"Very worthwhile" meeting with Scottish Secretary
MORAY representatives have made a last-minute dash to London to state the case for retaining RAF Lossiemouth.
Moray Council convener George McIntyre and Lesley Ann Parker, chief executive of Moray Chamber of Commerce met Scottish Secretary Michael Moore today (Thursday).
Councillor McIntyre described the meeting as "very worthwhile".
He said: "We certainly got an opportunity to get our message across to the Secretary of State and we still believe we can influence the final decision and that is why we were here.
"He assured us he had all the necessary information and he also confirmed that there will be an announcement before the parliament breaks up in July.
"He said it has been a difficult decision to arrive at and they want to get it right, so that is why they have taken their time to consider all the aspects."
With a final announcement on the basing options in the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) due in the next fortnight, this was a final opportunity to brief Mr Moore.
The campaign to save RAF Lossiemouth has been fought since the UK Government was first revealed last October.
That placed a questionmark over the future of the Tornado base.
It also signalled the end of neighbouring RAF Kinloss as an air station following the cancellation of the new Nimrod contract. RAF Kinloss will close as an air base on July 31.
Lossiemouth Councillor David Stewart, chairman of the Save RAF Lossiemouth Action Group, admitted he remained nervous ahead of the final decision.
"We couldn’t have done any more in this campaign, between the action group and the task force.
"There have been a lot of ups and downs and hopefully we can get to the pinnacle of the campaign in the next two weeks with a positive decision.
"That would be a huge relief to not just Lossiemouth but the whole of Moray. The uncertainty over the base has had a huge impact on every business," he added.
