A sad day as city’s proud link with Army severed

A YORKSHIRE city’s proud, century-old association with the military is to be brought to an end after Ministers announced plans to sell off its barracks as part of an unprecedented shake-up of the British Army.
A line of Combat Engineer Tractors is made ready at Claro Barracks to be transported towards the Gulf.A line of Combat Engineer Tractors is made ready at Claro Barracks to be transported towards the Gulf.
A line of Combat Engineer Tractors is made ready at Claro Barracks to be transported towards the Gulf.

Politicians and civic leaders in Ripon rued a “sad day for the city” after Defence Secretary Philip Hammond announced Claro barracks will be one of seven Army sites to be sold off as part of a massive cost-cutting programme.

The 21 Engineer Regiment and 15 Field Squadron, who live with their families at the barracks, are on active duty in Afghanistan. Army sources said they were informed about the decision to sell off their homes by commanding officers yesterday.

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The Mayor of Ripon, Andrew Williams, expressed his disappointment and pledged the city would do all it could to “minimise the impact on families”.

A line of Combat Engineer Tractors is made ready at Claro Barracks to be transported towards the Gulf.A line of Combat Engineer Tractors is made ready at Claro Barracks to be transported towards the Gulf.
A line of Combat Engineer Tractors is made ready at Claro Barracks to be transported towards the Gulf.

“It is particularly bad news when the regiment is just weeks away from completing a six-month tour of duty, and are returning home to face this uncertainty,” he said.

The move will take place in 2017, with all 650 troops currently based at Ripon being moved 20 miles north to Catterick.

Concerns were immediately raised about the impact of the closure on the small community, which served as a base for 30,000 troops during the First World War, including the poet Wilfred Owen, who wrote some of his most famous works while living there.

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Speaking in the Lords, the Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, the Rev John Packer, warned: “The damage to Ripon of the closure of Claro will be substantial in terms of the economic effect, friendships and the pride of the city.”

York Council leader James Alexander described the decision as a “blow to the North Yorkshire economy”. Skipton and Ripon MP Julian Smith said he would meet with Defence Ministers to discuss the impact on the community.

Speaking in the Commons, Mr Smith said: “The closing of Claro barracks in Ripon is an extremely sad day for the city, which since around 1914 has provided to British troops a tremendous support and morale boost at all times.”

The sale of Claro is the latest blow to Yorkshire’s historic military links, following the announcement last year that the 300-year-old battalion the Green Howards is to be disbanded as part of a plan to cut Army numbers by a fifth.

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That programme is also the driving force behind the latest overhaul of Army accommodation, along with the decision to bring home all 15,500 troops currently based in Germany.

The 2nd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment will be moved from its base in Munster to Cyprus, before being brought home to Catterick in 2015.

An Army spokesman said Catterick will remain “the main centre for the Army in the North East”.

There was good news for York, which will maintain its Imphal barracks and see the return of an Army general to the city after a 13-year absence. The Headquarters 1st Division will move from Germany to York in 2015.

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York Central MP Hugh Bayley, who lobbied unsuccessfully for the city to keep its general in the last big Army shake-up in 2000, insisted the region had “done well” out of the restructuring.

“We remain a major centre for the Army, and I welcome the decision to base the Major General in York,” he said.

In total the plan should save the Army £240m a year, as soldiers are moved into “clusters” in key locations around Salisbury Plain,
Edinburgh and Leuchars, Catterick, Aldershot, Colchester, Stafford and the East Midlands.

Ministers will also invest £1.8bn in new and refurbished accommodation – although only £70m of it will be spent in Yorkshire and the North East.