Scotland’s Secret Bunker
The final item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S4M-10114, in the name of Roderick Campbell, on Scotland’s secret bunker reopening. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament notes the reopening of Scotland’s Secret Bunker in time for its 20th anniversary celebrations, following a recent series of upgrades; understands that the bunker, which became operational almost 61 years ago, only opened as a tourist attraction in 1994 after been bought in 1993; believes the attraction to be one of the most popular tourist destinations in North East Fife and welcomes tens of thousands of tourists every year; understands that the latest upgrades will allow visitors to access never-before-seen areas; considers it fortunate that the use of the bunker now is for tourism and that its use as a nuclear shelter was never required; congratulates the owners on providing what it considers to be an excellent education resource, and hopes that it continues to thrive so as to allow future generations to learn about the Cold War.
17:03
If I may, I would like everybody briefly to imagine what the world would have been like had certain events in history taken a different turn. What if the Cuban missile crisis and, specifically, the boats of the Soviet Union that carried intercontinental ballistic missiles had taken a different turn in 1962? What if tensions between India and Pakistan had escalated further than any of us dared imagine? What if the world, instead of peacefully retreating from the cold war, had engaged in nuclear war?
For years, we knew that the world was prepared for nuclear war but only since the end of the cold war have we learned just how prepared we were. While the British Government might have had the capacity to order a nuclear strike, it is only in recent decades that we have learned exactly how it would have operated—in underground facilities such as Scotland’s secret bunker at Troywood near Anstruther.
In addition to Troywood, we now know that there were bunkers at Barnton quarry near Edinburgh and at Cultybraggan near Comrie. A vast number remain unknown or closed to the public, making Scotland’s secret bunker, for the moment, an unrivalled tourist attraction in Scotland.
Situated 100ft underground, the bunker hosts 24,000 square feet of accommodation that would have become home to members of the British Government, specifically the Secretary of State and Minister of State for Scotland, had the country been subjected to nuclear strikes. A 3 tonne blast door at the end of a 150m tunnel, secluded underneath an ordinary-looking farmhouse in rural north-east Fife, hosts what would have been the command centre and living quarters of people who were considered to be essential personnel in Scotland. In the past, they would have included such people as secretaries of state Arthur Woodburn, Willie Ross or Malcolm Rifkind, in a room containing no less than a substantial box of King Edward cigars. Other bunker inhabitants would have included up to 300 other personnel including civil servants and members of the emergency services. With concrete up to 3m thick, reinforced by inch-thick tungsten rods every 15cm, there is a peculiar irony to watching public information messages inside the museum that inform people how to turn their homes into fallout shelters by using dining tables and sofa cushions if they cannot access the more luxurious and sturdy options of sandbags and planks of wood.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the opening of the bunker as a tourist attraction following an extensive refurbishment that has included opening access to previously unseen areas of the bunker. James Mitchell, owner of the bunker and the Barnton quarry nuclear bunker, recently said that its reopening would
“help bring the bunker to life for our visitors”
following investment in a series of information screens throughout the museum that will soon go live. He has also spoken of how the bunker shows
“just how recent and real the threat was, and just how prepared we were.”
Initially serving as an early warning radar station to warn of attack from the USSR, the R3 type bunker was built in 1951 and used by the Royal Air Force as a Rotor station between 1953 and 1956. When the technology became redundant, the Ministry of Defence mothballed the site for two years before the Civil Defence Corps moved in between 1958 and 1968. After the withdrawal of the Civil Defence Corps, the MOD established Troywood, as the bunker is known, as a regional Government headquarters before it was finally decommissioned in 1993. The bunker is therefore different from the Cultybraggan bunker, which was completed in 1990 specifically for the purpose of being a nuclear shelter.
The RAF, Civil Defence Corps and the Royal Observer Corps all occupied the bunker at Troywood at one time or another, and the ROC had a long, distinguished history in the bunker. It was therefore with “anger and disappointment” that Air Commodore GM Boddy announced the standing down of the ROC in September 1991.
