NORTH Wiltshire MP James Gray has issued a long list of urgent questions to the Government after his inquiries on the future of RAF Lyneham were sidelined in Parliament.

Mr Gray instigated an urgent Commons debate on Tuesday evening, to ask the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence, Ivor Caplin, for his reassurances that the Government and MoD would give their support to finding a new, viable use for the base, which is set to close in 2012.

But he came away 'very disappointed' after Mr Calpin failed to give him any answers on the timescale for closure, whether the Army could move in, or whether the Government will be involved in finding a new use for the base.

"It was a very unsatisfactory debate," said Mr Gray.

"Mr Caplin was a very junior minister, but even so, I came away with none of the important questions answered.

"As a result, I have tabled a list of those questions, as a matter of urgency, to the Armed Forces minister, Adam Ingram.

"I hope this will secure me and the many thousands of people affected by the closure of Lyneham, some idea of what is planned for their future."

RAF Lyneham currently supports the livelihoods of 10,000 people, but the base is set to close and move operations to Brize Norton, by 2012.

During the Commons debate, Mr Gray paid tribute to the campaigners involved in the fight to save the base and referred to the 14,000-signature petition, led by the Gazette & Herald.

Laying out his questions, Mr Gray said: "We do not want a largely derelict base left in the middle of my constituency for a lengthy period, with two or three planes on it.

"At what stage will the Minister consider the airbase to be unviable?

"We need to know that, because the one thing about which we must be absolutely clear is that we cannot allow an extensive period of wind-down dereliction."

Mr Gray also demanded a plan for economic regeneration of the base be put in place immediately after the RAF withdraws. "We do not want, as I have seen at a number of other military bases in and around my area, a period of dereliction. There is often of a number of years, before putting something in place," he said.

"Perhaps there is a role for Lyneham, with its runways, in a rapid reaction corps and as an Army base for deployment at short notice."

"Will the Minister let us know what he can about those discussions with the Army?"

Although Mr Caplin confirmed that the MoD were all "naturally concerned about the impact on the people working at and in support of the station," he gave no reassurances that they would be assisting in securing the future of the area.

Sidelining the possibility of the Army moving in completely, he also failed to respond to whether the MoD would have an involvement in a new task force that has been set up by Mr Gray to come up with future uses for the base.

Mr Gray revealed that the first meeting of the Lyneham task force, which currently includes county, district and parish councillors, and the chamber of commerce, took place on Friday. Mr Gray hopes that the Regional Development Agency, the RAF and MoD will become involved in thetask force.

He said: "It was a very informal meeting, but we set out our aims, which is to come up with viable uses for the base and have agreed to meet again in September, with information necessary for us to go forward.

"We are determined that Lyneham has a future, with or without the RAF."

But Mr Gray slammed suggestions that the site would provide an ideal site for a new airport as 'horrific'.

"The whole notion of having a mini Heathrow Airport in Wiltshire is a nightmare and frankly unimaginable," he added.

"But thankfully, I am confident that any such plans would be thrown out by planning and Civil Aviation Authority regulations."