional school capacity required by the Army Basing Programme will be completed • Summer 2019: Majority of Service personnel are due to move to Salisbury Plain For more information visit: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/communityandliving/mci-new.htm .