I associate myself with the comments made by James Mitchell in relation to the reality of the risk that once faced this country and the world. Having visited the bunker, I know that it is remarkable to see the preparations that were in place and just how seriously the world took the concept of mutually assured destruction during the cold war. As an example, a previously classified document from the Joint Intelligence Committee in 1967 is on display. It notes that Pitreavie, Rosyth, RAF Leuchars and Troywood, all in Fife, were four potential targets for the USSR. The committee suggested that an attack on Troywood would require four 1 megaton bombs, and to destroy all four targets would require 12 0.5 or 1 megaton bombs, which would have been the equivalent of dropping 1,100 Hiroshima bombs. More frightening is the approximation that a 1 megaton strike on Torness power station would have rendered Fife and the Lothians uninhabitable for centuries.
Interestingly, Scotland’s secret bunker is not the only bunker that has been opened as a tourist attraction. There are plans to open the Barnton quarry bunker in the near future, and there are other similar tourist destinations in England. Cultybraggan, on the other hand, will be used for data storage.
I am delighted that Scotland’s secret bunker, which hosts tens of thousands of tourists every year, has thrown open its blastproof doors to the public for the 20th year in succession. Even after all this time, it is still able to unearth new treasures of interest. There is more to be uncovered and the museum is always on the lookout for any information or loans of materials that could be used in its displays. That said, it is interesting to note that there are doors in the museum that are still sealed to the public because what lies behind them is classified under the Official Secrets Act. They are so well sealed that even the catflap for the resident cat, Cleo, cannot be opened.
The museum contains a cafe that is certainly atmospheric. It has the feel of the 50s and 60s, down to the music of Ketty Lester and Jim Reeves. When I was there with some somewhat younger members of the public, they had no idea who either Ketty Lester or Jim Reeves were; time moves on.
I believe that the thought of nuclear war is so alien to many people who were born after the fall of the Berlin wall and the dissolution of the USSR that nuclear war resembles more closely what happens in the scripts of video games such as “Call of Duty” than the real world. Times have changed. Since July 1994, the bunker has even played host to weddings.
Artefacts—that is what they now are—such as Scotland’s secret bunker serve as a valuable reminder that the world balanced precariously close to nuclear disaster and that it was prepared for nuclear disaster. Mercifully, Troywood was never used for its intended purpose.
I hope that the upgrades will help the secret bunker museum to boost its tourist numbers this season and in future seasons, and that it will continue to serve as one of the most fascinating premier attractions in North East Fife. I say to members who have not been there that it is well worth a visit.
I thank everybody who stayed for the debate.
17:10
I congratulate Roderick Campbell on lodging the motion and securing the debate. I also congratulate James Mitchell and everyone who has put in their time and resources to restore the bunker and make it a major visitor attraction for not just Fife, but the whole of Scotland.
I look forward to visiting the attraction and to seeing what has been achieved there and what can be learned. I am very interested in the use of information and communications technology as a tool for getting history across and engaging young people in looking at the history that surrounds the bunker. I know that other visitor attractions in Fife want to try to update the tools that they use to get their message across.
As Roderick Campbell said, the Cuban missile crisis and other such events are very much in history, but we can learn much from them, and they can perhaps tell us much as we try to look forward to what kind of world there will be. I have always campaigned for and believed in multilateral disarmament, and we have made progress in that area. We need to continue to take forward multilateral disarmament policies, but the bunker’s history is important in looking at lessons for moving forward.
I welcome the investment in and the reopening of the bunker, which, as I have said, is a major tourist attraction for not just Fife but Scotland. Fife is good to visit and stay in. We have a whole load of facilities and resources. People sometimes associate tourism in Fife with St Andrews and the north-east of Fife. The bunker, which is in the east neuk, will be a welcome contribution to what is available in North East Fife, but as soon as people cross the bridge, they are into a major tourism capital and kingdom. There is so much in Fife. It now attracts more outdoor visitors than most parts of Scotland attract. Lochore meadows is based in my constituency. The country park there is a major visitor attraction, with more than 460,000 visits per year. The Fife Coast and Countryside Trust now maintains the Fife coastal path. A person can kick off from Kincardine, walk right up the path and visit the bunker on the way.
There is a key point that I have always made about all those tourist attractions. How do we ensure that we maximise the opportunities that exist? If we look at the economic strategy for Fife, we see that the tourism sector is really important, but we must consider how to maximise the opportunities, encourage developments and investment, such as in the bunker, and congratulate people on that. We must ensure that we have been able to pull together all the attractions and looked at how tourism can become truly a key part of the Fife economy that offers opportunities through training, skills development and jobs. We must encourage small and medium enterprises to set up to take advantage of the opportunities to attract more people into Fife.
