107 JOBS GO

The site's Army Base Repair Organisation (ABRO), which repairs Army vehicles, is to be streamlined with 107 job losses announced by Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram. These will take place over the next five years.

The Bovington workforce will be cut by more than a fifth from 491 staff to 384 - with the Dorset job losses forming part of 1,200 across the country at eight ABRO sites.

Skilled mechanics and workers in ABRO's huge garages and workshops are responsible for the repair and maintenance of tanks, other armour, military vehicles and fighting equipment.

Councillor Malcolm Shakesby, county council ward councillor, said: "I am very disappointed. Any job losses are going to have an impact.

"My concern is where are we going with all this. At one stage we were meant to be expanding the military side and now we are cutting back on jobs locally.

"Where do they go I'm sure they will be absorbed into the community, but this is an area of rural deprivation as identified by central government.

"We have got problems in general and in particular with young people, and there are high house prices and wages are low. We seem to be going into a downward spiral."

Coun Shakesby added that the losses had to be seen in the context of previous promises of expansion at Boving-ton. Unions have branded the civilian job losses in the Defence Aviation Repair Agency and Army Vehicle Repairs Agency as a betrayal.

Up to 2,000 jobs are likely to go at sites in Warminster, Donnington in Shropshire and Colchester as well as St Athan in the Vale of Glamorgan and Fleetlands in Hampshire.

Bovington escaped total closure unlike sites in Warminster, Donnington and Colchester.

South Dorset MP Jim Knight said: "The proposals will see ABRO Bovington becoming the one-stop shop for armoured vehicle repairs, which is good news for the future long term security of staff and a testament to their hard work.

"I appreciate the need to adapt our Armed Forces in what is a changing and increasingly competitive environment.

"However, I realise that the reduction in staff - approximately 107 jobs at Bovington - over the next five years will raise concern.

"Job losses are very regrettable but, phased over five years, it ought to be possible to do it through natural wastage with the bonus of securing the future of some of the most precious jobs in South Dorset."

He added that the Minister had given a Government assurance that it would work to mitigate the job losses and had paid tribute to the excellent work that ABRO was doing for the armed forces.

Mr Knight said: "I am convinced ABRO will continue to play a crucial role in the defence industry in the future and I will be working hard to ensure staff are given the support they need."

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said the announcement was 'a vote of confidence' in Bovington which was being encouraged to produce the same results but more efficiently.

He added: "We have to take a decision which will deliver the best results for defence."

He said there was a boost for ABRO Bovington because the site would be getting extra work from Donnington in the Midlands and from Stirling in Scotland with repair of the armoured fleet concentrated at Bovington.

Sites at Donnington in Shropshire, Warminster in Wiltshire and Colchester in Essex will close by March 2007.

Weymouth and Portland economy and regeneration committee chairman Coun Peter Farrell said: "Any loss of jobs which impacts on the local economy has got to be a cause for concern and doubly so in the light of recent job losses at New Look in Weymouth.

"The announcement about Bovington is something that our committee will be looking at in coming weeks and we hope to do what we can to mitigate this loss of jobs."