“I was delighted to have the opportunity during Communities and Local Government Questions yesterday afternoon to raise with Ministers the issue of the gypsy encampment at Minety,” said North Wiltshire MP James Gray, speaking from Westminster this morning.

“But I found Ian Wright’s response very disappointing indeed. He completely failed to answer the specific point I made about the very large numbers of gypsies abroad reportedly waiting to come to England as soon as Councils make provision for more encampments. I will continue to press the Government on this issue until I receive a more satisfactory answer.”

“I also received yesterday a response to my written question to the Defence Secretary about RAF Lyneham. I had asked the Secretary of State what existing military capabilities and functions will be retained and what new capabilities and functions will be undertaken there once the Hercules fleets have been redeployed to RAF Brize Norton; what capabilities and functions at RAF Lyneham will be relocated and to where they will be relocated. The Minister’s response really added nothing to what we knew already, namely that Lyneham is being considered for a joint helicopter base, but I will continue to take every opportunity to raise the future of the base in the House of Commons until I am given some more definite and substantive answers.”

Hansard extract from Tuesday 15th January

Mr. James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con): The Secretary of State will know about the illegal Gypsy encampment at Minety in my constituency. It was recently given 18 months leave to remain while Wiltshire county council assessed the need for such encampments across the area. However, how can the council reasonably make such an assessment, given that very large numbers of Gypsies in Ireland and Romania are reportedly waiting to come to England as soon as places are available? The more Gypsy places that Wiltshire county council provides, the more quickly they are filled.

The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr. Iain Wright): The hon. Gentleman said that Gypsy and Traveller accommodation needs were being assessed in his area. That is the right way forward, and the vast majority of local authorities have completed their assessments. The independent task group on site provision and enforcement published its final report to Ministers last month, and it concluded that the Government’s policy on provision of sites for Gypsies and Travellers was sound. The key is that such provision must be enforced properly, and we need more authorised sites to avoid the risk of antisocial behaviour and disruption throughout the larger community.

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Written Answer - Ministry of Defence

Mr James Gray (North Wiltshire) (Con): To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what (a) existing military capabilities and functions will be retained and (b) new military capabilities and functions will be undertaken at the RAF Lyneham site once the Hercules fleets have been redeployed to RAF Brize Norton; what capabilities and functions at RAF Lyneham will be relocated; and to where they will be relocated.

The Rt. Hon. Bob Ainsworth MP
It is not planned to retain any of the current military capabilities of functions at RAF Lyneham after the RAF withdraw from the Station in 2012. The capabilities and functions currently based at RAF Lyneham will be relocated to RAF Brize Norton.

Programme BELVEDERE is studying the long term requirement for military helicopter bases in the UK, and RAF Lyneham is one of a number of sites currently under consideration. This work is still ongoing and no decisions have yet been taken. Once the Programme has reached its conclusions, these will be put forward for consultation and announced in the usual way.

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