It is important that we link up with our neighbours. I am a big fan of the city region agenda, and colleagues from the City of Edinburgh Council have told me that they are keen to see more opportunities in the summer for people to visit a much wider area than just the city of Edinburgh. The secret bunker will be a very welcome addition as a visitor attraction, but we need to ensure that we link up so that the councils in Fife, Edinburgh and neighbouring areas are working together to ensure that the wider city region and the beauty of Fife are part of the visitor attractions for people who come to Scotland.
Again, I congratulate Roderick Campbell on lodging the motion and securing the debate. I congratulate all those who have been involved in putting together the great visitor attraction of the secret bunker, and I welcome it on behalf of Fife.
17:15
The notion of promoting secret bunkers is one that—I must admit—causes me a degree of amusement. It may say much about my personality, but I never cease to be tickled by a van that I invariably come across when journeying to and from the Parliament when I am in Edinburgh. It sits there, emblazoned with promotional details of the secret bunker and indicating, among other things, that it is located near St Andrews; and I think “Well, it ain’t much of a secret any more, is it?” As I said, perhaps that just says something about my view of the world and—Lord knows—any source of humour to be found around the Easter Road area of Edinburgh these days is to be welcomed.
In all seriousness, though, I congratulate Rod Campbell on securing this debate on the secret bunker at Anstruther, because it highlights the important issues of bringing to the attention of younger people what is out there for them to visit and of educating them in a way that resonates. Scotland has its castles, its nature reserves, its museums and its galleries and many of us marvel at those, but when you are a kid you want something a bit different that chimes with your world. I was reminded of that just last Monday, when I helped to host a visit to the Parliament by a group of young pupils from Inverbrothock primary school in Arbroath. It turned out that their trip to Edinburgh had also involved stopping off at Our Dynamic Earth. I asked one of the youngsters what the best part of their day had been. As we know, kids tend not to be overly diplomatic.
Although Rod Campbell’s constituency and mine are separated by the River Tay, people from each will travel to the other for a day out. In between the two areas there is, if you are a youngster, a great stopping-off point in the shape of the Dundee Science Centre. It is also a great stopping-off point if you are an adult; I certainly enjoyed my visit there. Attractions such as the science centre and the secret bunker are not only a fun day out, but educational; they provide children with information in a fashion that will not be forgotten in a hurry, which is what matters. So often, children are bored by sterile presentations of history, but bring it to life and they will engage.
It is so important that children learn about events such as the cold war, so that they understand where we have come from and, quite frankly, the dangers posed by still having nuclear weapons in the world. We should all, of course, be thankful that the nuclear bunkers never had to be used for their intended purpose. We should also welcome the fact that many of the 1,600 or so nuclear monitoring posts that were established are now being put to peaceful uses. While some, such as the Troywood bunker, have been turned into education resources, bunkers throughout Scotland have found different uses.
For example, the bunker under Carruthers house in Dumfries has been used multiple times in emergencies, including during the 1988 Lockerbie disaster and in 2001 during the foot-and-mouth crisis, and for contingency planning when bad weather has hit in recent years. The bunker at Raigmore in the Highlands has been used to co-ordinate responses for numerous disasters, such as the flash flooding in 2002 and when a container holding detonators exploded in Inverness in 2010. The old bunkers have proved their worth over the decades, although not in their intended manner, and we should all be grateful for that.
Despite the fact that 1,600 of the monitoring rooms were built, I have not been able to find any evidence of one in my constituency, but that might of course be because it is still a secret. However, whether they are acting as a museum or a control room for emergencies, it is good to see those facilities being put to some productive use. I particularly welcome examples of their becoming tourist attractions. In an increasingly competitive market in which Scotland is hindered by not being able to look at reducing air passenger duty and VAT on tourism, we need every advantage that we can muster to entice visitors here. North-east Fife, like Angus, has its top-drawer golf, heritage and scenery attractions, and the Victoria and Albert museum of design will be between the two areas. However, things like the secret bunker are that little bit different and offer that wee bit of novelty, helping to ensure that Scotland stands out from the crowd.
