Have you seen them, have you heard?

For many people, nuclear weapons are more readily associated with the Cold War 1980s, when it often seemed that the horrors of When The Wind Blows and Threads might one day become a reality, not just television drama. Yet, like Duran Duran – another menace from that decade – the threat of nuclear weapons never really went away. A stark reminder of the madness of the arms race can often be seen in and around Stirling, in the form of nuclear weapons convoys en route to Coulport.

Our general election candidate for the Stirling constituency, Mark Ruskell, has today called on local residents to keep watch for Trident nuclear warheads being driven on new routes through the Stirling area amid continued safety concerns.

Trident nuclear warhead convoys regularly use Stirling roads for the journey from Burghfield in Berkshire to Coulport on Loch Long, using the M9 and A811 Dumbarton Road. However, recent sightings have been made of convoys taking previously unreported routes through Springkerse, stopping off at the Defence Support Group (DSG) depot on Forthside for extended periods.  We share the concern that the convoys pose a serious terrorist target. The convoys consist of up to three lorries carrying warheads and up to fifteen trucks, fire engines and other vehicles.

Have you seen any such convoys passing through Stirling? Please leave a comment and let us know, or contact us via the Stirling Greens website.
 
Mark Ruskell said:

“For decades people in the Stirling area have lived with the unacceptable risks as nuclear warheads are driven through their communities. Trident is a vastly expensive vanity project, designed to bolster the UK’s status as a nuclear power when we are signed up to reduce our nuclear arsenal. Trident should be first in line for government cuts, yet Labour’s Anne McGuire has consistently voted in favour of wasting £97bn on a system nobody needs, while our front-line troops return home to poorly funded rehabilitation services.”

“I’m calling on local residents to keep watch for these convoys to track their movements. Parking up nuclear warheads in the middle of Stirling for extended periods is a reckless act. There have been claims in the past of convoys getting lost or going down roads not designed for heavy good vehicles in the Stirling area, we need to make sure that in the short term these movements are monitored.”
 

We are also calling for Trident to be scrapped after the election. This would save an estimated £97bn of public money, an important and necessary saving when budgets for rehabilitating service personnel returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are under pressure.

The forthcoming election will be an opportunity to vote Green for a party committed to a safer Scotland – a nation that can thrive without the false security of expensive and immoral weapons of mass destruction. Let’s get the nuclear convoys off Stirling’s roads.

~ by stirlinggreens on 5. March 2010.