THE proposed closure of Cawdor Barracks - the Pembrokeshire home of the 14th Signal Regiment - has officially been shelved, the Western Telegraph can confirm.

The Western Telegraph reported in June that the Ministry of Defence was having second thoughts about moving the regiment’s 600 troops to St Athan due to spiralling costs.

At the time, it was reported that any move was unlikely to meet the planned 2018 date.

And in a letter to local MP Stephen Crabb last week, Mark Lancaster, the Minister for Defence Personnel, has now confirmed that the move will not be going ahead.

Mr Lancaster said: “As part of the Government’s drive to reduce the deficit, my department continues to take tough decisions to find savings, including from its infrastructure programme.

"I have therefore agreed to remove this planned move from the Army Basing Programme.”

Mr Lancaster added that the future of Cawdor Barracks will now be re-examined as part of a wider look at defence establishments.

“The long term future of Cawdor Barracks will be determined as part of the wider departmental Footprint Strategy work which will determine the strategy from which the ‘right sized’ military estate can be designed.

“The Footprint Strategy will not report until next year following the Strategic Defence and Security Review.”

Mr Crabb told the Western Telegraph: "I am very pleased that the Minister has now confirmed that the 14th Signals will be staying at Brawdy for the foreseeable future and that the planned move in 2018 has been shelved.

“This will provide much greater certainty to the soldiers and their families, and to the wider Pembrokeshire community, after several months of rumours.

“Over the last fifteen years the Signals have become a close part of the Pembrokeshire family and we look forward to them being based here for many more years to come."

"Clearly the Ministry of Defence has some extremely difficult decisions to make with regards to its finances. The planned move to St Athans would have involved significant new expenditure. With the move now off, I will be pressing the MoD to find some resources to invest in the base at Brawdy. It is a good base but some key improvements are needed."