Defence chiefs have been warned that plans to leave the Highlands without a single operational military base are “astoundingly short-sighted”.
North MSP Maree Todd signalled that it was not too late to reverse the looming closure of the 250-year-old Fort George barracks, near Ardersier.
The SNP politician, who serves as early years minister in the Scottish Government, has written to UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson to urge him to reconsider the decision, which was taken by his predecessor, Sir Michael Fallon, at the end of 2016.
Under the plans, the base will cease to be the home of the famous Black Watch battalion by 2032, and options are being drawn up for the future use of the site.
But Ms Todd said: “It would be astoundingly short-sighted to leave such a vast and strategically important area as the Highlands without a military presence.
“The closure of Fort George barracks would represent a devastating blow to the local community, taking away around 700 jobs and £20million from the local economy, not to mention losing around half of the pupils from Raigmore Primary School with families leaving the area.”
She added: “Gavin Williamson should reverse his predecessor’s unjustified and poorly planned decision to close Fort George.
“We must not let the Tories continue their damaging centralisation agenda that ignores the needs of the Highlands and of Scotland as a whole.”
Scottish Secretary David Mundell defended the decision to axe Fort George last month, but insisted there were no plans to accelerate its closure.
He told the Press and Journal: “Fort George is not fit for purpose. Everybody really understands that.
“It’s a historic building and we want to do everything we can to manage the situation over that very long period to minimise the local impact and also to maximise the potential of Fort George in its capacity as a historic building.”
The Conservative minister also said that there was no current threat to the future of the other north of Scotland bases, Kinloss Barracks and RAF Lossiemouth.
“We’re very committed to the footprint that we have,” he said.
“We’ve made the commitment to Kinloss, we’ve made a huge commitment to Lossiemouth – Boeing is coming in there and the marine patrol vehicle. That’s a huge commitment to Moray in particular.”
