The Hebrides Range Task Force (HRTF) has agreed to deploy all necessary effort and resources to seek to reverse the present proposals for the Hebrides Range, to safeguard the existing level of jobs and activities at the facility.

Cllr Angus Campbell, Leader of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, was elected as Chair of the Task Force.

Speaking today (Wednesday) in Benbecula, following a meeting of the group, he said: "Today's meeting is the beginning of a determined campaign by all the agencies and community representatives present to challenge the proposals put forward by the Ministry of Defence and contractor QinetiQ last week. We are resolved in our commitment to fight these changes. Last Thursday, The First Minister declared the commitment of the Scottish Government to help this community and this was re-affirmed by John Swinney at his meeting with the Task Force members yesterday in Edinburgh.

"We are delighted that they have agreed to be part of the Task Force. The Scottish Government confirmed yesterday that they will be writing to the Scottish Secretary to secure his support for retaining Scottish jobs. We will continue seeking whatever support we can to help with the campaign to retain these jobs in Uist, including putting our case to the Defence Minister and the UK Government," said Mr Campbell.

Asked why nothing had been done about the prospect of job losses after a letter was circulated widely by the MOD two years ago indicating a review period was beginning, Angus Campbell said: "The letter in 2007 loosely said they were looking at the whole operation across the whole field. There was no detail of timescale or numbers, and we did expect there to be a lot more consultation before the announcement we had last week. That letter could have meant this or it could have meant nothing.

"We didn't expect the news to be sprung on us the way it was last week. We expected the views of the Comhairle and everyone else to be taken into consideration before a final decision was made. What we find now is that certainly from an MOD point of view in their contract with QinetiQ is that they have made a final decision how they want to go, that's not the way to do business in this day and age."

Mr Campbell said there was a need to broaden representation in the Task Force to include more members of the business community, the third sector and young people.

He said: "Representation was discussed as some length today and we have identified some spaces - we need a wider representation and one of our officers and chief executive is going round to meet strategic business leaders over the next days to get a feeling for that and I've committed to meeting with businesses in the Uists as a whole in a one-off meeting to gauge their feelings and see is there a better or improved way of getting improved representation for business.

"We're also aware that the third sector isn't represented round the table and we'll be discussing that with themselves, and equally importantly young people have to find a voice and to discuss how best to get their voice to the table."

In terms of the Action Plan for the future, he said: "We have not given up on the jobs, but we certainly have to look at how we diversify the economy of Uist even if we win that case.

"I think there has to be a broader spread of jobs and second layer is put together a job creation plan for the future, a longer piece of work. We have to get away from being so reliant on just one type of industry and broaden the base of the whole economy. That goes for the Western Isles in general. We're just too dependent on certain things in certain areas."


The Task Force agreed an Action Plan to fight for the retention of jobs. One of the first priorities will be to ensure an extension of the 30-day Consultation Period on the proposals.

HIE Chair William Roe, commented: "The purpose of today's Task Force meeting was to create a strategy which will effectively challenge the announcement made by the MoD. Given the magnitude of the social and economic impact the proposed job losses would have we are calling for an extension to the consultation period. We should be given a reasonable opportunity to present a robust case addressing the true costs to our communities and highlighting the positive strategic value of the bases to the MoD.

"It is the Task Force's aim to ensure that any decision which claims to make savings for one arm of the Government takes full account of the true social and economic impact on the community, including the potential costs of creating and funding an economic recovery plan."

Angus Macmillan, Chairman Stòras Uibhist, said: "The loss of 125 jobs in Uist is equivalent to 25,000 jobs in Glasgow. This disastrous proposal from the MoD and QinetiQ will be fought strenuously by this community."

Other proposals include detailed research to be undertaken to strengthen the case for retention of the base. This will focus on Defence, Economic and Community aspects and will include a detailed review of the MoD/QinetiQ options appraisal process. The research will also focus on the socio-economic impacts and the wider Community impacts across the Outer Hebrides.

The Task Force expects the MoD and QinetiQ to enter detailed and meaningful consultation. The group will liaise closely with the local community and workforce representatives and their support and ideas will be vital to this process.