OKEHAMPTON Camp will have to wait until the end of 2001 to know whether it will be affected by a move to commercialise army training estates.
A spokesman for the army confirmed this week a review of all army training estates was being carried out under orders from the Government.
The objective was to appoint a commercial partner to work alongside the army in managing its estates to achieve best value for money, said spokesman David Harris.
'No decision has been taken to close any sites or whether to appoint that partner,' he said.
'This is part of a very broad scoping study and we would not expect anything to come out of it until the end of next year.
'If it is more cost-effective to employ a private partner to run the estates alongside the MoD it is conceivable that several sites could be scaled down.'
Twenty-nine civil servants and one army warrant officer are employed at the base at Okehampton from where all the military training facilities within Dartmoor National Park are run. The camp also has 22 contractors who are the range clearers.
The civil servants provide such functions as property management, store-keeping, rural estate work and transport.
Mr Harris added it was too early to say whether there would be any redundancies but any job losses would be handled as sensitively as possible.
'There will be full discussions with the trade unions and all action will be taken to alleviate compulsory redundancies.' he said. 'We intend to keep staff regularly informed.'
Okehampton Camp was built between 1892 and 1894 and brings £5-million annually into the town.
Mayor of Okehampton Christine Marsh said the army had an important link with Okehampton and it was vital this was kept.
'The town is struggling to exist at the moment and the camp is vital to our economy,' she said. 'The town benefits in so many ways from having the camp here with the likes of Ten Tors and so on.'