Road To Discovery - Royal Navy: The Military Issues Affecting Plymouth

In the second of our general election road trips, Forces News is finding out about what issues are affecting the military community.

Tim Cooper is assessing how people feel about defence in the run-up to the vote, looking at each service individually.

He has now moved on to the Royal Navy, and the city of Plymouth - home to the largest naval base in western Europe.

"Defence always used to be the biggest employer in the locality - now the university and the NHS are the biggest employers," says Professor Harry Bennett, University of Plymouth.

"Defence is still very important, but it's no longer a one horse town in terms of the local economy.

"The days when you would have large numbers of sailors moving through the streets of Plymouth - those days have essentially gone."

Professor Bennett says the UK does not have a balanced fleet, with enough hulls.

"We've got the Type 23s that are being phased out, the Type 26s which are yet to come, but the time scale is really problematic.

"We have the sheer issue about numbers - do we have enough sailors, soldiers and air force personnel?

"Can we continue to recruit people with the necessary specialisms? The Royal Navy is very heavy in terms of science, technology and engineering, and those graduates are in very, very short supply."

One place trying to ensure young people consider a career in the Royal Navy is City College Plymouth, whose engineering apprentices will end up working for Babcock, a company providing support services to the naval base.

"A lot of young people don't really understand the opportunities available to the Navy, so there's a lot of work that has to be done to introduce them to that," says Mike Jones, employability and enterprise manager at the college.

"The careers...the introduction of new apprenticeships in the Navy are all really fantastic and exciting opprotunties that young people in the local area can get involved in."

The final leg of Forces News' general election road trips heads to Norfolk, with the focus on the Royal Air Force.