THE future of Chorley's Territorial Army Centre appears to have been secured following an MoD announcement this week.

A question mark has hung over the Devonshire Road barracks for two years after 101 Battalion REME moved out.

But a new unit -- medical evacuation squadron E Sn 5 GS Med Regt, set up in Hull during TA restructuring -- has been lined up to move in.

Delighted Chorley MP Lindsay Hoyle, who has campaigned to save the barracks, said: "There will have always been a question mark over the centre and also there would have been a lack of a shooting range being made available for the Army, RAF and Sea Cadets."

He said the move guaranteed the future of the building and the cadets who used it -- and would also provide a link between the new medical unit and the hospital.

He added: "This will put Chorley back on the map for TA purposes."

Work will now start to bringing the building up to standard.

Armed Forces Minister John Spellar MP, who wrote to Mr Hoyle with the news, also revealed that 101 Battalion REME would remain at its present location in Wrexham.