MoD Donnington defence hub decision due in December

Wrekin MP Mark Pritchard, Telford & Wrekin Council finance chief Bill McClements and council director David Sidaway went to the capital to push for MoD Donnington to be awarded a lucrative contract to become a new armed forces base.

It is up against MoD Bicester in Oxfordshire in a bid to become the location for the MoD's single national logistics hub, which will be known as the National Defence Gateway.

Success would safeguard 1,200 jobs, including 700 at the base, and also create new posts.

The trio met with Ludlow MP Philip Dunne, who is the government minister for defence equipment, support and technology.

The meeting yesterday also involved other high ranking Ministry of Defence officials.

The council has backed plans to borrow up to £120 million to fund the investment – although that money will only be used if the bid is successful and would be recouped as part of the contract.

Speaking after the meeting, Councillor McClements said the delegation received assurances that unless "anything untoward" happened, a final decision would be made shortly before Christmas.

Councillor McClements said: "We met up with the minister and put our case to him. I think the feedback we got from him was that the case we are putting for Telford is a good one.

"Our offer to finance the building, I think that was unexpected to the minister and I think he found that interesting.

"We didn't get any firm answers on whether our bid is going to be successful but that was always unlikely, because the bidding process is confidential.

"But it was still very much worthwhile going down there, we got to meet the minister which we haven't done before and we put a strong case before him. David Sidaway, I must say put forward an excellent presentation.

"All we can do now is wait and see and hope we have done enough to convince them that Telford is the place for the base."

The council has spent three years building strong links with senior staff at the ministry as it tries to convince the Government to choose the Telford site as the location for its logistics hub.

Winning the bid would also raise the profile of the borough, attract further investment and help the local economy, council chiefs say.

They said significant steps had been taken in the past few months to put Telford in the best possible position to be successful, with plans for warehousing development in and around the existing MoD Donnington site have been approved.