Parallel Landscapes: A spatial and critical study of militarised sites in the United Kingdom Matthew Flintham A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the Royal College of Art for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy June 2010 Department of Communication Art and Design The Royal College of Art Copyright Statement This thesis represents the submission for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Royal College of Art. This copy has been supplied for the purpose of research or private study, on the understanding that it is copyright material, and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper acknowledgement. Abstract There are currently 548 declared military facilities in the United Kingdom, located on 372,000 hectares of military-owned or used land. Collectively known as the defence estate, this land is used for defence and training, and constitutes approximately 1.5% of the UK surface area. The research presented here interprets this landscape and its accompanying airspaces, infrastructures and processes as a spatial phenomenon, one which is in an almost constant state of flux. This thesis is, therefore, a study of militarised space in the UK as defined by recent developments in technology, mobility and communication. It analyses the processes by which land and space become militarised within different environments and the residual effects of this on the wider fabric of civil society. This thesis addresses issues of land appropriation, weapons testing, airspace design and notions of temporary, flexible, invisible boundaries. A multidisciplinary approach is adopted to analyse the histories, geographies and technologies evident at three case study sites. These are MoD Shoeburyness (Essex), Salisbury Plain Training Area (Wiltshire) and the city of Portsmouth (Hampshire). The first outcome of this research is a spatial interpretation of the defence estate, its transformation over the 20th century and its fluctuating control of the British landscape and skies. The second outcome is an analysis of the current military environment and its use of complex assemblages of land, sea, infrastructure and airspace to contain military activities. These localised, three-dimensional forms are not only becoming more refined to accommodate new weapons and technologies but they are also increasingly connected to each other. The third outcome is a speculative interpretation of the defence estate as a complex, connected totality, a parallel landscape of military spaces, activities and processes. Together, these outcomes demonstrate that the Armed Services of the UK preside over an increasingly complex and interconnected environment. They continue to engage with UK territory and space in unique and diverse ways but are increasingly influenced by external forces such as the commercial and civil sectors, public interest pressure groups and the conflicted governance of the state. Table of contents List of figures and tables Preface Acknowledgement Author’s declaration Abbreviations and acronyms Chapter 1. Introduction …………………………………………………………. 1 1.1 Research question ….………………………………………………………… 2 1.2 Objectives 2 1.3 Introduction …………………………………………………………………….. 3 1.4 Theoretical approach 10 1.4.1 Introduction ………………………………………………………….. 10 1.4.2 The production of space 11 1.4.3 Military space ………………………………………………………… 13 1.4.4 Complexes and networks 14 1.4.5 Power ………………………………………………………………… 15 1.4.6 Research limitations 16 1.4.7 Timeliness ……………………………………………………………. 17 1.5 Practical methodology 18 1.5.1 Database survey ……………………………………………………. 18 1.5.2 Mapping, Google Earth and GIS 18 1.5.3 Field studies 21 1.5.4 Interviews and oral histories ……………………………………….. 25 1.5.5 Photographic documentation 26 1.5.6 Searches and archive ………………………………………………. 27 Chapter 2. The British military capability and the defence estate .. ………………………………………. 30 21 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………... 31 2.2 The British defence capability 31 2.3 UK military expenditure ………………………………………………………… 35 2.4 The defence estate 38 2.5 Defence land and the Anglo-American relationship ………………................ 44 2.6 Bridging the geographies of training and conflict ……………………............ 48 2.7 Defence of the sovereign territory 50 2.8 The British nuclear capability ………………………………………………….. 52 2.9 Strategies, reviews and papers 53 2.10 Conclusions …………………………………………………………………….. 54 Chapter 3. Land, space and transformation in the British defence estate ………………………………….. 56 3.1 Introductions ……………………………………………………………………. 57 3.2 The camp and the barrack 58 3.3 Land for training ………………………………………………………………… 66 3.4 Air defence and airspace 74 3.5 Conclusions …………………………………………………………………….. 80 Chapter 4. The legal constitution of military land in the untied kingdom …………………............. 