PLANS to turn MoD Lyneham into Britain's first tri-service military training hub were scuppered after defence chiefs announced the Royal Navy and RAF will not move there.

This winter was to see the first of three tranches of recruits attending the Defence College for Technical Training (DCTT), which also promised to breathe new life into the area with new opportunities for businesses and job seekers.

But last week Defence Secretary Michael Fallon announced following a review of the third and second phases ordered by the Navy and RAF, both forces have pulled out of the scheme, leaving just the Army's Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) recruits to train at the site, which has costed £121 million to create.

Mr Fallon said: "Due to the enormity of the task we planned to implement training transformation in a phased manner, split into a series of tranches, the first being the relocation of the REME Schools from Bordon and Arborfield to MOD Lyneham. For the subsequent tranches of the programme, the original intent was to consolidate additional elements of the DCTT at MOD Lyneham. However, a recently completed re-evaluation of the programme has determined that the consolidation onto a single site at MOD Lyneham is not the best solution."

The cancellation of the second and third tranches will not only mean significantly fewer trainees will now be on site, but will also see a dent in the forecast of 3,000 jobs for the area.

But North Wiltshire MP James Gray remains confident MoD Lyneham will still be a boost economically.

He said: "It might appear to be a blow in the short term, in terms of the number of personnel there over the next year or two. But in the long term, I'm hopeful it won't make much difference to the local economy.

"There will be plenty of scope for other army training centres to move to Lyneham to take up the spare capacity. If I know MoD accountants, they will be absolutely certain to make sure every single space at Lyneham is taken up by some use or other.

"The important thing is that the base was saved in the first place. The threat was that the closure of Lyneham as a home for the Hercules would have been followed either by years of it lying empty and unused, or it being turned into something awful that the community here did not want or need, like a jumbo jet refuelling centre, or somewhere with loads of houses."