The Project BORONA team is overseeing the transfer of a NATO military unit from Germany to Innsworth in Gloucestershire. The operation involves the re-settlement of 500 families at a former RAF base and is being phased-in over a six month period during 2010. This has required on-going engagement with local agencies to plan the necessary services, including education and healthcare, for incoming families. The planning process also needs to take account that more than a quarter of the families are non-British.

The issue

Project BORONA is concerned with the relocation of military units from Germany to the United Kingdom. In 2006, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) created a BORONA project team to oversee the process.

The BORONA team’s initial effort has been directed towards planning the transfer of a NATO unit to Gloucestershire. During 2010, some 1,000 soldiers and their families from the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (HQ ARRC) will be moved from their Rhine Garrison base in Germany to Innsworth, near Gloucester.

This operation not only involves the re-settlement of a large number of soldiers and their dependents but must take account of the fact that, being an international unit, more than a quarter of the families will be non-British. All this has required on-going engagement with local agencies to plan the necessary services for a smooth transition. These services include housing, health, education, welfare and local transport.

The focus of this case study is on how the BORONA project team is working with Gloucestershire County Council and Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust (PCT) to ensure that there will be adequate school provision and health services for the ARRC families.

What they are doing

Resettlement locationThe site of the resettlement is the former RAF base at Innsworth, which closed in 2007. This site offers much of the essential infrastructure required by the incoming families. There are, for example, two primary schools serving the local area. After the closure of the RAF base, there were fears that the schools would have to merge due to declining admissions. The announcement of the ARRC move has enabled the local authority to make contingency plans and to ensure that both schools will be operational from the autumn of 2010.

However, additional housing will be needed to meet the needs of the new arrivals and there are longer-term plans to build new accommodation at Innsworth, if funding becomes available. In the meantime, some families will be housed at two new developments in the Gloucester area (Kingsway and Coopers Edge), where provision has already been made for schooling and healthcare.

Programme

The transfer of the 500 families at HQ ARRC to Gloucestershire is being phased-in over a six month period as shown below.

Planned movement of ARRC families to Gloucester in 2010

Profile of participating families

Of the 500 families involved in the move, it is estimated that approximately 131 (26 per cent) are non-British. Some 114 of these are from NATO partner nations, the largest groups being American, German, Italian and Dutch. The remaining 17 families are mainly from Commonwealth countries, the largest group being Fijian families (11). A full breakdown of the nationalities of the families is given in the evidence/data section .

Managing the process

The re-settlement process is being driven by the BORONA project team which is headed by a senior civil servant from the MoD. There is a core team of 14 made up of military and civilian personnel, one of whom has a dedicated role to engage with local agencies to facilitate service planning.

Since 2006 the BORONA team has kept up sustained liaison with the council and PCT. This has happened at several levels:

• High level support for engagement at local authority level has come from the Chief Executive of Gloucestershire County Council following early engagement by the BORONA team leader.
• There has been regular contact between BORONA and a range of stakeholders within the local authority, including the Schools Admissions Team, the Area Education Planning and Development Officer, the Early Years Officer and the Race Equality Diversity Officer.
• There have been visits to the two primary schools at Innsworth and regular contact has been maintained with the head teachers. The BORONA team will be also be represented at a meeting of Gloucester secondary school heads in September 2009.
• The BORONA team has had several meetings with the Deputy Director of Commissioning at the PCT and is in regular contact with a member of the PCT staff who has responsibility for day-to-day liaison with BORONA.

The BORONA team is keen to keep Gloucestershire residents informed of developments relating to the resettlement programme and has developed good contacts with the local media.

Assessing needs

Determining the size and nature of demand has been an essential pre-requisite to planning local services. One of the BORONA team’s on-going tasks has been to collect family data and determine population trends – particularly relating to pupil intake in local schools.

A number of initiatives have been taken to plan for the needs of non-British families including:

• contacting Gloucester College to explore what English language support classes they can offer (on or off-site)
• meeting with staff at the local NHS Trust hospital to discuss issues of medical concern to non-British families
• organising for 16 national representatives from NATO countries within ARRC to visit Gloucester and attend a two-day briefing given by representatives from the Gloucestershire County Council and Gloucestershire PCT.

Communicating with ARRC Families

The BORANA team strives to keep ARRC families informed and updated on issues and developments relating to the move. This is done through the BORONA coordination team within HQ ARRC. A families’ Q and A has been prepared and a families’ information fair was held in August 2009 in Germany. which will include representatives from the local authority and PCT.

Another programme available to ARRC families is the Innsworth Hive – an MoD information support service which gives on-line information on relocation issues including civilian facilities, places of interest, schools and further education, housing and healthcare facilities.

The impact

Planning school provision and entry

Using its research, the BORONA team has been able to make some predictions of the number of school places (at each stage) required from 2010. For example, it is estimated that a total of 132 primary and 79 secondary school places will be needed for families based at Innsworth. Although the information is only indicative at this stage, the trend it suggests is being used by the local authority to help plan relevant schools’ intake from September 2010.

The BORONA team has also been able to make some provisional estimates of the number of non-British children who will be entering local schools. This information should help to identify where English language support may need to be targeted. For example, the analysis in the evidence section shows that Italians represent the largest group of children for whom English is not a first language.

One of the outcomes of BORONA’s negotiations with the school admissions team has been the creation of a special schools admission form to enable families to make their applications directly from Germany. Because Gloucestershire maintains selective secondary education, special arrangements have also been made for children to sit the grammar school admissions exams in Germany.

Planning healthcare services

Based on the information provided by BORONA and the PCT’s assessment of existing and planned primary care provision, it is anticipated that no substantial additional services will be needed for ARRC dependents. The only potential gap that has been identified is NHS dental services, which may need to be augmented to provide for incoming ARRC families.

The PCT’s strategy is to ensure that British families know what health services are available and where to access them. For non-British families, the strategy is to ensure that they have a basic understanding of the National Health Service and how it works. It is also anticipated that there may a need for some language translation services for non-British personnel accessing health care.

Identifying the need for extra resources

The BORONA team and the council’s Early Years Officer have jointly identified the need for a nursery providing for 0-5 years at Innsworth. As a result, the MoD is building a 50 place nursery, which will be contracted out to a specialist nursery provider.

Costs

Because ARRC families will be accessing mainstream services, the costs will be met from mainstream local authority and PCT budgets. The local education authority may have to provide some additional finance for the increase in admissions at Innsworth’s primary schools.

The general feeling is that the relocation of ARRC to Gloucestershire will give a boost to the local economy, a sentiment endorsed by Gloucester First – the countywide economic partnership.

Lessons

Challenges

In the early days of the BORONA project, there was some uncertainty over the timing of the move, making it difficult to plan which services would be needed, and when. For example, it affected the two primary schools at Innsworth which had experienced a big fall in admissions following the closure of the RAF base in 2006. The confirmation of a timetable for the move has helped to address this obstacle and, in particular, has ensured the future viability of the two schools.

Another challenge has been to provide accurate forecasts of the numbers of children entering at different levels of the schooling structure in 2010. It has been even harder to forecast the precise numbers and nationalities of non-British children, particularly as some families may only have four months notice of the move.

Ongoing monitoring and regular updating of trends with service providers is helping to address this obstacle.

Finally, the BORONA team has had to challenge some misleading perceptions of the National Health Service amongst British and non-British ARRC families. This is being addressed by involving the PCT in events (in both Gloucester and Germany) that aim to provide information and answer questions about health and other local services.

Factors influencing the success of the project

Both the BORONA project team and service providers have emphasised the importance of early engagement as a prerequisite for successful service planning. Involving service partners from the start has given them the confidence that they are ‘in the loop’ and are full partners in the process.

Getting high level support from the council’s chief executive and engagement with senior managers has ensured that the BORONA project has been accorded a high priority by local authority and other service providers.

By maintaining regular contact with service partners the BORONA project team has been able to keep them updated on developments and population trends. Service managers have, in turn, been able to disseminate this information to head teachers, GPs and other service deliverers.

Service partners, in turn, have commented on the BORONA project team’s willingness to listen and learn and solicit opinions and suggestions about service planning, for example in setting up the nursery.

Getting access to refined data has helped the BORONA project team assess and plan for beneficiary needs.

Involving ARRC families and making them aware of service facilities and choices, through initiatives such as the families’ information fair in Germany, is helping in the reintegration process.

Finally, having a dedicated person on the BORONA team to liaise with service providers has given credibility to the planning process and ensured that it is being carried out efficiently and effectively.

