Restoration of peatlands will play a part in space hub plans on north coast of Sutherland

PEAT restoration is to play a key role in plans to build the world’s first carbon neutral space hub on the north coast of Sutherland. The peat which has to be removed to create the facility on the A’ Mhoine peninsula, near Melness, has been minimised and, where possible, will be used to restore and re-wet 76.5 hectares of degraded peatland damaged by decades of peat extraction. Repairing large, damaged sections of peat drained by cutting for fuel will play a big part in improving the health of the peatland.

The plans also include the use of floating roads – roads commonly used to avoid damaging peatlands that float on top of deep peat, rather than requiring it to be removed – to allow the peat to continue to live underneath the main access point to the spaceport.

Healthy peatlands are crucial in combating climate change and are a priority in the Scottish Government’s bid to become a net-zero society by 2045.

Plans for the carbon neutral Space Hub at Sutherland, which could see an inaugural space flight launching from Melness Crofters’ Estate in 2022, have been considered at each stage to ensure the local crofting community, its landscapes, and native wildlife are protected. One of the biggest offsets to the space hub’s carbon footprint will be undertaken through peat restoration projects.

Dorothy Pritchard, the chair of Melness Crofters’ Estate, said: "Working with Highlands and Islands Enterprise, it has been one of our top priorities to ensure that the peat removed in the building of the space hub will be used elsewhere on the site to repair areas of historic peat cutting and to enhance areas affected by the construction of the site itself.

"This is a great step forward in restoring the historic peat banks which were once cut by hard-working crofters as an essential source of fuel to heat their homes. Peat cutting played a big part in community life and culture here in Sutherland. Today, we know that healthy peatland plays a crucial role in reducing the impacts of global warming.

"The community socio-economic benefits that the space hub will bring are plentiful but we must not become complacent when considering how the it will affect the environment and our native wildlife, so we have worked carefully with experts and considered how to minimise disruption at every stage of the planning process."

Melness Crofters’ Estate backs the plans for the facility on part of the estate’s 10,700 acres of land. Highland Council gave planning consent last summer to create a vertical launch site to put small communications satellites into Earth orbit. The site will include a launch pad, control centre and associated infrastructure for the transport and preparation of launch vehicles.

The decision is being challenged, however, by neighbouring landowner Anders Holch Povlsen’s Wildland UK, and a judicial review is due to be held next week.The Sutherland site for Britain’s first vertical launch spaceport is the only one of three proposed in Scotland to so far receive planning permission.

The space hub is expected to bring around 41 highly skilled jobs to the area as well as additional benefits such as space tourism and partnerships with renowned research institutes. The Melness Crofters’ Estate committee wants to ensure the space hub minimises change to the environment.

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