One of Europe’s largest military ammunition dumps is being offered for sale by the Ministry of Defence as a potential logistics hub.
MoD Longtown, on the Scottish border close to Gretna, is Britain’s sole survivor from a trio of central ammunition depots created during the 1930s and 40s. The others, at Monkton Farleigh in Wiltshire and Nesscliffe in Shropshire, were both sold years ago.
Today the ministry still uses the 250-acre base, but is running down the operation and will eventually leave to allow the site to be marketed as a transport and logistics hub rebranded as Solway 45. The sale is being handled by commercial agent Lambert Smith Hampton’s (LSH) Manchester office.
“Solway 45 is a prime strategic opportunity within the North West which has enormous potential for local, national and global businesses,” explained LSH’s head of industrial, John Sullivan.
Completed during the final months of the Second World War, the site was originally chosen because of its proximity to HM Factory, Gretna, Britain’s largest cordite and explosive production facility. The Longtown site is still scattered with at least 250 blast proof ammunition storage sheds.
As a transport hub it is situated close to the West Coast main line and the M6 motorway and is surrounded by several major urban centres to provide access to a local workforce. The agents also claim there is room for at least 2.2m square feet of warehousing and offices.
“This is a strategically important site in a region that is currently enjoying significant investment across a number of sectors, such as advanced manufacturing,” Sullivan added.
The Cumbrian Local Enterprise Partnership has also identified Solway 45 as one of its future priority projects. “As such there is a range of possible options on the site for either new buildings or utilising existing buildings, and we are inviting interest from developers, rail operators, the logistics and energy sectors and major industrial companies,” he said.
In November, 2013, the MoD announced that the operational capacity at Longtown would be “reduced” and a substantial area of the site would be given over to commercial use. It now appears the entire site is to be sold sometime next year.
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