Data / evidence

Breakdown of non-British personnel in ARRC

Non British Breakdown

Others

Breakdown of Non-British school age children – as of December 2008

Further information

The Innsworth BORONA programme – on the MoD’s website

The development of the Salisbury Plain Super Garrison (SPSG) will attract multi-million pound investment, and new more permanent military families into Wiltshire, where the military is already the biggest employer. The Service Personnel Command Paper published in July 2008, is a cross-government strategy that outlines plans to improve the level of support given to Service personnel, their families and veterans.

The Military Civilian Integration Programme is a pilot scheme to identify the changing military ‘footprint’ in the county and measure the military’s economic contribution to the county, and the region. It aims to enable council service provision to adapt to the changing needs of the military and their dependants and to spot opportunities for regeneration and building sustainable communities in the Salisbury Plain area.

The research projects are providing a strong evidence base both for the council and its partners and will inform strategies, policies and initiatives. Partners have worked systematically through the Local Area Agreement, Sustainable Community Strategy and Children and Young People’s Plan and to identify opportunities and threats, which has clarified the relevance of the military changes to service delivery.

The issue

National

Since the end of the Second World War significant parts of the Army had been focused on Germany, where it expected to fight, and a fifth of the Army is still based there. Units were constantly on the move – changing role and location every two to four years. In general long-term planning (except in the equipment area) was unusual, there being a culture of ‘getting on with things and making do’.

There was often a simple expectation that services to its UK communities would be delivered by councils – it was their responsibility not the Army’s – without the full understanding of service planning. There have been exceptions where there were very good relations between local councils and garrisons addressing military needs, such as in Aldershot, Catterick, Colchester and Tidworth.

Change has begun, with the Army’s partial withdrawal from Germany and the development of more of an expeditionary force that conducts military operations overseas, but from a more permanent home base. Greater stability has become a priority with the development of the ‘Super Garrison’ concept.

While there has been general recognition of the military’s importance as a buyer and employer, there was little evidence. Ten years ago information was partial and late and there was no shared ownership of the challenge facing public services and no clear responsibility above individual garrison and town. The MoD is a complex organisation where it is sometimes difficult to be clear about who is responsible to whom for what, and constant reorganisation has not helped.

Service Personnel Command Paper

The Service Personnel Command Paper (SPCP) published in July 2008 is a cross-government strategy that outlines plans to improve the level of support given to Service personnel, their families and veterans. In essence, those who serve must not be disadvantaged by virtue of what they do, and that this sometimes calls for special treatment. A number of measures set out in this strategy are likely to affect local authority service providers, for example:

• Extending access to affordable homes for a year after discharge
• Access to school places and uninterrupted special educational needs support
• A duty to ensure availability of flexible and affordable childcare and family services
• A commitment to tackle disadvantage where service overseas makes it harder for spouses and civil partners to get paid employment and maintain a National Insurance contribution record, which may affect their contribution record for basic State Pension as well as their access to contribution-based working-age benefits
• Developing access routes for Service leavers into public sector employment.

Issues in Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire

The development of the Salisbury Plain Super Garrison (SPSG) and other military sites will attract multi-million pound investment into the county, although the RAF will be withdrawing from Lyneham by 2012.

The declared aspiration for the SPSG is that it:

“..will improve the way of life for those working and living within it and the community at large. It will not only create a strong sense of military community but will also encourage closer integration with the civilian community. Our aspiration is to continue developing high quality recreational, sporting, leisure and retail facilities alongside the new barracks, better service accommodation, opportunities for greater stability and wider integration of full and part-time personnel. Together with more employment opportunities within the Super Garrison we will deliver more choice and a better quality of life for soldiers, their families and the adjoining civilian community”.

The military presence is valued in Wiltshire, but it raises particular issues for its partners.

Currently, around 15,000 military personnel and an estimated 16,000 dependants are based in the county, where MoD is the biggest employer. Many more jobs are ‘defence dependent’ (MoD agency staff, MoD civil servants and Defence contractors). The area is expecting two influxes of military people, mainly men: the first in 2008/09 and the second in 2009/10 as two new units move in, but then a decrease around Lyneham in 2012 when the RAF unit moves to Oxfordshire.

Wiltshire County Council, which became Wiltshire (unitary) Council in April 2009, working with Headquarters 43 (Wessex) Brigade, saw the need ‘to become more agile in its responses to these military changes’, providing leadership to strategic partners to ensure that Wiltshire develops as a sustainable community for all of its citizens.

From the military viewpoint, challenges included a lack of housing and affordable houses to buy, patchy and poorly coordinated education, poor dental facilities, patchy medical facilities, limited employment options for partners and poor facilities. The Military Civilian Integration (MCI) Programme was set up to shape and positively influence these changes.

What they did

MCI programme aim

The aim of the MCI Programme has been to optimise the economic and social benefits of the military presence in the county with acceptable environmental impact, in order to contribute to ‘improving life in Wiltshire’. The programme has five main objectives:

• To identify the changing military ‘footprint’ in the county
• To measure the economic contribution of the military to the county, and the South West region
• To enable the realignment of service provision to meet the changing needs of the military and their dependants
• To spot opportunities for regeneration and building sustainable communities in the Salisbury Plain area
• To ensure Wiltshire continues to be an attractive location for long-term investment by the MoD.

A consortium led by Wiltshire Council is delivering the programme. The Sponsoring Group provides strategic direction and guidance to the MCI Programme Manager.

Wiltshire Council is the ‘Senior Responsible Owner’ on the Sponsoring Group which includes: Headquarters 43 (Wessex) Brigade, Defence Estates, South West of England Regional Development Agency, council representatives at cabinet member and chief executive level, and representatives from the Wessex Association of Chambers of Commerce (private sector) and Community First (voluntary sector) in Wiltshire. Some EU funding (from the ‘Sustain the Plain’ rural development programme) has been available to support the MCI pilot. The programme was supported by a MCI coordinator post from January 2008 (now a permanent MoD civil service post), and, on rolling contracts, a programme manager (from the end of 2007) and researcher.

Wiltshire research project: Envisioning the Future

In April 2008 questionnaires were sent to heads of service providers from across the county and former district councils and a subsequent series of seminars clarified the current demands that the military presence made on council services and how these might change in the future. The research culminated in a study, called ‘Envisioning the Future’ published in July 2009, which positions these issues, opportunities and threats within the framework of Wiltshire Sustainable Community Strategy (SCS), the Children and Young People’s Plan (CYPP) and associated Local Area Agreement (LAA) actions and outcomes, summarised below.

Whereas it was previously difficult for some (council) service areas to see the relevance to them of the military presence, the analysis is now providing a valuable tool for the council and the MoD:

• to ensure that relevant service delivery plans and actions take account of the military presence and expected changes
• to help military, public, private and voluntary sector partners to strengthen military civilian integration in the county
• to share with regional partners, such as Government Office for the South West (GOSW) and the South West of England Regional Development Agency (SWRDA), and to local partners with an interest in the military, through the Wiltshire Council website.

Military presence and economic significance in the South West Region

Recognising the quality of MoD and agency contacts and data that the council was achieving, SWRDA commissioned Wiltshire Council to undertake research to strengthen the evidence base on the military presence in the region. Funding for the study was shared by SWRDA and Wiltshire Council. This research will inform local and regional policy, so that the economic potential of the military presence in the region is better understood and can be fully harnessed over the medium to long-term. The project is designed to build up a comprehensive picture of the impact of the military on the economy within the region, and was published in March 2009.

Other elements of the MCI programme are:

• The Lessons Learnt Project, carried out by the Tidworth Development Trust, catalogued research, reports, and projects that have been undertaken in Wiltshire and elsewhere. The project was completed in March 2008.
• The Regeneration and Building Sustainable Communities Project is identifying suitable sites for over 900 homes working with Defence Estates and investigating the wider benefits that could arise from the sustainable growth of military settlements as more balanced communities, involving more substantial re-development and regeneration, starting in Bulford, Larkhill and Tidworth
• The Attitudinal Sampling Project will provide a better understanding of civilian attitudes towards the military using the council’s regular survey of public opinion, The People’s Voice panel (3,800 residents). The first survey was carried out in May 2008.
• ADAS UK Ltd carried out a research project to assess the impact on the agricultural sector of the military – changes in the military population, activities and land and airspace utilisation on the countryside and land-based sector in Wiltshire. The report was completed in May 2008.
• A survey of Service leavers suggested that about a hundred per year were keen to ‘start their own business’, so the council and partners have begun to find ways of supporting this, for example by fostering strong links with the new Castledown Business Centre, near Tidworth.

