Meeting of the Parliament 18 February 2026 [Draft]
I have written down a number of issues that I will look into, but I want to continue my response to the debate.
Over the past few weeks, I have been made aware, by my colleague Richard Lochhead, who is the constituency MSP for Moray, of substantive concerns that local communities have raised about the Offshore Solutions Group proposal. As he said in his speech, Tim Eagle has also asked me parliamentary questions on the issue in the chamber.
Tim Eagle has asked me to stop the project, effectively. In our exchanges, I have set out the statutory and established regulatory processes that exist, how applications for consent are made and the Government’s very clear expectations of developers in engaging with affected communities.
Richard Lochhead has told me—as have many members today—that he has met the company, relayed the opposition and asked the company to explain why the other sites that it considered had not been taken forward.
Richard Lochhead was not able to make a speech as he is a Government minister—we all understand the conventions around that—but he was able to make an intervention, in which he said that no ranking had been made of the other areas that were considered. Other people have made the point that some areas of Scotland are crying out for that type of development—where there is a green port status, for example. It is apparent that representatives in the chamber have put forward to the public and to me their concerns.
I must say that, notwithstanding anything to do with the proposals or any of their detail, which I do not have in front of me—I do not have anything in front of me—I am unable to say that an application cannot be made.