MORE shops, more teachers and millions of pounds of investment are expected as 2,600 troops move in to Carterton.

RAF Brize Norton will get an influx of about 4,000 people, both service personnel and their families, when RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire closes.

Lyneham will cease to be a flying station on September 30 but the final families will not move in to Oxfordshire until September 2012.

The Hercules aircraft moved to their new home yesterday. There will be a total of 33 based at Brize, which will also be the home of the new Voyager aircraft. The first of 14 will arrive in October, with all on the base by 2016.

Business leaders heralded the move as a boon for Oxfordshire.

President of Oxfordshire Chamber of Commerce Nigel Wild, a former RAF officer, said: “From the spend angle, West Oxfordshire to Oxford city will benefit but, in terms of companies that supply the base, it will benefit the whole of Oxfordshire.”

Chairman of Carterton Chamber of Commerce Phil Scott said: “Every business in Carterton will see an increase in turnover. The whole of Carterton will change.”

Wiltshire Council and North Wiltshire Economic Partnership have claimed RAF Lyneham closing will cost North Wiltshire £52m a year.

Mr Wild said: “If £52m is what they are spending around Lyneham now, there is no reason why they should not spend the same amount around here.”

The MoD will build a total of about 800 new houses in Carterton for personnel and their families, but these are unlikely to be finished before the end of 2016.

In the meantime, families will be housed in rented accommodation within a 10-mile radius of the base, including privately owned homes and military accommodation in Fairford, Faringdon and Shrivenham.

Wing commander John Curnow said: “Brize Norton is ready. There are areas of MoD housing stock that we can use but where we cannot do that we do what any military station does and hire houses in the local area.”

Andrew Ramsay, director of Martin and Co, Witney, said: “There is a huge property shortage and rents are rising. Two, three and four-bedroom houses are being let within a few days.”

He said MoD demand had contributed to at least a 20 per cent increase in house prices in the last year.

Carterton schools are expecting between 400 and 600 new primary and secondary school children to gradually move in by 2016.

Niall McWilliams, head teacher at Carterton Community College, said: “We anticipate the school to grow significantly.

“Eventually we will need new teachers and maybe in the long term new buildings. It is a really exciting time.”

Oxfordshire County Council education spokesman Louise Mendonca said: “It may be necessary to expand one or more of the schools if pupil numbers grow more than expected.”

Carterton schools have lost pupil numbers in the last few years as personnel and families moved from the area. But the Government has introduced a £3m pot to help schools with high numbers of Forces children, and they can apply for the cash to keep staff in place while they wait for more youngsters to arrive.

Many of the Brize Norton personnel receive medical and dental care in the base, but those living away from the station will use NHS GPs and dentists.

NHS Oxfordshire is also expecting the families of personnel to create 1,370 new GP patients by 2016.

However, spokesman Cariad Hazard said: “There is ample capacity within the local GP and dental practices to take on these new patients.“ Oxfordshire County Council transport spokesman Owen Morton said the council did not anticipate a surge in demand for the small number of bus services it subsidises in the area, but said the situation would be reviewed if required.

Oxfordshire County Council fire service spokesman Gemma Watts said the move will have “no significant impact” on the fire service.