First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has made a personal pledge to fight the closure of Fort George.
She said her aim was to “mount opposition” to the mothballing of the 250-year-old fort, as well as support the local community.
Her comments came after a meeting of the Scottish Cabinet which focused on the “deeply disappointing” decision to scrap the Highland base, along with seven others around the country.
The Ministry of Defence announced on Monday that it intended to close the historic fort, despite strong local opposition.
It is thought the closure could cost a hundred jobs and sap millions of pounds out of the Highland economy.
Speaking yesterday, Ms Sturgeon said: “It is deeply disappointing that Fort George is – as far as these proposals go – likely to close.
“Fort George has been an army base for literally centuries and is a very important part of the defence footprint in Scotland.
“Obviously – because of the historic nature of it – I think there is possibly even more of an emotional commitment to it than you may see with other bases.
“And the Scottish Government, given the historic nature of the building, has a particular interest in Fort George.”
The Scottish Government will now be consulted on the planned closures, but the first minister said she was angry such conversations had not happened earlier.
“I can’t stress enough how disappointing it is that this situation was taken with no consultation with the Scottish Government,” she said.
“I wrote to the Defence Secretary about this and we were met with a wall of silence in terms of this discussion.
“I appreciate it is a reserved matter but it is a decision that has a huge impact on many communities across the country.”
Ms Sturgeon said the cabinet had agreed to start work to mitigate the effects of the closures immediately.
She added: “What we will do now is, firstly, seek to get more clarity from the UK Government about their intentions not just in terms of the bases but also the local communities.
“We will engage very closely with the local communities – (and) that process has already started.
“We will look to see what we can do to mount opposition to these proposals but also to make sure we are playing our part to support communities that will be very heavily affected if these closures go ahead.”