The impact

The military approach has evolved considerably, from its initial detachment to much more meaningful engagement with partners and a new openness to the community, ‘coming out from behind the wire’. Garrison Open Days have begun to build greater understanding and tolerance among local residents and a feeling that the military are a part of the community.

Initially the council had a number of individual projects that had a military theme. This included successful collaboration on a new leisure centre, built on MoD land but staffed by the council and open to the whole community. The centre also houses a community library, crèche and meeting room, and could be a model for centres in other parts of Wiltshire. The MCI Programme has enabled the council and MoD to prioritise and build much greater coherence into their approach.

The research projects carried out provide a strong evidence base both for the council and other partners which will inform a variety of strategies, policies and initiatives. Some partners had been shaken by the likely losses of Army and RAF units from the county, particularly in the current economic climate. This prompted some searching questions about what action would be needed to continue to attract long-term investment by the MoD. Working systematically through the LAA, SCS and CYPP and identifying opportunities and threats has clarified the relevance of the military changes to council service delivery.

The results of the research will feed into the relevant thematic groups serving the Local Strategic Partnership and refreshing the LAA. Initially, the only specific MCI-related target in the Wiltshire LAA was the establishment of a baseline, which the research has now achieved. Because of the MCI Programme, the Super Garrison Commander is now a member of the Wiltshire Public Service Board and attends the Wiltshire Assembly. Also, the fact that there is a military chair of the Tidworth Community Partnership conveys a message of involvement and community participation.

Barriers, challenges

The MoD has had a great deal to learn about how it needs to engage with local service providers in order to plan the best support for the garrison and its families. While overseas, many of these issues did not need to be tackled in the same way. In 2007, for example one of the Tidworth regiments deployed to Iraq leaving, in effect, 850 ‘single parent’ families at home, and sadly, several were bereaved during the first week of the deployment. Better communication locally could help to get appropriate support in place for families. Another example of the need to provide better support concerns children with special needs. When Service families with a special needs child moves to a different area, the receiving council currently has to reassess their special needs, which is costly and cumbersome. There may be scope to ease this by developing a form of child’s passport containing their records.

To do this MoD has had to learn the language of LAAs and new performance measures. Up until two years ago the MoD was not subject to Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act, whereas now, through dialogue, it has developed a better understanding of local problems and priorities. GOSW is exploring new ways of sharing knowledge with colleagues in MoD and participated in the recent visit of the Service Personnel Command Paper National Advocates Group to the Army in Wiltshire. This group brings together staff at director level across all departments.

Partners sometimes needed to be convinced that the MCI Programme was relevant to them. For example, the Chamber of Commerce began to take a keener interest in the MCI Programme when it realised that the spending power of the military in the county equated to some £400 million per year.

Relationships with GOSW have been good, and regional resilience work e.g. dealing with floods has been effective, but the lack of any MoD representation is unhelpful in terms of making the case for Defence to central government, and in taking account of MoD when drawing up key regional plans and documents such as the Regional Spatial Strategy, Regional Housing Strategy and Regional Economic Strategy. The Government Office’s skills in relationship management could be better used to aid cross-government support for the Armed Forces in line with the ambitions in the Service Personnel Command Paper.

Garrison/Station Commanders will now be attending all the unitary council’s new Area Boards which cover their respective military establishments. The presence of more stable military families offers a new incentive for community involvement.

The two tier council structure was complex but the recent move to unitary status in Wiltshire has helped to simplify things for MoD and other partners. Likewise the development of the super garrison concept made it possible for civilians to deal with a single entity.

Lessons

Experience with the programme to date suggests that:

• To enable MCI to work, someone has to own the ‘problem’ and take action. There is a clear leadership role for the local authority, military and partners. Leadership is important to generate commitment and ‘open doors’. The Wiltshire Chief Executive and Super Garrison Brigadier have really championed the work together, which has had a powerful effect on audiences. As the coordinator put it, “both sides needed to think outside the box”. The introduction of the Army’s ‘Firm Base’ concept and Brigadier Steve Hodder’s MCI Strategy to improve communications at all levels between the brigade and the council will greatly assist this process.
• Having dedicated programme support, and an inclusive steering group, is also necessary. The coordinator was given a free rein and held 48 meetings over the initial two months to gather information and build understanding. He says it took six months to develop his role as an enabler. It may also be significant that the coordinator is not from the Army itself, but has a police investigative background and excellent communication skills.
• Whereas in Catterick the lead has come from the MoD, here the council has led and owned the process, though it has also been referred to as a joint venture. Both approaches can work, but it is important to recognise that each situation needs its own tailored response.
• Effective joint working creates wider opportunities for economic development and regeneration and creating more balanced and stable communities in the long-term. MoD may be able to identify areas of land managed by Defence Estates that could be released into the Local Development Framework and realise funds. Partners could plan together to resolve particular shortages, for example, for housing or business units, but this needs to be addressed within the context of the Regional Spatial Strategy.

Further information

The MCI Programme

The Wiltshire Research Project, Envisioning the Future (July 2009) – external PDF available to download

The South West Research Project, Military Presence and Economic Significance in the South West (March 2009) – external PDF available to download

Over 30,000 military personnel are based in North Yorkshire, which is home to three large RAF bases, the Army’s largest garrison at Catterick and about 10 per cent of the regular army itself. Although RAF bases have for some time been settled communities, Army communities have been transient and more isolated. Several recent developments have changed this: the decision to become a largely UK based force, the end (largely) of Irish terrorism and the loss of crown immunity have all pointed towards a more outward looking and settled Army. The publication of the Service Personnel Command Paper (SPCP) in September 2008 committed the government to the support of good service delivery to military families.

In North Yorkshire the MoD and civil stakeholders have embarked on a Military-Civil Integration (MCI) programme aimed at ensuring that there is a structured dialogue and effective joint working on the main areas covered by the SPCP and local authorities’ own themes: health, housing, children’s issues and education and economic impact. The Brigade Commander for Yorkshire and the Humber and the North East chairs the senior level main board of senior officers from county and district councils, the Government Office, the Learning and Skills Council and the PCT. This has helped to build relationships and define strategy, linking work strands both with LAA themes and the MoD’s Service Personnel Command Paper.

The Catterick Garrison Long Term Development Plan, produced in late 2005, showed that the Garrison had the capacity, across its several locations around the A1, to grow to a population of 25,000 if government decisions on the Defence Estate and future basing needed it to. The MCI programme is helping to plan the growth in a way that will cause the least local disruption and make the most of opportunities both within the garrison and for the local economy and communities.

The Issue

National

British defence policy since the early 1990s has been to move away from basing the Army overseas in Germany and elsewhere and towards a more expeditionary force based in the UK, which would be less disruptive to family life, recruitment and retention of staff (the Navy and RAF have always been fairly settled). The Army is now more generally based permanently in one place, rather than moving round the country, This, coupled with the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD’s) loss of crown immunity from the requirement to get planning permission, has called for much better engagement with local and regional planning systems and strategic service planning.

There was recognition in 2008 that although the Army and RAF communicated effectively with other government departments, they were not as effective at making their corporate presence felt at regional and sub-regional level. This had meant that the MoD response to major initiatives affecting service personnel (such as education, health care, employment) was in danger of being lost or disjointed. It also meant that the regional and local aspects of implementing MoD central decisions were not always clear – and sometimes lacked the necessary funding streams to implement them.

Defence Estates, the MoD’s land and buildings agency, has also been working with government offices around the country, discussing the Defence Estates Development Plan, which was due to be refreshed in June 2009.

As a result, the Regional Forward Programme Team led a pilot exercise into regional engagement in the North Yorkshire and Humberside area. This engagement has now become known as the Military Civil Integration (MCI) project

Catterick Garrison Issues

The largest military concentration in North Yorkshire is at Catterick Garrison, which groups together a number of bases around the A1, south of Scotch Corner. Its main centre is close to the ancient market town of Richmond, but other units are at Catterick village, Topcliffe, Dishforth and Ripon.

The Garrison houses 9,000 soldiers in 4 (Mechanised) Brigade, one of the Army’s deployable brigades, support units and the Infantry Training Centre where all infantry soldiers get their basic training. In 2005 the MoD announced that it would invest £1 billion on a major redevelopment of the Garrison. Over 15 years the funding would renew facilities and accommodation there, with a new leisure centre (incorporating funding from Richmondshire District Council (RDC) and North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC)) and town centre (a privately funded initiative). The Catterick Long Term Development Plan also showed scope to increase substantially the number of troops based there.

