Raf Innsworth To Close

[Styron]

RAF base closure hits 1,350 posts
BBC News
16th June 2005

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/gloucestershire/4099640.stm


Many jobs at the RAF base will relocate to High Wycombe
RAF Innsworth in Gloucestershire is to close with the loss of 1,350 posts, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said.

The MoD has decided to relocate the Personnel & Training Command (PTC) from Innsworth to RAF High Wycombe, Bucks.

In a statement the MoD said there would be an overall reduction of 1,000 military and civilian posts, although many personnel would transfer.

The MoD said the decision was made because of what it called new security challenges.

"The decision to relocate the PTC headquarters with the RAF's operational headquarters at High Wycombe will deliver significant efficiency savings and a more modern and effective command headquarters structure for the RAF," the statement said.

Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram said: "This programme of modernisation is vital if we are to create a flexible and adaptable RAF, equipped to deal with the challenges of the new world.

"I recognise that this announcement will cause disappointment in the Innsworth area. We are doing everything possible to mitigate the impact on the staff concerned."

The PCS Trade Union greeted the announcement with some dismay.

"We are concerned that the decision, which flies in the face of published government policy, has gone virtually uncommented on by local politicians and media, they said in a statement.

"We hope that it is not too late to reverse this ill-considered decision."

[uknasa]

Dreadful news - I'm sure that it will take of all of a decade for anyone to notice :p

[pigsinspace]

even longer to wait for the gulf war medal!!

[Prop-Ed]

Well, if it makes a dent in the fat end of the upside-down rank structure triangle of the RAF, it gets my vote!

[Monty77]

PreTend Command, Parents and Toddlers Command, take your pick. Shame to leave such a nice part of the world, but what's to do?

What used to get my goat was the view of the Procurement Palace in Bristol. I've never been in, but from the outside there were modern glass office blocks, fountains, sculpted gardens, covered walkways and chockablock full of civil servants shovelling subsidised lunches into their faces.

Reminded me of when I did the ATPL exams at Aviation House, Gatwick - the Hanging Gardens of Babylon - where pikey examinees were held back from the subsidised canteen for the first 15 minutes of the lunch hour so permanent staff could get their noses in the trough without interference from the 'ordinaries'.

Reading back, I know I sound like a pinko commie faggot, but I'm not. It's just when you pop along the corridor to the bogs in your 1930's built hangar and the place stinks, with mildew and peeling paint on the walls, you wonder if a civil servant would tolerate it. I believe it's called 'minimum military requirement'. Acceptable in Iraq maybe, but not at an established peace-time UK military training establishment. IMHO.

[rej]

Me thinks that this will be the time to buy property in the High Wycombe area. Could be a nice little earner due to the shortage of FQs and the need for ERA properties.
;)

But then again if they find out you own a house there, it might become your next posting. Heaven forbid.

[ZH875]

PTC is destined for Halton.

[vecvechookattack]

Thank goodness for that. Now hopefully we may see some action and results from those pen pushing, bean counters. I have had a fair amount of wasted time and effort dealing with those people and look forward seeing a vast improvement in the way that department operates.

[JessTheDog]

Dining-in nights will be for Gp Capts and above only then?!? :D Perhaps a Wg Cdr as Mr Vice!

[Topsy Turvey]

Yet another example of long term planning & value for money over the defence budget?

Within a year of deciding to establish both the MoD Medal Office (only opened by a Govt Minister in March 05) and the Joint Casualty Section at Innsworth, the Government decides to close the place. Money well spent. I think not

[MadsDad]

Rej. Did that a couple of years ago.

Now where's that rent book.........

[Max Contingency]

About time to! The RAF infrastructure is a legacy from a bygone age. If you started today with a blank piece of paper, then you would only ever build one HQ for such a small force.

Please can I be part of the wrecking crew? I'll pay good money!:p

[6Z3]

Of course, it makes sense really. Currently the two HQs (stc and ptc) don't talk to each other, indeed as separate TLBs they actually compete with each other for resources. By collocating we can have just one TLB, thus allowing decision-makers to use the same songsheet, whilst also greatly reducing the combined starcount. Just like with the RN HQ/TLB merger (!!??).

[teeteringhead]

Whatever happened to moving OUT of the expensive south east??

Is this just a move to get people back into quarters, as no b@gger can afford anything decent near HW???

[Jim Meatherwan]

Don't laugh too soon. The demise of yet another light blue organisation just shows the decline in the size of the force and is another nail in the coffin of the RAF's independence. How much longer can you justify any kind of separate service?

Some may think that is a good thing, and in some ways it might be, but I don't think it bodes well at all.

So much for the primacy of airpower.
:(

[lightningmate]

Monty77 - Quite a number of uniformed folk work at the Abbey Wood Palace and they also need to eat.

Apart from that, closing down Units, eg Innsworth, costs money. MOD has bust its Piggy Bank so even 'Spend to Save' may not be a viable option unless Gordon can be persuaded to top-up the kitty.

lm

[Krystal n chips]

If I hadn't been reading this thread, then I would have been blissfully unaware the place was closing--- and so, I suspect, will be a few thousand others which leads me to wonder will they now go to the expense of informing all those of us who have to contact them at age 60 (still some years off yet) in order to get our money.


