Meeting of the Parliament 26 October 2016
As I am relatively new to my post, I am not aware of anything specific in that area, but I will investigate and, if need be, I will get back to Mr Stewart on any options that are being looked at for Machrihanish. We are supporting the development of wind turbine manufacturing at CS Wind and others in Machrihanish, and there is a strong interest in developing the Campbeltown economy. However, I will look at the specific issue that he mentioned.
There are a number of potential hubs, but there are also challenges for potential sites. Although I note the points that a number of members—David Stewart, Kenneth Gibson and Donald Cameron—have made about various technical aspects of the provision that is available at Prestwick and Machrihanish, there is still a lack of clarity as to what the key infrastructure requirements will be for each of the particular roles for spaceports. Until there is detailed guidance on what minimum standards are required—runway length has been mentioned as one possible criterion—it will be difficult for any airport to establish whether the commercial benefits of pursuing a licence would achieve a reasonable return on the investment, including potentially significant infrastructure costs.
There will also potentially be an increased financial risk for any site wishing to become a spaceport. Previously, the winning bidder would have been allocated an anchor tenant and thus would have been guaranteed income for an initial period. That no longer seems possible under the newly proposed process. Therefore, there are advantages but there are also issues that run in the other direction.
Two potential Scottish spaceport sites remain: Campbeltown and Prestwick. We have focused on both and the Scottish Government is committed to supporting both. I appreciate Mr Gibson’s point about not wanting to pussyfoot around, as he delicately put it. However, under the licensing regime, we have the opportunity to support the aspirations of both airports and communities. Although there has been interest in Stornoway airport becoming a spaceport, as Mr Stewart mentioned in his opening remarks, Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd, the owner of the airport, has decided not to pursue the opportunity at this time.