The local demographic mix (because of the military concentration) is unusual, with a large proportion in the 17-55 age group, many young single men and young families. By contrast, the civilian population is older. The rhythm of operations means that often the troops are preparing to go away, are away or recovering from being away, with consequent effects on family life. All of these have implications for local services and economy.

Children and young people

• Despite extensive and committed effort by the Army, health and education agencies, there continues to be a range of poor outcomes for children at the Garrison.
• How should young people’s services adapt to take account of the garrison’s circumstances?
• What would need to happen with schools and early years provision? In the past many army families did not use state secondary schools but put their children into boarding schools, the new-found stability seems likely to increase use of local state schools.

Health

• The military provide full primary health care services to servicemen and women. Was there any scope for co-operation with the NHS PCT?
• Was there fair access to NHS provision, especially dentistry, for dependants?
• Veterans’ health needs can differ from those of the general population, and so training might be needed for local services to cope.
• There might be more pressure on community mental health services from ex service patients. At the same time, the military community mental health teams had experience and expertise in treating combat related stress which could help NHS services.

Transport

• There were issues over the A1 upgrade, junction improvements, congestion and public transport access, as well as input into local green travel planning and sustainability.

Housing and environment

• The housing markets where there is a substantial military presence have to deal with the issue of current capacity and future demand for military, private and affordable housing. The military presence affects this in ways which are not always clear, despite research.
• The MoD, working with RDC and other districts has identified a number of sites to be brought forward for its own needs and those of the District Councils. It works closely with NYCC and RDC particularly to ensure that the Regional Spatial Strategy (RSS) and Local Development Frameworks (LDFs) can accommodate a range of projections for future development.
• The Council needed to produce a LDF to guide development in the district outside of the National Park and covering the Garrison Main site and Marne Barracks, which was a further driver for working with MoD bodies.
• The garrison, as a major population centre and landowner, had a major role to play in a sustainable development strategy.
• Service households now had improved rights to claim housing assistance from councils if they became homeless. There was concern about the impact of the military presence on the local housing market, and from the military’s side concern about affordability of local housing.

Economic impact

• The Defence presence accounts for a considerable amount of employment and purchasing activity in North Yorkshire and the Yorkshire and the Humber region. Were local agencies and firms fully aware of the pool of highly skilled labour leaving the services (such as the engineers regiment in Ripon) and the opportunities for improving local supply chains?
• Were people in and near the region sufficiently aware of how the Army recruit people?
• Families had traditionally taken up contract work catering and cleaning in the garrison. There had been a poor response to attempts to explore the scope for enhancing these prospects, but families often had mobility issues.
• Given the scale of investment, what were the broader implications across the region and the North East? The proposed town centre at Catterick Garrison offered a great opportunity to reduce the leakage of purchasing power to Darlington or Leeds.

Crime and safety

• North Yorkshire Police were keen to develop joint custody facilities and joint policing arrangements
• Local issues included domestic violence, disorder, antisocial behaviour (and local perceptions of it) and drug and alcohol misuse.

What they did

For many years there had been Catterick liaison meetings, three or four times a year, involving RDC, MoD, Defence Estates and the garrison to discuss local issues including the garrison’s aspiration for developing the town centre.

• In 2005 the MOD had, after local consultations, formulated a Catterick Forward Programme document, which showed more strategically what the army wanted to do in terms of development and growth, managing the return of personnel from Germany to be based permanently at Catterick. Recognising the Army’s need to become more engaged with and aware of the outside world, this document was a valuable tool to open and develop discussions with local and regional partners.
• The MoD’s greater need to engage with the planning process led to closer working with local and regional planning authorities on regional spatial strategy and LDFs.
• All this has since been reinforced by the Services Personnel Command Paper (SPCP), published in 2008, which set out the need for service people and their families to have access to services, in particular healthcare, housing, and families and welfare. The result has been re-branded the military civilian integration (MCI) pilot initiative.

The MCI aims to ensure that servicemen, women and families have equal access to key services, as laid down in the Command Paper, and are enabled to play their full part as citizens in their communities; and to ensure that the MOD engages fully locally, to maximise its economic vitality for the benefit of the communities in which it has a presence. Having a permanent base offers more scope to develop opportunities for service partners and children growing up in the garrison

Structures

The Forward Programme team set up two main mechanisms to pursue its objectives and add coherence and momentum to its work across the various themes:

The Military Civilian Integration (MCI) Main Board

This board first met in the autumn of 2008, chaired by the Army’s regional brigade commander and bringing together the chief executives of the councils involved and main public sector counterparts, such as the Learning and Skills Council, Police, Fire and Rescue, LSP chairs and the Tees Valley Joint Strategy Unit. Membership included the chairs of both North Yorkshire Strategic Partnership and district LSPs. Meeting every six months it adopted a thematic approach, following the six Local Area Agreement (LAA) work streams, but also reporting against the main sub headings of the SPCP.

The board has discussed a number of briefings on the detail of the SPCP, so that stakeholders could think through the practicalities for their service area and plan accordingly. Thematic work stream membership was drawn from a wider group than just those represented on the main board, involving other agencies as appropriate to deal with specific issues. However, the theme groups do not meet formally. Each theme has an action plan which the forward planning team keeps up to date and which informs discussion and action. The Minister for Yorkshire and the Humber has been briefed and is also expected to attend at least one of the board meetings. This contact is thought to be helpful in opening a new channel of communication at ministerial level.

The Military Stakeholder Board

One of the criticisms coming from partners in the past was difficulty they had communicating with the quantity and variety of military players in each region. Consulting each individually was complex and time consuming. The Army led military stakeholder board has tackled this by bringing together the major defence stakeholders in the area (also every six months) to build and present a common voice to its civilian stakeholders at the main board. The Army presence itself is extensive, covering a number of sites; RAF business is also important within the region (RAF Fylingdales, RAF Leeming, RAF Menwith Hill and RAF Linton) and should play a full and active part in the MCI project. This board has also worked to progress the six work streams and keep military stakeholders fully informed. As from 31 March 2009, the MoD central team which had been dealing with the SPCP was disbanded in favour of continued momentum at the regional and local level, so the military stakeholder board role assumed a new significance.

Regular liaison

In addition to the boards, there are still liaison meetings between Catterick Garrison HQ and RDC three or four times a year. About three years ago RDC created a new Catterick Champion role for one of its Members, to promote the policies of RDC, in relation to the Garrison, and create a line of communication at the political level. The RDC Champion chairs liaison meetings that are held at the council, while the Garrison Commander chairs those at Catterick.

Quarterly meetings have also been introduced between the MoD and NYCC officers involved in provision of services to CG

Analysis to understand the military impact on local areas

At the main board’s first meeting RDC proposed a study to assess the economic impact of the Defence presence in North Yorkshire. Yorkshire Forward commissioned it and now manages the project on behalf of the partners (district, county, Tees Valley and MoD) who collaborated on designing the specification. The work, costing around £30,000, is in three phases and includes quantifying military spend in North Yorkshire. Due in October 2009, the results will feed into Local Action Plans and LDFs, giving RDC important evidence to inform and support its LDF.

An in-depth survey of traffic will also enable the partners to plan ahead and avoid congestion problems when the expansion begins.

Regional Development Agency and Government Office (GO) role

Yorkshire Forward (YF)’s director of strategy has been keen to develop a better understanding of the MoD’s role as a significant employer, inward investor and buyer, particularly given the greater permanence of the military presence. The impact study will help to show MoD’s influence on the development of buildings, land mass, biomass, local food input etc.

While the MoD’s long term planning still depends on a number of unknowns, some more detailed ‘scenario planning’ is possible. Previously no one body had had responsibility – and the budget – for developing this, and Yorkshire Forward as regional development agency has been able to take more of a lead, with support from its local partners. In areas such as the green agenda, Yorkshire Forward can support agencies it funds to work with the garrison. It may also be able to offer logistical support to suppliers through the Regional Food Group.

GOYH expects that improved communication between it, the MoD, and the three relatively small local authorities with a substantial military presence will also improve its ability to provide support to them. To address this the MoD’s Forward Programme Lead Officer has been based at the Government Office for about one day a week, with the locality team for North Yorkshire sub-region, to provide a point of contact and channel for improved communications.

Some thematic examples show how the Army has resources to share with the local community as it starts to emerge from its traditional position: “behind the wire”.

