A NEW defence college in north Wiltshire will attract as many as 1,500 students a day according to a letter from Defence Minister Anna Sourby.

The base at Lyneham, formerly an RAF site, closed in 2012 with planes being moved to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire with around 4,500 military and civilian personnel.

The letter has been welcomed by North Wiltshire MP James Gray who played a part in bringing the new Defence Training College planned for Lyneham to his constituency.

He said: “I was delighted to see from a letter from Defence Minister Anna Soubry MP that the plans for the Defence Training College at Lyneham are proceeding apace.”

"There will be an estimated average student population in its first phase of around 1,500 per day.

"That will require 300 service posts and 160 civil service posts at the site and there will no doubt be civilian posts as well for some functions at Lyneham.

"This is the first phase of the work and the numbers will increase as the years go on.”

“I was also delighted to hear from a local manufacturer that he has recently won a very large contract for the provision of outdoor furniture for the site, confirming the MoD’s determination to use local contractors.

The Minister explained that MoD sites at Arborfield in Wokingham and and Bordon in Hampshire are closing and that the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers ill be moving in to Lyneham in October this year as new base for their training.