RAF Lyneham training college plan on show
Plans for a defence training centre at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire have gone on display.
The £230m Defence College of Technical Training (DCTT) will offer technical training from a single site to all three services of the armed forces.
It will include workshops, classrooms and labs, sports and welfare facilities and new and refurbished accommodation, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.
The MoD made the decision to close RAF Lyneham in 2002.
The decision was part of a strategic review of military bases.
In 2012, the Hercules transporter planes were moved to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire along with many of the 4,500 military and civilian personnel.
With construction of the new college due to start in early 2014, it is expected that up to 5,500 personnel will return by the end of 2015.
'No operational airfield'
The planned college includes three main training schools, electronic and mechanical engineering, aeronautical engineering, and communications and information systems.
Training in maintaining machinery and keeping military equipment running which currently takes place at Bordon, in Hampshire, and Arborfield, in Berkshire, will be transferred to the new college in 2015.
There is "no requirement for an operational airfield" but it is expected the runway will be redeveloped for training purposes.
Councillor Peter Doyle, chairman of the Royal Wootton Bassett and Cricklade area board, said there was "wide spread public support" for the development.
"The MoD have done a questionnaire in the immediate Lyneham area and that's indicated a level of support of about 90 per cent," he said.
"We want to see the successful establishment of the tri-service defence college."
With no listed buildings on site, the first phase of development will involve demolition of existing buildings, essential infrastructure work, new buildings and refurbishment of facilities.
Plans are on display at St Andrews Church in Lyneham until Wednesday.