Meeting of the Parliament 28 April 2015
I, too, congratulate John Scott on securing this debate on Prestwick airport’s spaceport bid. I must apologise to members in advance: I will have to leave before the end of the debate, because I have another engagement.
On 26 February, Prestwick airport was accepted as one of the preferred bidders for the UK spaceport. The other airports that made the shortlist were those of Campbeltown, Stornoway, Newquay in Cornwall and Llanbedr in Wales. I am pleased to say that, since then, the Prestwick team has been very busy in its endeavours to secure the bid for the only UK spaceport.
Prestwick airport is delighted to have commissioned Reynolds, Smith & Hills, which is the premier US designer in the spaceport industry, to prepare a logically and technically strong bid that meets the US licensing framework. The airport feels that that consultant will be a great advantage and of great assistance to it.
The Prestwick team is the only UK contender to have attended the US Space Foundation event recently. That was hugely beneficial, informative and useful in making contacts within the spaceport industry and helpful in the team’s preparation of the bid.
Prestwick airport is critical to not only the North Ayrshire economy; it is critical to East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire as well. If it were chosen to be the UK spaceport, that would be a huge game changer for not only Ayrshire, but all of Scotland. If it were accepted, it could be used as the take-off point for space tourism under proposals from Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and XCOR Aerospace for space expeditions. However, turning Prestwick into the UK’s first spaceport would not mean just space tourism for the super-rich; it would allow Ayrshire to capitalise on and play a key role in satellite launching and manufacturing, as well as in the space science sector, which is currently earning around £11.3 billion in revenues. That figure grew by 7.2 per cent between 2011 and 2013, despite the recession.
At this stage, the UK has no satellite launch facilities of its own, so the facility would be the first of its kind and would open up Prestwick to an untapped wealth of future potential. That would have a huge impact on the Scottish economy through the promotion of skilled jobs, training facilities, opportunities for high-tech suppliers and services, and the boost for tourism.
Prestwick airport is, hands down, the best site in the UK. It is well connected by both road and rail. Furthermore, if Glasgow crossrail were pursued, the airport would be connected by rail to the whole of Scotland, which no other Scottish airport would be. As we have heard already, it also has excellent weather reliability, and it is the main diversion site if other airports have to be closed due to bad weather.
Finally, the site offers an attractive long main runway and a varied and established business environment and engineering sector through the international aerospace park and enterprise zone. That would be easy to expand and build on if the spaceport bid was accepted.
Now that Prestwick is among the final five, it is in a strong position to become the site of the UK spaceport. Prestwick not only meets the criteria but surpasses them. It has the skills, the space, the transport links and, bizarrely for Ayrshire, the good weather. The best way forward is to have one bid from Scotland, so that Scottish bids are not competing against one another. I hope that the airports can come to an agreement on a joint Scottish bid that would be mutually beneficial for all involved and could present a combined offer with a range of strengths and benefits. I am eager to see that approach as a solution and I hope that it can be developed into a winning bid.
I will campaign vigorously from now until the announcement is made later this year to ensure that the first spaceport, which is due by 2018, is Scottish and is based at Prestwick, because it has all the attributes that are required. I hope that the Scottish Government will back the bid.
17:20