• There is joint working with the PCT, specifically the future delivery of primary health care provision, provision of welfare and health support to young dependants in Catterick Garrison and the provision of nursing support to the out of hours GP service in Duchess of Kent Barracks. There is also discussion about the use of military outpatient facilities by County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust. A joint working party meets soon to start work on cooperative provision of primary health care services.
• The Catterick Garrison Leisure Centre, primarily a military training facility, has funding from NYCC and RDC for state of the art library facilities and public access, and is now operational.
• A 32 person supported housing scheme for military veterans is to be built by a housing association on land at CG donated by the MoD and with capital and revenue funding from the Housing and Communities Agency and NYCC.
• A national affordable home ownership scheme for service families is being developed on the basis of information provided by and from families at CG.
• Another working party is looking at outcomes for children in CG and current local services.
• An open day for local farmers will encourage greater local procurement of meat for CG.
• Current Army cadet and outreach activity is, resources permitting, to be extended to groups considered to be at risk of extremist influence.
• North Yorkshire Police are discussing their wish to build a joint custody facility in Catterick.
• A Sustrans cycle path linking CG with Richmond is now in use.
• A National Nature reserve has been created in the heart of the Garrison which is a major educational resource, and which is funded in large part by the MoD.
• Alongside specific measures, there has been “soft engagement” of the community, such as a cocktail party for the Queen’s Birthday, which has enabled the MoD to engage new partners and communities in positive discussion.

The MoD has been actively involved in district LSPs and at and county level, addressing specific NIs where relevant to specific issues. This activity could help to improve performance across all of the local area agreement outcome areas.

The impact

The main board and military inner group are, by common accord, working well, with everyone working in a constructive way and looking for opportunities to develop ideas and reduce duplication. While there are as yet no explicit links to LAA targets, the partners are looking to improve LAA outcomes gradually, project by project.

The team feel that the pilot has already proved itself and GOYH and RDC would like to see the regional link developed further through the MoD’s formal designation of a liaison officer. They and other partners have observed a more open and positive engagement from the Army, and much greater coherence of approach through the military stakeholder group.

The RDC Executive Director remarked that the Army had “moved on radically. There has been a big change of approach. They are not just coming out from behind the wire for civic events, but are thinking of how they can support local work, for example the Community Safety Partnership.” He acknowledged that if the new super garrison comes to fruition the need for joined up working in areas such as schools, road networking, housing will be “huge”.

The Forward Planning Team has been an effective intermediary for partners to become engaged in a variety of activities, and having an officer presence in the Government Office has opened up the way for new networking. It has brought the partners a new understanding of each other’s agendas, the strategic context and with that, greater pragmatism over local issues such as schools, and housing. The partners say it will help to head off difficulties in the future.

The Army have developed their understanding of the Government Office’s role in improving services to military personnel but also the garrison’s potential benefit to the region in improving performance against National Indicators. The “prize”, as they see it, for making the MCI work is that when other troops are deployed, Catterick would become the garrison of choice: attractive to MoD Centre.

Barriers and challenges

It was not easy initially, gathering together MoD and external stakeholders: it took time, persistence and a punishing schedule of meetings to build the goodwill and commitment from partners. All MoD and key external stakeholders are now fully committed and attending the main board meetings.

It also took time to pitch the meetings at the right level, (making sure those attending had the necessary rank or clout to make things happen). This has been resolved as a result of regular communication between both the Army and the RAF and the external authorities to agree attendance.

There were initial problems, for example when the SPCP had announced capital funding for a supported housing scheme for veterans, in Catterick Garrison, but which was not in any agency’s forward planning or revenue funding stream. Funding has since been found through the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and local (stretched) Supporting People budget.

The military presence makes exceptional demands on district council capacity, particularly in relation to planning, LDF preparation and issues that cross district and sometimes regional borders. Additional support and understanding from regional partners, MoD and Defence Estates has been both necessary and welcome.

Lessons

Some partners observed that the process of building relationships and senior commitment can never be instant. It takes time and persistence. It also comes out of growing understanding of the various partners’ own agendas and priorities.

Partners will have more success if they think constructively in terms of what they can offer others, rather than what they want for themselves. It becomes easier then to see where agendas can be aligned.

Having a visible, physical presence, albeit a part time one, in the government’s regional office has made a major difference to the MoD’s appreciation of regional issues and ability to have a positive influence at that level.

Further information

Roland Crooke, Team Leader,
Regional Forward Programme Team
DE Catterick Area Office
Email:  roland.crooke341@mod.uk

North Yorkshire Strategic Partnership

Richmondshire District Council

North Yorkshire County Council

Yorkshire Forward

The government recognised in 2008 that there were problems in the way services are provided for military personnel and their families. In part, this was because relationships between military establishments and local and regional civilian authorities were not well developed. The larger bases (‘super-garrisons’) that are emerging as a result of the current defence strategy have increased the importance of effective local relationships.

The issue

Introduction

Over the last two decades, the focus of British defence strategy has shifted from the maintenance of permanent garrisons overseas, using instead expeditionary forces deployed from bases in this country. In part, this reflects changes in the geo-political landscape and changes in military technology. But in addition, it reflects a recognition that the greater stability that results from this approach is less disruptive to family life and may therefore assist with recruitment and retention of staff.

The government recognised in 2008 that there were problems in the way services are provided for military personnel and their families. In part, this was because relationships between military establishments and local and regional civilian authorities were not well developed. The larger bases (‘super-garrisons’) that are emerging as a result of the current defence strategy have increased the importance of effective local relationships.

The key challenges

The demands made by military life – not just on serving personnel but also on their families – have not always been fully recognised by civilian service providers. The distinctive nature of service needs may not be understood; and there is an assumption that, where there are distinctive needs, these will be catered for by the armed services themselves.

The longer postings associated with home-based super-garrisons have brought with them greater stability for service families. However, there remain a range of challenges that arise from the nature of military life, for service providers as well as armed forces personnel.

Education – Where families are moving regularly, children’s education can be disrupted and there is some evidence that this can lead to poor educational outcomes. Depending on the timing of moves, parents’ choice of school may be limited. In some areas, a very high proportion of children in schools close to bases come from service families. Those schools therefore have to cope with constantly changing intakes.

Housing – Most service families live away from the base and are therefore competing with the local population for access to housing. Service personnel with severe injuries may require adapted housing or sheltered accommodation.

Health – The age profile of many service families may mean that high birth rates put pressure on local maternity services. Where personnel are involved in combat, the pressures on their families can create demands for local community mental health provision.

Employment – In some areas, there are concerns that relatively unskilled relatives of serving personnel will add pressures on labour markets.

Transport – Additional traffic, much of it very heavy, can place great strain on the roads infrastructure, especially in the kinds of rural locations where military bases are typically situated.

A recent consultation exercise conducted by Ministry of Defence (MoD) showed that a number of service personnel and their families did not know or understand what is available to them or how to get it. However, it is also increasingly recognised that military bases can bring great benefits to local areas, not least because of their substantial economic impact as employers and purchasers of services.

The policy context

In 2008, the MoD issued a command paper, ‘The Nation’s Commitment: cross-government support to our armed forces, their families and veterans’. The paper outlines plans to improve the level of support given to service personnel, their families and veterans. The strategy is based on the principle that, “…those who serve must not be disadvantaged by virtue of what they do�.

The paper argues that, in the modern world, the expectations of service personnel and their families have changed:

“Those who might join the armed forces have aspirations and expectations that are higher than ever. Their families are more complex and often find it harder to accept the demands of service life. Routinely moving our forces around makes it harder for them to achieve home ownership and exercise choice in their lives.�

More frequent moves can put service families at a disadvantage in the way they access public services, it continues: “…for example, in the allocation of school places, or provision for special educational needs for their children, and in access to benefits and core NHS services.�

The paper promises a range of special entitlements for service personnel and their families:

• Key worker status, giving access to affordable homes, is to be extended for a year after discharge
• Arrangements giving access to school places are being reviewed and special educational needs (SEN) support will be uninterrupted when families move
• There will be a duty on service providers to ensure availability of flexible and affordable childcare and family services
• There is a commitment to tackle disadvantage where service overseas makes it harder for spouses and civil partners to get paid employment and maintain a national insurance contribution record, which may affect their contribution record for basic state pension as well as their access to contribution-based working-age benefits
• The government has promised to ensure there are access routes for service leavers into public sector employment.

