Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Call for ‘confusing’ Leuchars Station army base to be given new name

Leuchars Station
Leuchars Station

Councillors have called for Leuchars Station to be given a different name to prevent visitors getting it confused with the local railway station.

The Fife army base was given the ambiguous moniker because it is too big to be called a barracks and too small to be called a garrison.

But local councillor Jane Ann Liston said the name left “room for confusion”.

Martin Kinsey, acting head of establishment at Leuchars Station, was updating North East Fife Area Committee on activities at the base since the army took over RAF Leuchars nearly three years ago.

Ms Liston told him: “If I jump into a taxi and say ‘Leuchars Station’, I’m unlikely to be coming to see you.

“Can I ask that you might consider changing the name slightly so it differentiates you from the railway station?”

Committee chairman Donald Lothian suggested the name “Leuchars Army Station” would clear up the confusion.

Mr Kinsey said: “There’s a lot of internal politics about why it’s called Leuchars Station, but I absolutely agree with you.

“It’s the Ministry of Defence’s way of recognising a grouping of a number of units. We don’t have the population to be called a garrison and we have more than the population to be known as a barracks.”

In his presentation, Mr Kinsey said the army moving in had caused few problems for the community, other than noise during routine summer training operations.

He said the population and demographic of the base had changed since the departure of the RAF.

There are now around 1,500 people on the base during the day — about half the population of the former RAF base.

And those stationed at Leuchars are now predominantly single men under the age of 25.

Mr Kinsey said he was not aware of any incidents where the change in the base’s demographic had caused friction with local residents.

However, he said that local businesses may have lost trade, with soldiers choosing to spend weekends away from Leuchars.

“The soldiers are predominantly recruited from the central belt so they are not staying at the weekend,” he added.

Mr Lothian said the transition from RAF Leuchars to Leuchars Station had gone seemingly “unnoticed”.

He added: “I’ve lived around these parts for a long time and I used to look forwards to the Phantoms roaring overhead, and of course the Vulcan.

“But as far as noise and disturbance goes, I think some advance notice is the way forward.”