Although the secret bunker may not be so secret now, it is certainly special. I congratulate it on its reopening and I thank Rod Campbell again for securing the debate.
17:19
I join others in congratulating Roderick Campbell on lodging his motion and securing this evening’s debate.
Scotland has many great visitor attractions, but only one secret bunker that is open to the public. Graeme Dey expressed wry amusement about the publicity around the secret bunker. Likewise, I always think that it is one of life’s great ironies that, as I drive up the M90 motorway through Fife—a journey that I make several times a week—I see signs to “The Secret Bunker”, which is obviously not so secret after all.
For 20 years, as Rod Campbell pointed out, the secret bunker has provided Scotland and Fife with one of our most unique and exciting visitor attractions, so I join colleagues in welcoming its reopening. Those who came before me spoke at length about the impressive refurbishment of the bunker, but it is worth stating again just how substantial the structure is. It lies 300 feet below ground and its entrance is hidden by a farmhouse. The bunker is a vast labyrinth of tunnels that cover an area the size of two football pitches.
As part of a variety of improvements, visitors will now be able to see a remodelled British Telecom room and the specialist equipment that was needed to feed an astonishing 2,800 phone lines to the bunker. Formerly closed rooms are to be opened and a number of information screens have been added, as well as an audio tour to improve the visitor experience.
As we heard from Alex Rowley, tourism is a hugely important industry to Fife. In 2012, tourist expenditure in Fife was worth £313 million and tourism contributed 6,000 full-time jobs, with 2.8 million people enjoying 6.1 million days in the area. It is famed for its castles, fishing villages and golf courses, but the secret bunker gives Fife—and particularly its area of Fife—another weapon in its armoury to attract visitors.
Despite the fact that the bunker today looks almost identical to when it first opened, its role has changed dramatically over the years. On its construction in 1951, it operated as a military command centre and it would have served as the base for the Scottish Government in the event of a nuclear attack. It is hard for the post-cold war generation to imagine how close the world came to nuclear Armageddon in the 1960s. The Cuban missile crisis and nuclear arms proliferation put the globe on the brink of all-out war.
Scotland played a key strategic role during the cold war, welcoming US submarines to Dunoon. Recently declassified documents show that the UK Government was preparing for nuclear attacks that would target Glasgow as the UK’s second city, RAF Lossiemouth and the Holy Loch marine base. As a result of the Communist threat, a number of subterranean fortifications were built throughout Scotland. Many survive to this day, but at present the secret bunker in Fife is the only one to have opened as a visitor attraction.
The cold war forms a key part of the history curriculum at both national 4 and 5 levels, and the secret bunker gives today’s students the opportunity to witness at first hand some of the preparations that were made for war. It is worth reflecting on how fortunate we are that the secret bunker never had to be used for its intended purpose, that the world survived the worrying period in its history that was the cold war and that we live, I hope, in happier times.
Fife has many historic attractions but nothing quite like the secret bunker. Inside it, history comes alive and visitors are offered a distinctive insight into the macabre world that was the cold war. The bunker has huge importance to Fife’s culture, economy and education and I join others in wishing it success for the next 20 years.
17:23
I, too, congratulate Rod Campbell on securing this debate, and I congratulate him and other members on their informative speeches. I add the Scottish Government’s congratulations to Scotland’s secret bunker on reaching its milestone 20th anniversary as a tourism attraction.
I am sure that I am not alone in welcoming the fact that, as Graeme Dey pointed out, the secret bunker is now not so secret and is a key attraction in the east neuk of Fife, with VisitScotland featuring it in its marketing of the area. It is heartening that its original purpose as a place for government to continue in the event of a Soviet attack was never required.
There have been a few references to the Cuban missile crisis. Those who are interested in that period might be interested in the role of the Scot Paul Henderson Scott, who was serving in the British embassy at the time. He was on the last flight into Havana, and his account in his autobiography is something that people may be interested in.
The ability to see the potential of an abandoned military bunker that was classified as secret until the end of the cold war to be an educational tool and visitor attraction illustrates the innovation, ingenuity and dedication that exist in Scotland and which help to make the tourism industry as diverse and welcoming as it is. As the Parliament has noted, it is welcome that the bunker’s owner, James Mitchell, has seen fit to invest further in upgrading the bunker as an important cold war exhibit. As Murdo Fraser pointed out, parts have been refurbished and access to the massive subterranean building has been increased to help visitors to get a better feel for the important role that the building had and to be grateful that it was never needed.