The cynic in me says this will be a low priority somehow.

[BEagle]

Unless I receive formal change of address notification from PMA, how will I - or any other RAFResO member - know to whom to write to advise of any change of address?

Something which was the chief cause of difficulty when attempting to call-out reservists for GW2...

As I discovered when doing my 7 weeks PVR-porridge at Innsworth. A task which took me 2 days to pinpoint - and 6 weeks to report. But by then the give-a-****-ometer was barely registering! Have to say though, that the peeps I worked with were very on-side and would bend over backwards to sort things out in a Serviceman's favour. The GpCapt I worked for knew I'd been stitched up by the system and was quite happy for me to do whatever I wanted. Good bloke - and a breath of fresh air compared to the little $hit who'd stitched me up. Who was later promoted....:yuk:

[The Gorilla]

Beagle

Not a problem, reservists are no longer responding to call ups!!

:ok:

[LFFC]

6Z3

I'll bet you a pint that we keep 2 TLBs - otherwise we might have to get rid of a 3-star post!

:O

[6Z3]

LFFC,

No bets, please, I know you're right. When competing for Treasury resources, two TLBs would fair better in the round than a single one; the RN will find that out sooner or later.

"Per Ardua Ad Astra", (work hard to add Stars). At Innsworth, Astras are ten a bloody penny - excuse my French.

[JessTheDog]

Unless I receive formal change of address notification from PMA, how will I - or any other RAFResO member - know to whom to write to advise of any change of address?


Good point. I am due to move house in the next 12 months and would not want to miss out on Tony's next little illegal adventure and I am more than happy to lose my job and upset the wife in order to prop up a failing military that has been cut to the bone!

[Monty77]

Lightningmate

Not arguing with the fact that blue suits have to suffer the inconvenience of Abbey Woods. Just pointing out that Abbey Woods far exceeds the quality of work environment that a lot of RAF, and let's face it, MOD work places offer.

Britmil will always 'stag on'. Other Govt depts will down tools and start chucking teddies about. Check out any other Govt dept ref allowances/food/petrol.

Police/civil servants/Fireman(capitals=sign of respect) all have more generous and sensible ways of recompensating expenses. I cannot fathom why I work in the public sector and have such a complex system of recompense.

Our elected representatives enjoy a fine subsidised restaurant in the House of Commons. S*d them, their self-elected pay rise, and the horse they rode in on. Twice.

Rant off :*

[MrBernoulli]

Monty77

Don't forget their self-voted-for pension rise! These ******s expect the rest of us to sort out our own pensions while they snuffle and snort in the trough.

Innsworth to close? I wonder how much stuff is going to get conveniently lost in the move? And will this be another opportunity for purchasing more £3000 desk chairs and other idiotic nonsense.

And if you haven't heard already: When 10 Sqn (VC10) closes in October, and combines with 101 Sqn, they are all moving back to precisely where they came from less than 5 years ago - south of the Brize runway, to be reunited with the VC10 engineers again! So Kelvin Rucksack's supposed money-saving idea (and it wasn't) gets stood right on its blinking head. What a f!"£$%g farce!!!!!!!

[BEagle]

Are they really moving back Southside? I hope so - and you're right about that tw@ttish idea of Rucksack's! Now Redundant Rucksack, by the way!

Well, actually not KR's idea, perhaps - I reckoned all along that he was the so-called 'safe pair of hands' which were being manipulated by Thrombo.....until he went having 'decided' to retire early.... Allegedly!

Just how much did the whole sorry dickdance cost in the end, I wonder?

Back to the thread, they were redecorating Binnsworth when I was there doing PVR-porridge, so I guess that was the writing on the wall. But for those who've never been to the Brizzle Aquadrome aka Abbey Wood, it is quite unlike any of the squalid ex-WW2 buildings which mere military mortals have to work in. Although I understand that the Engineering mafiosi at Wyton have got themselves a nice place to work from.

That's the difference in industry and one of the many reason I left - the workforce aren't expected to live and work in utter squalor in buildings hastily thrown up nearly 70 years ago!

[Flobadob]

Watch out on the Annington Homes website, could be some good house purchases available.

That is if the RAF fatcats/senior officers don't keep the prime properties for themselves, so they can can retire on full pay and enjoy.

Retire on full pay? Hey imagine if they did that for all ranks? Must be worth a discrimination lawsuit against the RAF.....but hey that's another thread!:ok:

[Pontius Navigator]

PTC might be moving to High Wycombe but will all the units at Innsworth move? Mmmm.

Then no one mentioned the 2 000 moving out of Strike to make way for the incomers.

Buy your house somewhere on the A1, handy for RAF Marton or Scampham.

[FEBA]

So where's the lovely, tall, ginger haired S/Ldr lady (forgotten her name) that visited my place last year, going to go?