The Territorial Army is to lose almost 1,000 soldiers across the West Midlands as part of a massive shake-up.

The volunteer force is to be cut nationally from 56,000 to 41,000 in the next few months under a reorganisation announced by Armed Forces minister George Robertson.

Warwickshire has remained largely untouched by the changes but TA in Coventry will be hit with one regiment disappearing.

The Royal Mercian and Lancastrian Yeomanry regiment, currently based on the Radford Road, will disappear. The 96 Signal Squadron and the 126 Port Reclamation Company will remain at the centre.

There will also be changes at the new TA centre in Canley. The fifth Royal Regiment of Fusiliers will move to Company Three of the West Midlands at Sutton Coldfield although a detachment of around 30 will remain at the centre.

The centre will be the headquartes of the 35^th Signal Regiment, which moves from Sutton Coldfield.

Any soldiers forced to leave the TA by the changes may, however, soon be recruited again.

An army spokesman said:

"There will be opportunities for transfer because parts of the TA are expanding. The field hospital at Kings Heath, in Birmingham, for example, is to play a greater role and will need more people."

The TA centre in Rugby is unaffected by the changes and the 67^th Queens Own Warwickshire and Worcestershire Yeomanry Signal Squadron, thought to be in line for the axe, will remain in Stratford.

Local MP John Maples, the shadow defence secretary, listed a string of objections and won the day.

He said:

"The sort of work which Stratford is doing is the very sort of thing which the government is encouraging and developing within the TA."

The government announced the shake-up to meet the changing nature of the armed forces in recent years.

In a statement the MOD said:

"The TA of the future will be built on its strengths of today so that every volunteer and his or her unit has a clear role and contribution to make to the nation’s security and defence interests.

"The need to modernise the TA stems directly from the change in operational requirements for our forces as a whole, so that they can respond to the challenges and requirements of the 21st century.

"The Strategic Defence Review defined new requirements for forces at graduated states of readiness to meet a range of contingencies. The balance between regular and reserve forces will reflect the readiness requirements for particular military tasks.

"Increasingly crises arise at short notice, and for these our main reliance must be on regular forces. For this reason our regular forces are being reshaped and, in the case of the Army, increased in number. Their main contribution of the TA will henceforth be to support operations with units and individuals with special skills as an integral part of deployed forces."