Meeting of the Parliament 18 February 2026 [Draft]
I agree with the member on that, but there is an easier way, which is just to abandon the plans completely and walk away from the Moray Firth, which is not suitable for what is being proposed.
I agree with Richard Lochhead—I put the exact same question to OSG representatives when I met them, and I got a muddled answer from them, as I have done on so many issues. However, they must listen—they must see that their proposal is so inappropriate that it is creating mass protest on a scale that I have not seen in Moray and the Highlands for a long time.
Instead of actually engaging and doing better with its consultation, however, I would say that OSG—even though I did not think that this was possible—has got worse. We have now found out that, earlier this month, OSG released a report, with very little publicity, that argues that the company does not have to do an environmental impact assessment, because it believes that the temporary nature of the structures does not require one.
An EIA is crucial. I sat on planning committees in Moray Council, and I was convener of the committee for a long time. EIAs form an important part of the planning process, but the company thinks that it can just dismiss that requirement and come up with its own plans. Again, I question the cabinet secretary: does she at least accept that undertaking no EIA for the development would not be allowed, should not be allowed and is unacceptable, and that the company must come forward with a full EIA?
I know that my time is just about up, Deputy Presiding Officer. There is so much to say on the issue that I could speak for seven hours, or even seven days, and I do not think that we would get through it all. However, I go back to the people who matter most here: the people who live in Moray and the Highlands, who will be affected by the proposals for years to come; who are fighting with great enthusiasm for the future of our area; and who are here in their Parliament today to hear—we hope—that the Government is on their side.
We need to protect our environment and the nature that it supports. As the nature champion for the bottlenose dolphin, I have had briefings from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation’s Scottish dolphin centre at Spey Bay, which is worried about the proposals. There is much in the proposals that we are opposed to and very little on which we can agree. Surely the only course of action is for OSG to abandon the plans and dump them completely. If the company does not do so, the Government must make the strongest possible statement that it opposes the plans, because they are not suitable for the Moray Firth or for Scotland and they should be scrapped completely.