We should support Mr Mitchell in his endeavours to turn another bunker—the one that would have been the ministerial headquarters here in Edinburgh—into a visitor attraction. I understand that he is restoring the derelict bunker under Corstorphine hill and that he plans to open it in 2016.
As has been said, we all want to attract more visitors. Scotland has a unique appeal. The east neuk of Fife, where the bunker sits, is a microcosm of the diversity that tourism in this country offers—from picturesque harbour villages to award-winning blue flag beaches, a wonderful natural larder and historic golf courses that emphasise Scotland’s place as the home of golf.
As well as the bunker, there are various attractions that help to tell the area’s story. In the wider Fife area, Scotland’s fishing industry is celebrated at the Scottish fisheries museum in Anstruther; history is celebrated through the National Trust for Scotland’s Kellie castle; and there is motorsport at the Crail raceway. As Alex Rowley said, the fabulous Fife coastal path links all the communities together. He mentioned the Lochore site, which is in his constituency.
As we know, Anstruther is famous for its award-winning fish and chips and for Fife’s first artisan cheese, the Anster. They will be celebrated as part of the year of food and drink next year. Fife also has impressive marinas, which service the growing popularity of yachting and marine tourism.
Nearby St Andrews, which is in Rod Campbell’s constituency, has played host to successful conferences. For example, the biblical literature conference that was held last year underlines the benefit from business tourism. It was actively supported by the VisitScotland-administered conference bid fund.
Scotland abounds in the experiences that the east neuk offers. Our international visitor spend rose by 20 per cent last year and generated almost £1.7 billion. There were 2.4 million visits to Scotland from overseas in 2013, which were up 9.8 per cent on 2012. In the UK, Scotland was in second place after London for total holiday spending. Tourism is clearly a key economic sector for Scotland. We recognise that the sector is an engine for growth and job creation.
Lonely Planet named Scotland one of the top three countries to visit in 2014, which has enhanced our profile. Alex Rowley was correct to say that we do not want visitors just to come to the capital city, although he missed out West Lothian when he talked about capturing tourists and encouraging them to visit the wider area.
Tourism has a ripple effect and provides opportunities to showcase Scotland as a place to live, learn, invest in, buy from and visit again. We value the tourism sector and we are working with the industry on a range of issues to increase its attractiveness and competitiveness.
Tourism is a key employment sector, especially in rural areas, and nowhere is that felt more keenly than in parts of Fife. The impact is important and we must ensure that people have the skills for the sector and are encouraged to develop careers in tourism.
The east neuk is actively participating in homecoming Scotland. At the end of this month, the east neuk festival will celebrate its 10th birthday with 10 days of music, literature and family events and art. The festival will reach out to the world as international artists gather in that beautiful coastal spot.
This is a great year for Scotland with homecoming, the Ryder cup and the Commonwealth games. A huge range of events is taking place to contribute to that. I encourage every area not just to celebrate the events that are taking place as part of the year of homecoming but to look ahead, as Fife is doing, to the year of Scotland’s food and drink, the year of innovation, architecture and design and, in 2017, the year of history, heritage and archaeology.
Attractions such as the secret bunker are an important part of the overall tourism patchwork. They commemorate and celebrate our history and culture and they tell interesting stories, which people do not know about. The story that the secret bunker tells is particularly attractive to children, who are always interested in secrets—that is a marketing tool that the bunker can use. I remember being up on the London Eye with my son when he was about seven. He had a map of everything that could be seen from the top, and it was the MI5 offices that really excited him. An attraction called “the secret bunker” can certainly attract young boys, in particular, and their families.
Tourism generates £10 billion of economic activity in the wider supply chain and contributes £5 billion to Scottish gross domestic product. The secret bunker’s contribution to the local economy is part of that story, but it is also contributing in the context of our heritage and culture and the unknown stories that need to be told. The further investment in the secret bunker and developments at Corstorphine is to be commended, and it illustrates the willingness of the tourism industry, and James Mitchell in particular, to continue to grow a vital part of Scotland’s economy.
Meeting closed at 17:30.