In addition to these specific guarantees, the government is keen to ensure that there is better communication locally between military establishments and the civilian authorities. The 2006 White Paper ‘Creating Strong, Safe and Prosperous Communities’ says that local authorities and local strategic partnerships (LSPs) “should consider consulting… representatives of service personnel�. The paper also promised that the government would identify how an appropriate MoD body can be added by the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) to the list of statutory bodies with whom local authorities must consult in the formulation of policy.

What works

Catterick Garrison

In 2005, the MoD announced a £1 billion programme of major developments at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire, to be spent over 15 years. This would make what is already the British Army’s biggest base (home to about 18,500 people including dependants and non military personnel) into the country’s first super-garrison, with a population of around 25,000 by 2020. The local demographic mix is unusual, with a large proportion in the 17-55 age group, including many young single men and young families. The key issue was how to plan and manage this growth in a way that brought the least disruption and the most benefits to both army personnel and their families and to service providers.

Although increases in numbers of military personnel and their families create pressures for local service providers, there are also potential benefits to the local community:

• A number of MoD sites have been identified for release to the local council for housing development
• The garrison offers a pool of highly-skilled labour among those leaving the services
• Its purchasing power provides major opportunities for local businesses if local supply chains can be established.

Although there have been regular liaison meetings between the garrison and the local authority, it was only in 2005 that the base recognised the need for a more strategic and comprehensive approach. Its ‘Catterick Forward’ programme served as a vehicle for opening and extending discussions with local and regional partners. Reinforced by the 2008 command paper, the result has been rebranded the ‘Military Civilian Integration’ (MCI) pilot initiative.

The aims of the MCI are to ensure that servicemen, women and families have equal access to key services as laid down in the command paper and are enabled to play a full part as citizens in their communities. The MCI is managed through two main mechanisms:

• The MCI main board: This board, chaired by the garrison commanding officer, brings together the chief executives of the councils and main public agencies involved, including the Learning and Skills Council, police, fire and rescue services, LSPs and the Tees Valley joint strategy unit. Meeting every six months, the main board has adopted a thematic approach following the six work streams of the local area agreement (LAA), but also reporting against the main sub-headings of the command paper.
• The military stakeholder board: Partners in the past have found it difficult communicating with the variety of military players in each region. The army-led military stakeholder board has tackled this by bringing together a number of army and RAF sites throughout Yorkshire (also every six months) in order to present a common voice to its civilian stakeholders at the main board.

As a result of the new cooperation, partners are undertaking a variety of detailed reviews of the implications of the military presence.

• Yorkshire Forward (the regional development agency) is leading on a study of the economic impact of the defence presence locally
• An in-depth survey of traffic will also enable the partners to plan ahead and avoid congestion problems when the expansion begins
• Yorkshire Forward is also keen to develop a better understanding of the MoD’s role as a significant employer, inward investor and buyer.

The army has also looked for ways in which it can share its resources with the local community as it starts to emerge from its traditional position ’behind the wire‘.

• There is joint working with the primary care trust (PCT) – covering future delivery of primary health care provision and welfare and health support to young dependants in the garrison. They are also exploring how to give local hospital trusts access to military outpatient facilities
• The commanding officer at the garrison is on the board of governors of the local secondary school
• The Department for Farming and Rural Affairs (Defra) is talking to the garrison about sourcing more food from local producers.
• North Yorkshire Police are discussing a joint custody facility in Catterick
• Leisure facilities in the garrison are to be opened up for use by the wider community.

Project BORONA

Project BORONA, established by the MoD in 2006, was set up to oversee the relocation of military units from Germany to the UK. Its initial effort has been to transfer a NATO unit to Gloucestershire. During 2010, some 1,000 soldiers and their families from the Allied Rapid Reaction Corps (HQ ARRC) in Germany will move to Innsworth, near Gloucester. This operation involves the re-settlement of a large number of soldiers and their dependants, of whom more than a quarter will be non-British. This has required continuing engagement with local agencies to plan the necessary services, including housing, health, education, welfare and local transport.

The unit will be located at a former RAF base that closed in 2006, which offers much of the essential infrastructure for the incoming families. Indeed the relocation has meant that some services (including primary schools) threatened with closure will remain. Additional housing will be needed and there are longer-term plans to build new accommodation at Innsworth if funding becomes available. In the meantime, some families will be housed at two new developments outside the area where provision has already been made for schooling and healthcare.

The re-settlement process is overseen by the BORONA project team, consisting of 14 military and civilian personnel, one of whose role is to engage with local agencies to facilitate service planning. Since 2006, the BORONA team has built contact with the council and PCT at several levels:

• High level support has come from the chief executive of Gloucestershire County Council following a meeting with the officer commanding HQ ARRC.
• There has been regular contact between BORONA and local authority officers, including schools, early years and race equality and diversity.
• There have been visits to the two primary schools and regular contact has been maintained with the head teachers.
• The BORONA team has met with the deputy director of commissioning at the PCT and is in regular contact with the member of the PCT staff who has responsibility for day-to-day liaison with BORONA.

Identifying demand has been essential for service planning. One of the team’s tasks is to collect data and determine population trends – particularly on pupil intake in local schools. A number of initiatives have catered for the needs of non-British families, including English language support and medical care.

The team’s presence and the intelligence it has collected have already made a difference to the services available:

• Planning school provision and entry – The team has estimated the number of school places (at each stage) that will be needed from 2010 and the local authority is using the data to help plan relevant schools’ intake in 2010.
• Identifying non-British children – The team has also estimated the number of non-British children entering local schools. This information should help to identify where English language support may be needed.
• Schools admission – There is a special schools admission form enabling families to apply directly from Germany. Gloucestershire maintains selective secondary education, so children can sit grammar school admissions exams in Germany.
• Planning healthcare services – At present, the PCT does not anticipate that substantial additional services will be needed for ARRC dependants, apart from NHS dental services.
• Signposting and language support – The PCT aims to ensure that British families know what health services are available and that non-British families understand the NHS and how it works. This may require some language translation services for non-British personnel accessing health care.
• Nursery places – The BORONA team and the council’s early years officer have identified the need for a nursery for under-fives at Innsworth. As a result, the MoD is building a 50-place nursery to be contracted out to a specialist nursery provider.

MCI programme, Tidworth, Wiltshire

One of the new super-garrisons under development is on Salisbury Plain. The garrison is designed to “improve the way of life for those working and living within it and the community at large. It will not only create a strong sense of military community, but will also encourage closer integration with the civilian community.�

The garrison already constitutes a major presence in the area. There are around 15,000 military personnel and some 6,000 dependants in Wiltshire. Additional ‘defence dependent’ jobs (agency staff, civil servants and contractors) make the military the largest employer in the county. Two further influxes of personnel are expected in 2009 and 2010.

Until recently, service provision for army personnel and their families was not entirely satisfactory. Examples included a lack of housing and affordable houses to buy, poorly coordinated education, poor dental facilities, patchy uneven medical facilities, limited employment options for partners and poor facilities. The MCI programme was set up to help improve these services.

The programme is designed to maximise the economic and social benefits of the military presence in the county and has five main objectives:

• to identify the changing military ‘footprint’ in the county
• to measure the economic contribution of the military to the county and the south-west region
• to enable the realignment of service provision to meet the changing needs of the military and their dependants
• to spot opportunities for regeneration and building sustainable communities in the Salisbury Plain area
• to ensure Wiltshire continues to be an attractive location for long-term investment by the MoD.

A partnership led by Wiltshire Council is delivering the programme. It includes Headquarters 43 (Wessex) Brigade, Defence Estates, South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA), council representatives at cabinet member and chief executive level and representatives from the Wessex Association of Chambers of Commerce (private sector) and Community First (voluntary sector) in Wiltshire. The programme is managed by a coordinator (a permanent MoD civil service post), supported by a programme manager and researcher.

A study in 2008 explored the demands that the military presence made on council services and how these might change in the future. A report in 2009 identified the threats and opportunities afforded by the military presence.

Some threats:

• There could be more people with low skill levels and low economic activity rates as the number of dependants in the garrison area increases.
• Service leavers will now be entitled to affordable housing in Wiltshire, which may increase demand.
• Demands for mental health and social care services could increase because of high levels of military deployments.
• The military presence could lead to a risk of increased teenage conceptions in the area, partly because of the age of some soldiers’ wives.

Some opportunities:

• Increased demand for further and higher education (HE) from service leavers could support a ’University Challenge‘ bid to increase provision in Wiltshire.
• There is scope for increased local procurement of food by military bases
• The increase in the number of service leavers in the area will increase the skilled workforce in the area
• A larger and more stable military presence should make public transport services more sustainable and easier to plan
• Defence Estates have identified MoD land that may be released for development and therefore extra housing provision.

