MP supports defence companies Worcester Standard - Michael Foster leapt to the defence of technology and security companies such as QinetiQ following a small number of complaints from his constituents about ...the noise of low-flying planes over the city. Having raised the issue with defence minister Derek Twigg MP, Mr Foster was told that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) was sorry for any disturbance caused by planes but the aircatft were taking part in essential training.
St Athan may have to put up with noise from low flying aircraft, helicopters , tanks and additional traffic.
It seems if it is ESSENTIAL training there are NO boundries. Local residents and councillors amy well raise questions about noise and complain but when the Mega base is open there will be no return to a quiet life at St Athan and in the Vale of Glamorgan!
Saturday, 10 May 2008
Noisy low-flying planes from Qinetiq training
Sunday, 27 April 2008
St Athan Anti-metrix protest
Saturday, 26 April 2008
Let Wales teach peace not war!
cnd cymru campaign for nuclear disarmament/yr ymgyrch dros ddiarfogi niwclear
press release 25th April 2008 press office: t: 01495 773 180 m: 07704 67 57 87
Let Wales Teach the World Peace Not War
Stop Military Academy Protest in Cardiff Tomorrow!Activists and campaigners from all over Wales, will be taking part intomorrow's Cardiff demonstration against plans to build a PFI (publicprivate finance initiative) funded Military 'Academy' at St Athan in theVale of Glamorgan. Courses at the proposed academy are being designed to train any soldiers,sailors, air force or private 'security service' personnel who are willingto pay. It will be an institution whose main purpose is to profit frombullying, war and violence.
CND Cymru is particularly concerned that those preparing to initiate and participate in nuclear warfare would be trained to do so in our 'Nuclear Free Wales'. The creation of this all-service military educational establishment at StAthan, between Cardiff and Swansea, was announced as a 'done deal' inJanuary 2007. Despite the fact this represented the biggest PFI in history,involving at least £14 billion of taxpayers' money, there had been no public debate in either Westminster, National Assembly (Senedd) or mostimportantly, with the people of Wales. A determined group of activists from all walks of life and all parts of Wales have been working to draw the public's attention to this insanity, and will be taking their message onto the streets of Cardiff tomorrow.
Speakers at tomorrow's demonstration will include Chair of CND Cymru Jill Evans MEP. She said today: "We are opposed to the privatisation of military training and to making Wales the base for that training for Britain and other countries. Throughout the world, Wales is recognised for its traditions of peace and reconciliation.""We have the skills and the potential to be a real driving force for peacein the world. Instead the British government is making us the centre oftraining for war, putting that training in the hands of multinational armscompanies.""When I met the Minister and civil servants responsible for this project inNovember last year, they said that only the first phase of the project was confirmed. They said there would be somewhere between 2,000 - 3,000 jobs involved with the first phase, about half of which would be teaching rolesand the other half support staff, such as caterers, cleaners and security.They also confirmed that existing MOD staff would be offered relocation toSt. Athan from other parts of Britain. No-one would say how many and what kind of jobs will be available to local people."
"I have been always consistent in my views on this project from the verybeginning, and have sought to reveal the facts. Other politicians have madewild, exaggerated claims about the number of jobs being created as they toattempt to justify the military academy. Of course, this is not just about jobs, it's about the kind of Wales we want."Jill Gough, National Secretary of CND Cymru asked: "As the world wide economic recession takes hold and public hostility tothis huge waste of resources grows, will there still be enough taxpayers'money available to fund this folly? Will politicians still be prepared to beassociated with this white elephant? ""Imagine a world in which the armed forces are trained by arms dealers, andwe subsidise their profits. That world will become reality unless we stop the proposed school of death at St Athan."
ENDS * Interviews for CND Cymru : Jill Gough CND CYMRU 01495 773 180HYPERLINK "mailto:heddwch@cndcymru.org"heddwch@cndcymru.org Mobile fromSaturday morning: 07704 675787Jill Evans is available for comment: 07803 902 401 * MARCH TO STOP THE ST ATHANS MILITARY ACADEMY.Saturday 26th April Assemble 1.30 pm, outside City Hall Cathays Park.Demonstration through the City at 2pm.
Friday, 25 April 2008
March to stop the military academy
Stop the War NOW: MARCH TO STOP THE UK MILITARY ACADEMY
Mass demonstration called by Stop the St Athan Military Academy Campaign
Supported by UK Stop the War Coalition
Assemble 1.30 pm, Cathays Park
(opposite Museum/City Hall, Cardiff
Saturday 26 April
Bring placards, banners, drums, people etc
In the summer of 2006, hundreds of people protested in Cardiff against the war on Lebanon. The Israeli military dropped half-a-million cluster bombs on Lebanon supplied by arms companies like Raytheon. Now Raytheon has been invited to Wales by the Welsh Assembly Government to help run a huge, privatised military academy near Cardiff. It's time to get back onto the streets! Anything we can do in Wales to prevent the State waging war on its terms can only be of help to those resisting in the frontline in the Middle East and beyond.
