Hansard

Our final petition this morning, PE2054, lodged by Colin Anderson, calls on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to establish an independent review into the proposed Spaceport 1 development on Scolpaig farm in North Uist that focuses on examining: whether there is any conflict of interests for Western Isles Council—Comhairle nan Eilean Siar—as the authority that approved the plans and is taking the project forward; the process for purchasing the land on Scolpaig; potential errors and omissions in the environmental impact assessment of the proposal; and the economic case for pursuing the project. Mr Anderson tells us that the spaceport proposal has attracted little public support, with public objections outweighing support by a ratio of 45:1. The petitioner also raises concerns that the proposal has been fast tracked, which has limited the public scrutiny of the process. In responding to the petition, the Scottish Government states that a direction requiring planning authorities to alert it to new planning cases for spaceport-related development was issued in June 2020. That allows the Government to have a national overview of such development in the planning system, while offering it the opportunity to put in place additional safeguards and intervene, if necessary, by calling in applications. In this case, it is stated that ministers gave full and proper consideration to the proposal and determined that it did not merit call-in. The response also states that the Scottish Government is supportive in principle of space projects that will contribute to its ambitions to become a leading European space nation and to deliver economic benefits to the local region. We have also received submissions from the petitioner and from Angus McNab, a local resident, which set out their concerns about the way in which the process to determine the application has been carried out. Those include, but are not limited to, errors in the economic impact assessment, lack of effective and timely public consultation, and a general lack of transparency around the council’s intentions for the Scolpaig site. Western Isles Council has also provided a submission that responds to the issues raised by the petition, as well as highlighting that a stakeholder and community consultation is due to begin in the new year—in January—as part of the airspace change proposal that has been submitted to the Civil Aviation Authority. This is clearly a live planning application. In the light of that, do members have any suggestions as to how we might proceed?