Fife Council has expressed its concern for businesses in Leuchars that are continuing to suffer a severe loss of trade and income due to the longer than anticipated gap between the departure of the RAF and the arrival of the full complement of army personnel.
In a motion to the full Fife Council, councillors acknowledged the work of the economic development team and Business Gateway in their efforts to support the business community.
However, businesses were led to believe there would be a seamless transfer, when in real terms the council agreed the volume of people and trade will not recover until August a gap of almost 10 months since the bulk of RAF personnel left.
The motion also stated that the council “regrets that attempts so far to gain support for the business community have been rejected, and urgently calls on Michael Fallon, Secretary of State for Defence, to respond to recent Fife Council and Scottish Government requests for support to mitigate the loss of trade until army personnel and their families arrive in August”.
St Andrews Labour Fife councillor Brian Thomson who proposed the motion, seconded by Fife Council deputy leader Councillor Lesley Laird, told The Courier he was pleased the motion had been passed.
However, he defended the rejection of an amendment proposed by Liberal Democrat group leader and Leuchars councillor Tim Brett, which wanted acknowledgement of efforts made by former North East Fife Liberal Democrat MP Sir Menzies Campbell to save the base.
Mr Thomson said: “While I fully recognise that Ming Campbell was a highly respected MP during the many years that he represented North East Fife, I recall receiving a leaflet that was put through my door in the week prior to the 2010 general election, urging voters in North East Fife to vote Lib Dem, as it was the only way of keeping the Tories out.
“We all know what happened a couple of weeks later, and it was the Tory/Lib Dem coalition government that subsequently closed RAF Leuchars for political reasons.
“Given that North East Fife was represented by a Lib Dem MP, I know that many people were particularly unhappy about that outcome and, for that reason, I could not support the amendment.”
Mr Brett said: “I was disappointed that Councillor Thomson chose to reject my amendment as this motion should have received cross-party support.
“The general election is of course the reason for that, but I think that the political ‘points scoring’ was unnecessary.
“The community of Leuchars and the surrounding area know how strongly Sir Menzies Campbell and I opposed the decision to move the RAF, and we still believe that this makes no strategic sense.
“They know we were at the forefront of the campaign to try and stop it.
“The community also know the work that Sir Menzies and I have done to try and support the local businesses who are indeed in a very difficult position.
“Sir Menzies has written to the Secretary of State on a number of occasions about this.”
The official handover of RAF Leuchars to the army took place last Tuesday.
It is now known as Leuchars Station.
The phased arrival of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, 2 Close Support Battalion of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and 110 Provost Company of the Royal Military Police has begun.
With an advance party already in Leuchars, the bulk of the soldiers and their families are expected to arrive in mid-summer.