Stop the St Athan Military Academy Campaign supporters include:
Aberystwyth Peace & Justice Network, Bangor Peace & Justice GroupCaernarfon Peace & Justice Group, Cardiff Anarchist Network, Cardiff Justice & Peace Group, Cardiff RESPECT/Left Party, Church Action Against Poverty, CND Cymru, CND (Swansea), Communist Party of Wales, Cymdeithas y Cymod (Fellowship of Reconciliation Wales), Cymdeithas yr Iaith (Welsh Language Society), Cynefin y Werin, Green Party (Wales), Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign, Penarth Justice & Peace Group, Permanent Revolution, Quakers (Caerleon), RESPECT/Left Party, Socialist Labour Party (Wales), South Wales Anarchists, Stop the War Coalition (UK), Stop the War (Bristol)Stop the War (Cardiff), Stop the War (Swindon), Stop the War (Wrekin), Women in Black (Abergavenny), Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Wrexham Peace & Justice Centre
To add your name or organisation to the list of supporters or for more information about the campaign, email: no2militaryacademy@inbox.com
Imagine a world in which the armed forces are trained by arms dealers.And we subsidise their profits.
That world will become reality unless we stop the proposed school of death at St Athan.The creation of a military super-academy at St Athan, between Cardiff and Swansea, was announced as a done deal in January 2007. Despite the fact this represented the biggest PFI in history, involving £14 billion of taxpayers' money, there had been no debate in either Westminster or the Welsh Assembly (Senedd). A promise of 5500 local jobs was trumpeted loudly by an uncritical news media and presented as a great victory for Wales.
No wonder the politicians didn't want any debate. The new super-academy, replacing many smaller centres, means that military training will now be in the hands of shameless profiteers.The winning bidders for the project were the Metrix consortium. This consortium includes Qinetiq, the privatised research and development wing of the MoD. Qinetiq was recently the subject of intense criticism by the National Audit Office. Its privatisation was proposed by MoD managers – who then saw their shares rise 10,000% on the day of the sale! 33.8% of Qinetiq was also bought by the US-based Carlyle Group, a sinister lash-up of politicians and arms dealers with a vested interest in promoting war.Former members of its board include one George W. Bush.
Then there is the US arms manufacturer Raytheon. Raytheon make the missiles which deliver cluster bombs, the horrendous weapons which are estimated to have killed 100,000 people – 98% of them innocent civilians. The world can also thank Raytheon for the depleted uranium weapons which have led to thousands of horribly deformed babies and large increases in cancers in war zones and beyond.Raytheon, Qinetiq and friends will not just be training UK armed forces at St Athan. They will train any soldiers, sailors and air force personnel that are willing to pay for the privilege. And like all PFIs, the St Athan academy will be subsidised by the taxpayer, and if necessary, bailed out with public money.There has never been a detailed breakdown of the jobs the academy will bring. However, even Metrix admit that many of the military trainers will relocate from elsewhere. Every PFI has secured profits by cutting costs. St Athan will mean less MoD jobs overall, and the poorest pay and conditions for lowskilled workers.
In any case, imagine what else could be done with £14 billion! With hospitals and schools closing throughout Wales and the UK, with a desperate need to improve social facilities, create sustainable sources of energy etc, such public money could be invested in socially useful projects rather than the preparation for future wars of occupation like Iraq.
If this development goes ahead, 21 st century Wales will be become a militarised, security-obsessed nightmare. If you want to stop the war profiteers in their tracks, support the campaign and raise it in your union, student union, workplace and community.
Tuesday, 1 April 2008
Can't rely on Plaid
Don’t rely on Cardiff, says Plaid ic Wales - United Kingdom
On the multi-billion- pound Defence Training Academy development at St Athan, it says: “Plaid would have preferred if this major funding had gone into a scheme or schemes not so directly involved with the military. Nevertheless, the possibilities are there if we work to take them.”
Waht possibilities are these???John Smith MP and the St Athan Jobs Con
John Smith MP and the St Athan Jobs Con By Luther
In November last year I blogged about the hugely inflated estimates on the number of jobs the St Athan Military Academy will bring to Wales being bandied around by politicians of all parties. One of the biggest cheerleaders for the ...Luther ap Blissett -
http://lutherapblissett.blogspot.com/
John Smith (Vale of Glamorgan, Labour) HOC Welsh Affairs 28th Feb here
John Smith I qualify my remarks by saying that the final negotiations are not complete and will not be for some time. I hope that Main Gate 2 will be ready in spring, and we will have a clearer picture then. However, I shall give the revised figures. There will be roughly just over 1,000 trainers' jobs—in training design and general training provision—just over 1,000 support jobs for training on the site; and 1,000 full-time military jobs on the site. That is approximately—we must be careful—3,000 jobs.
Trainers and military are not jobs to be advertised in barry job centre!
Monbiot. I notice his guardian article today is relevant to the Ffos y fran and St Athan project!He looks at other 'projects' usually unethical and often dangerous to the environment are promoted and welcomed by politicans for JOBS which turn out to cost millions to the tax payer.
The Metrix consortium itself devised the formula for the number of jobs to be created!!!
Snow Jobs
April 1, 2008 The employment figures attached to large projects tend to be codswallop.
(more…)
Monday, 31 March 2008
WAG spending £4.5 million on St Athan Military Academy 2007-2008
Other freedom of information requests
Disclosure log 1637
A request has been recieved for information relating to the Welsh Assembly Government’s involvement with the Defence Training Academy project at St Athan Ein cyf * Our ref: ATI 2412 21 February 2008
2. What assistance has the Welsh Assembly given to the Metrix Consortium? Read here
Freedom of Information OfficerWelsh Assembly GovernmentCathays ParkCardiffCF10 3NQTel: 029 2080 1177 Fax: 029 2082 5137Email:
If you are seeking copies of documents published by the Welsh Assembly Government, please contact the Publications Centre:Tel: 029 2082 3683 Fax: 029 2082 5239E-mail: assembly-publications@wales.gsi.gov.uk