83 4.1 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………... 84 4.2 Military laws 84 4.3 Byelaws and spatial segregation ……………………………………………….86 Chapter 5. Case Study 1. The Shoeburyness Complex and the problem of the civilian body ……………………………… 90 5.1 Introduction …………………………………………………………………….. 91 5.2 Military science, death and decommissioning 93 5.3 Proving, static trials, random noise …………………………………………… 96 5.4 Why are we still here? 101 5.5 Conclusions ……………………………………………………………………. 105 Chapter 6. Case Study 2. The Salisbury Plain Training Estate …………………………..106 6.1 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………… 107 6.2 Geographies 109 6.3 Histories of reconnaissance and archaeology ………………………………. 114 6.4 Histories of appropriation. 117 6.5 Spaces of archaeology ………………………………………………………… 123 6.6 Spaces of management and rationalisation 128 6.7 Airspaces ……………………………………………………………………….. 129 6.8 Conclusions 132 Chapter 7. Case Study 3. Portsmouth ………………………………………………................ 135 7.1 Introduction 136 7.2 The development of regional defence clusters ……………………………….. 137 7.3 Current regional defence clusters 146 7.4 Fluid dynamics ………………………………………………………………….. 151 7.5 Conclusions 154 Chapter 8. Networked landscapes ………………………………………….. 158 8.1 Introduction 159 8.2 Land, networks and infrastructures …………………………………………… 160 8.2.1 Government Pipeline and Storage Systems (GPSS) 161 8.2.2 Project Aquatrine ……………………………………………………… 164 8.2.3 Road and transport networks 166 8.2.4 Integrated Range Information System (IRIS) ……………………….. 166 8.2.5 The Defence Fixed Telecommunications Service (DFTS) 167 8.3 The military network paradigm ………………………………………………… 168 8.4 Conclusions 177 Chapter 9. The military spatial complex …………………………………… 180 9.1 Introduction 181 9.2 Poly-spatial forms ………………………………………………………………. 182 9.3 Militarised airspaces 188 9.4 The evolving military-industrial complex ………………………………………. 195 9.5 The military spatial complex 200 9.6 Conclusions ……………………………………………………………………... 202 Chapter 10. Parallel landscapes ………………………………………………. 205 10.1 Introduction 206 10.2 The social detachment of military space ……………………………………… 208 10.3 The ‘real’ Revolution in Military Affairs 212 10.4 The vessel of military space ……………………………………………………. 217 10.5 An ‘original continuum’? 219 10.6 Conclusions ………………………………………………………………………221 Chapter 11. Conclusions ………………………………………………………… 224 11.1 Questions and answers 225 11.2 Original contribution to research ……………………………………………… 228 11.3 Other findings 228 11.4 Future research ………………………………………………………………… 229 Bibliography …………………………………………………………………………… 231 Appendices 2.1 Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) commissioned by the MoD ………………… 245 2.2 AWACS (Airborne Warning and Control System) orbit area map 249 8.1 Royal Observer Corps bunkers (1956 -1991)………………………………… 250 9.1 Military Aerodrome Traffic Zones (MATZ) map 251 9.2 Military Low-Flying Area map incorporating coastal waters…………. 252 Figures and tables Figure 1.1. Radome, RAF Trimingham, Norfolk. Photograph: M. Flintham……………………………………………. 1 Figure 2.1. Salisbury Plain tank crossing. Photograph: M. Flintham…………………………………………….. 30 Figure 2.2 Deployments of the Armed Forces 1 April 2008 – 31 March 2009. Source MoD. Crown Copyright, 2008……………………………… 34 Table 2.1. Military expenditure: SIPRI Yearbook 2008: Armaments,Disarmament and International Security, Oxford: Oxford University Press 2008…………………… 36 Figure 2.3. Defence Training Estate: Training Area and Ranges. Crown Copyright, Ministry of Defence 2009………………………. 41 Figure 2.4. RAF Feltwell, Norfolk, UK. Photograph: M, Flintham……..…………………………………….. 47 Figure 3.1. World War Two air traffic control tower. RAF West Raynham, Norfolk. Photograph: M. Flintham…………. 56 Figure 3.2. Jonathan Olley. Romeo One One watchtower, Courtney Mountain, Lislea, South Armagh, Northern Ireland, UK. Copyright Jonathan Olley…………………………………………… 65 Table 3.1. Military land use in thousands of hectares. Source: MoD Defence Statistics incorporating additional data from John Childs, The Military Use of Land, Bern: Lang, 1998………………………. 73 Figure 4.1. Hazards and byelaws, the Wash, Lincolnshire. Photograph: M.Flintham……………………………………………. 83 Figure 5.1. Controlled explosion at the MOD Shoeburyness proving ground. Crown Copyright/MoD 2009……………………. 90 Figure 5.2. MoD Shoeburyness. Area owned or controlled by the MoD. Source: Ordnance Survey. Crown Copyright, modified by M. Flintham……………………….. 100 Figure 5.3. The island of Foulness and surrounding Danger Areas. Google Earth images with additional graphic modeling by by M.Flintham………………………………………… 101 Figure 6.1. A FIBUA village near Imber, Salisbury Plain. Photograph, M. Flintham…………………………………………… 106 Figure 6.2. Map: Military Garrisons and camps, Salisbury Plain. Googlemaps with overlays by M.Flintham………………………… 111 Figure