It was previously difficult for some service areas to see how the military presence was relevant to them; the analysis now provides a valuable tool for both the council and the MoD.

• It helps ensure that relevant service delivery plans and actions take account of the military presence and expected changes
• It is easier for all partners to strengthen military civilian integration in the county
• It provides the opportunity to share information with regional partners, such as the Government Office South West and SWRDA, through the Wiltshire Council website.

RAF Marham

RAF Marham is one of the largest and busiest stations in the RAF, employing almost 5,000 people, with an annual wage bill of around £85 million. In an otherwise largely rural district, the station exercises considerable influence on the local economy and on the demand for, and provision of, services. The base is valued not just as an employer, but also for the spending power it brings to the local economy, the business opportunities it offers to local firms, and also as a source of recruitment – many of the local council’s employees are the partners of service personnel at the base.

The station’s child population indicates its significance locally. It has an average of 100 births a year, half the local total. It is unlikely that maternity facilities at the local hospital would be maintained without this level of births. More than 90 per cent of the children at the village junior and infants’ school are connected to families on the base.

Until recently, the station’s links to the wider community were limited to ceremonial occasions. Few on the station understood the opportunities local service provision offered. A variety of service provision is available on station, but it is not exhaustive and was not well integrated with what is available through the mainstream. This led to both gaps in provision and duplication. For example, a children’s centre on the base has not been able to secure support from or involvement with the local SureStart.

As with all military establishments, RAF Marham makes a payment as the equivalent of council tax – but until recently they had no idea what services that payment entitled them to. For example, they handled their own rubbish bin collection – unaware of their rights from the council.

A combination of tactical necessity and RAF culture erected barriers between the base and the local area, residents and agencies. Security requirements imposed through the cold war and then the threats of IRA terrorism meant that the base and its personnel had to keep a low profile. Three years ago, one of the senior officers on the base initiated a systematic programme of cooperation between the base and the local community. Among other things, this included a seat on the West Norfolk Partnership, the district LSP.

RAF Marham’s presence on the LSP has helped both the base and the LSP. It has injected expertise into the LSP and helped the base develop bilateral relationships with, among others, the local college, the PCT, police and local authorities.

This reflects the two key principles underlying the station’s approach:

• There is recognition that involvement with the local community is a two-way street: RAF Marham must invest in the local community if it is to benefit from what the community has to offer
• Building productive relationships requires a community development approach.

The base has organised a ‘Pride in Marham’ campaign to help develop positive relationships between the station and the local community. Some of the activities generated by the campaign have included community clean ups and environmental education projects.

The borough is also trying to ensure that it takes into account the needs and aspirations of people associated with the base. Its second ‘Quality of Life’ survey, set for October 2009, sees a plan to increase the sample size in Marham to ensure the survey captures the views of service personnel and their families. Since the first survey in 2007, Marham’s community development team have been helping the LSP with their response to the issues raised.

There have already been a number of tangible impacts:

• RAF Marham has been granted honorary Freedom of Norwich
• The Borough of Kings Lynn and West Norfolk launched a ‘Heroes Welcome’ campaign which offers benefits to service personnel and their families through free access to a number of council amenities and discounts from a growing range of local traders.
• Access to information: the borough maintains an information point on the base to signpost personnel and their families to local services.
• Partnership officers provide a signpost to the right people to talk to about services.
• A mobile library provided by the county now visits the base – a far better option than the very limited library facilities provided on-site before.
• Improvements to the road system on the base have benefited all aspects of the business
• Minor improvements to the pavements and kerbs around the base have brought huge benefits to families.

Lessons and challenges

One of the main lessons from all this experience is the importance of reciprocity: if military bases are to benefit from links with their local community they must also invest in them.

From the perspective of local public sector agencies, the key issue is to ensure continuity. Very often the strength of the relationship between a base and the wider community is a result of the enthusiasm and commitment of one officer. A key lesson, therefore, is to ensure that the engagement of military bases with the LSP continues despite any personnel changes. The relationship needs to be institutional rather than individual.

But the impact of relatively high turnover goes beyond the contribution of individual officers. Even with the greater stability of the new garrison, service personnel may still have variety of different postings during their career. So local councils and other service providers need to undertake continuous re-marketing.

Both military and civilian partners may need persuading of the value of cooperation. This works best where there is demonstrable commitment from senior leadership – chief executives and commanding officers.

Effective joint working creates wider opportunities for economic development and regeneration and creating more balanced and stable communities in the long term. MoD may be able to identify areas of land managed by Defence Estates that could be freed into the local development framework and realise funds. Partners could plan together to resolve shortages, for example, for housing or business units, but this needs to be addressed within the regional spatial strategy.

Finally, having a post within the base liaising with service providers helps give credibility to the planning process. It also helps military personnel develop a better understanding of the opportunities (and limitations) of civilian service provision.

The military presence can make exceptional demands on district council capacity, particularly in relation to planning, LDF preparation and issues that cross district and sometimes regional borders. In some cases the additional support and understanding from regional partners, MoD and Defence Estates has been both necessary and welcome.

References and further reading

MoD (2008): ‘The Nation’s Commitment: cross-government support to our armed forces, their families and veterans’

For further information on the MCI programme and to see the research reports:

For information about SWRDA and its investment plans – highlighting joint work in the Military Civilian Integration programme and shows the MoD in Wiltshire:

The Wiltshire research, ‘Envisioning the Future’ – published in July 2009, is on the Wiltshire Council website

RAF Marham in West Norfolk employs almost 5,000 people, takes up around 90 per cent of places at the local village primary school and is a major consumer of local goods and services. However, until three years ago, contacts between the base and the surrounding community were largely ceremonial. To improve its local links, the base adopted a more outward-looking approach and took up a seat on the local strategic partnership (LSP). One of its representatives now sits on the LSP management group and has established a wide and growing range of bilateral contacts. These have improved the range of local services available on the base, at the same time, extending the base’s contribution to the local community and local economy as employer, consumer and provider of training opportunities.

The issue

National

British defence resources have become increasingly stretched in recent years with substantial engagement in Iraq and Afghanistan. The government has emphasised the importance of ensuring that adequate support and services are available to military personnel and their families. This was formally recognised with the publication in 2008 of a command paper from the Ministry of Defence (MoD), ‘The Nation’s Commitment: cross-government support to our armed forces, their families and veterans’.

This paper summarised some of the issues facing service personnel and their families in the 21st century. It described what is already being done and set out a range of measures for the future. The importance of integrating or reintegrating returning service personnel has long been recognised: soldiers coming back from the First World War in 1918 were promised ‘homes fit for heroes’.

However, the MoD paper argues that, in some ways, the issue is more important in today’s climate:

“Those who might join the armed forces have aspirations and expectations that are higher than ever. Their families are more complex and often find it harder to accept the demands of service life. Routinely moving our forces around makes it harder for them to achieve home ownership and exercise choice in their lives.�

The paper insists, “…the essential starting point is that those who serve must not be disadvantaged by virtue of what they do� and it includes a range of proposals to achieve this ambition.

• Service personnel and their families will have an improved access to social housing.
• Children in service families will not suffer disadvantage in the allocation of school places because of their family’s mobility.
• Members of service families will not have to wait longer for hospital treatment when moving to a different base. Previous waiting time will be taken into account with the expectation that treatment will be within national waiting time standards.
• Local authorities and their partners on local strategic partnerships (LSPs) “should consider consulting … representatives of service personnel� in the development of sustainable community strategies (SCSs) and local area agreements (LAA).

Issues at RAF Marham

The Marham Wing is one of the largest and busiest in the RAF, operating four squadrons of Tornado GR4 aircraft in the attack and reconnaissance roles. In addition, the station is home to a number of other key support units. Almost 5,000 people work on the base, which makes it one of the largest employers in West Norfolk with an annual wage bill of around £85 million. In an otherwise largely rural district, the station exercises considerable influence on the local economy and on the demand for, and provision of services. This is recognised in the borough’s community strategy, which points out that:

“The station is in the first year of a 10-year, £947 million defence industrial partnership with BAE Systems as the prime contractor to deliver engineering support for the Royal Air Force’s entire Tornado aircraft fleet and, as such, is driving up the area’s skills profile.�

The base is valued not just as an employer, but also for the spending power it brings to the local economy, the business opportunities it offers to local firms and as a source of recruitment – many of the local council’s employees are the partners of service personnel at the base.

