Salisbury Plain - Defence Training Estate (SP) Formerly Called Army Training Estate Salisbury Plain (SPTA)

Defence Training Estate (SP) Formerly Called Army Training Estate Salisbury Plain (SPTA)

Media related to Army Training Estate Salisbury Plain at Wikimedia Commons

The exact area of Salisbury Plain is sometimes confused with the extent of the military training area that it is home to. In fact this only covers roughly half of the geological boundaries of the plain. The army first conducted exercises on the plain in 1898. From that time, the Ministry of Defence bought up large areas of land until World War II. The MoD now own 150 square miles (390 km2) of land, making it the largest military training area in the United Kingdom. Of this, around 39 square miles (100 km2) are permanently closed to the public, and access is greatly restricted in other areas. As military use of the plain increased, new camps and barracks were constructed, including those at Larkhill, Bulford, Tidworth and Warminster. Several installations have been built and since removed, including a railway line and aerodrome that were constructed next to Stonehenge. In 1943 the village of Imber and the hamlet of Par Hinton were evacuated to allow training for Operation Overlord to be conducted. The village has remained closed, except for the annual church service and some bank holidays, ever since.

The Royal School of Artillery is based at Larkhill, and live firing is conducted on the plain for approximately 340 days of each year. Military personnel from the UK and around the world spend some 600,000 man days on the plain every year.

The ATE SP is located close to other military facilities including the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory at Porton Down (much of whose work is secret), Boscombe Down airfield and Middle Wallop Army Air Corps Base, where pilots train on the Westland Apache.

The Central Impact Area has been used by the Royal Artillery since the beginning of the 20th century. The percentage of live UXO to inert practice rounds is probably quite low, but it is impossible to distinguish between the two until they are uncovered. Some rounds will lie near the surface, some 10m down in the chalk. Because of its use it remains untouched by modern intensive farming and is thus part of the last chalk grassland in the UK (and probably Europe) and the whole area is designated as an SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest). Additionally the area also contains great numbers of archeological sites, which although occasionally damaged by impact, are for the most part intact. Should at some future date the army decide to stop training, and give public access, to clear the area would take hundreds of years, cost millions of pounds and destroy both the SSSI and the archaeology. It is likely that it will remain an Out of Bounds area for time immemorial. Even cutting of scrub to stop invasion of the grass lands to retain its SSSI condition has to be carried out in an armoured mine-clearing tractor fitted with cutting flails that pass over the surface (not into it as with mine clearance) and if as often happens in dry summers, it catches fire, it has to be left to burn out (often live shells near the surface will explode) and the unit causing the fire has to stay and provide fire watchers to ensure the fire does not spread outside the impact area.