The station’s child population indicates its significance locally:

• There is an average of 100 births a year in families stationed at RAF Marham, which constitutes half the local total. It is unlikely that maternity facilities at the local hospital would be maintained without this level of births.
• According to the Officer Commanding Base Support Wing (OC-BSW) – which looks after, among other things, personnel, station property and amenities, and community relations – more than 90 per cent of the children at the village junior and infants’ school are connected to families on the base.

Until recently, the station’s links to the wider community were limited to largely ceremonial occasions. As a consequence, its understanding of the opportunities – and limitations – local service provision offered were also limited. Although a variety of service provision is available on station from the RAF directly or from dedicated charities, it is not exhaustive and was not well integrated with mainstream provision. This led to both gaps in provision and duplication.

Family support – Social work support of the specialised kind needed by service personnel and their families, dealing with the stress of combat situations, is available through the Soldiers’, Sailors’, Airmen’s and Families’ Association (SSAFA). According to the OC-BSW, the local authority regards the SSAFA support as being sufficient to deal with all the issues that are part of its statutory responsibility. But this may not necessarily be the case: for example, if there are child protection issues.

Children’s centre – A children’s centre has recently been established on the base at a cost of £1.2 million, paid for by the RAF Benevolent Society. The centre is primarily used by service families, although there is some access for non-service children. However, it has not proved possible to secure support from or involvement with the local SureStart. This is a good example of the misunderstandings that can arise because of the size of the forces’ presence. Because the RAF Benevolent Fund have paid for the build of the centre, SureStart believe it is well founded. They are reluctant to change their structure and support mechanisms. According to the OC-BSW, “The provision of charity money has meant that other agencies are loath to assist.�

Leisure amenities – A range of leisure activities and clubs is available on the base, including a social centre with a bar and cafe. None of these amenities, however, receive any public funds: all are either self-funded or supported through service charities.

Access to council services – As with all military establishments, RAF Marham makes a payment to the local councils (of around £1 million per year) as the equivalent of council tax, but until recently they had no idea what services that payment entitled them to, or who to ask. For example, until recently they handled their own rubbish bin collection – unaware of their rights from the council.

Medical services – All the on-site medical services are provided by the RAF, including a doctors’ practice. However, the primary care trust (PCT) is currently considering locating a dentists’ surgery there, following an initiative by RAF Marham to bring them onto the base. This surgery will be ‘outside the wire’ and therefore accessible to non-service personnel.

What they did

In the past, a combination of tactical necessity and RAF culture maintained barriers between the base and the local area, residents and agencies. Security requirements imposed through the cold war (when RAF Marham had been a nuclear base) and then the threats of IRA terrorism meant that the base and its personnel had to keep a low profile.

Three years ago, the then OC-BSW initiated a systematic programme of cooperation between the base and the local community. As the borough council chief executive put it, “They adopted a more outward-looking approach which we warmly welcomed�. Among other things, this included a seat on the West Norfolk Partnership, the district LSP. The OC-BSW has subsequently argued successfully for the station to have a seat on the partnership management group.

The presence of the RAF Marham representative has been of great assistance to the partnership. There is currently limited representation from the private sector on the LSP – just a representative from the chamber of commerce. So the presence of someone who is effectively running a large ‘business’ – with engineering, commercial and residential property, logistics and personal services interests – brings a valuable set of skills.

RAF Marham’s presence on the LSP has also helped the base to ’up its game’, as the OC-BSW put it, partly because of what happens at the partnership meetings. Also, and perhaps mainly, because of the contacts that the LSP has provided, it has helped them to “know what they don’t know� and develop bilateral relationships – for example, with the local college, the PCT, police and local authorities.

The station’s approach has been based on two key principles:

There has been clear recognition that involvement with the local community is a two-way street and that RAF Marham must invest in the local community if it is to benefit from what the community has to offer.
Building productive relationships requires a community development approach.
This has involved extensive programmes of consultation with the whole RAF community on the base. The station website describes how this has been conducted:

“Over the last three years, numerous questionnaires, surveys and focus groups have taken place in order for us to ensure that we have an individual, bespoke assessment of our community’s needs, wants and aspirations. This assessment is key to the successful integration of RAF Marham within the local community.�

But the station has also focused on the needs of the wider local community, for example through involvement with the parish plan. The base has also organised a ‘Pride in Marham’ campaign to help develop positive relationships between the station and the local community. The objectives of the campaign are to:

• improve communication
• promote community involvement
• create links with the community businesses and local volunteer groups
• offer advice on improving the environment
• raise standards and promote best practice
• provide quality service
• engage hard-to-reach groups
• continually monitor and evaluate services to improve efficiency.

Some of the activities generated by the campaign include:

• community clean ups
• environmental education projects
• healthy lifestyles
• citizenship
• anti-social behaviour
• recycling.

The borough is also trying to ensure that it takes into account the needs and aspirations of people associated with the base. Its second ‘Quality of Life’ survey, set for October 2009, sees a plan to increase the sample size in Marham to ensure the survey captures the views of service personnel and their families. Since the first survey in 2007, Marham’s community development team have been helping the LSP with their response to the issues raised.

The impact

The partnership coordinator is in no doubt that RAF Marham has raised its profile and there is a much greater recognition of the role that it plays in West Norfolk. This recognition provides opportunities for RAF Marham both now and in the future. However, he also points out that the consequences of the higher profile may take a while to generate results. That said, a variety of tangible impacts are in evidence:

• In 2008, RAF Marham was granted honorary Freedom of Norwich. As the city’s website says, “Giving them rights to march and parade through the city, the honour is in recognition of the close historic ties between Norwich and Royal Air Force Marham and the continuing contribution it makes to the life of the city.�
• In 2009, the Borough of Kings Lynn and West Norfolk launched a ‘Heroes Welcome’ campaign. As the leader of the council says, “We all depend heavily upon the work of our military forces and these, by and large, young people are a significant part of our community. This is a simple but sincere gesture of gratitude for the difficult tasks we ask them to undertake and an expression of a warm welcome to West Norfolk�. The campaign also offers tangible benefits to service personnel and their families through free access to a number of council amenities and discounts from a growing range of local traders.
• Access to information: the borough maintains an information point on the base to signpost personnel and their families to local services.
• Partnership officers provide a signpost to the right people to talk to about services.
• A mobile library provided by the county now visits the base – a far better option than the very limited library facilities provided on-site before.
• There is involvement in decisions about all strategic changes within the district.
• There are improvements to the road system on the base, benefiting all aspects of the business.
• There have been minor improvements to the pavements and kerbs around the base – minor issues but with a huge benefit to families.

The lessons

For the OC-BSW, the key to success in the process of integration is to demonstrate reciprocity: if the base is to benefit from its links with the local community it must also invest in it. Certainly, RAF Marham does a great deal for the local community. For example:

• Volunteers from the RAF personnel on the base run a variety of amenities/clubs for local young people.
• Those volunteers, however, are regularly away on missions. The base is seeking volunteers from local civilians to help run the clubs in return for having access to them. The result, it is hoped, will be a partnership approach that cements relationships between the military and civilian populations.
• There is some access to the children’s centre for non-service personnel.
• RAF medical personnel at the base are qualified to train others as GPs and are training junior RAF doctors as GPs.
• Without the custom provided from RAF Marham, the local hospital’s maternity wing would probably not survive.
• The base is working with local schools and the college to address its sophisticated skills requirements – especially in the field of engineering. The future of the base at Marham is guaranteed until at least 2025 and so can provide employment opportunity like no other in the district.

From the perspective of local public sector agencies, the key issue is to ensure continuity. According to the council’s chief executive, the strength of the relationship between the base and the wider community at present is a result of the enthusiasm and commitment of the current representative on the LSP. However, officers normally only serve two-year tours of duty, so the present incumbent is likely to be moving on shortly. A key lesson, therefore, is to ensure that the engagement of military bases with the LSP continues despite any personnel changes. The relationship needs to be institutional rather than individual.

The impact of relatively high turnover goes beyond the relationship with the LSP representative. Other ranks only serve four-year tours, so the whole base population is constantly changing. Local councils and other service providers need to undertake continuous re-marketing to recognise the high turnover that characterises service bases.

That marketing needs to recognise that military personnel, coming from an ordered hierarchical working environment, may not understand the intricate and arcane processes and relationships of public sector partnerships. There is, therefore, an important educational and signposting role for council and LSP staff.