Shock as space launch bid labelled damp squib
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A REPORT by two Scottish academics, which was presented to a meeting in Inverness on Tuesday, cast doubt on the suitability of the Mhoine peninsula near Tongue as the site for the UK’s first major spaceport.
Professor Mike Danson, of Heriot-Watt University, and Geoff Whittam, of Glasgow Caledonian University, along with independent researcher Janette Wyper, question the number – and quality – of jobs which will be created locally, and are concerned about environmental impact.
They presented their 19-page report to this week's Rural Entrepreneurship Conference hosted by Impact Hub Inverness and the University of the Highlands and Islands.
The three authors agree that the development could help stem the population decline through the creation of jobs but add: “However, this narrative can be challenged on the grounds that the new jobs accessible to locals will be low quality; the damage caused by the construction and operation of the spaceport will lead to the further destruction of this Highland ‘wild land’; and in turn this will reduce the opportunity for other more appropriate entrepreneurial ventures.
“In fact the spaceport will lead to ‘destructive entrepreneurship’.”
They doubt that the 40 “high-quality local jobs” highlighted by the commercial company Orbex – who have expressed an interest in the site – would be created, suggesting the jobs available to local people would be in “housekeeping and security”.
They quote Orbex as claiming there will be 40 on-site jobs including three mechanical engineers, one electrical engineer, one system analyst and one IT technician. But, they say, the remaining 34 jobs remain unspecified. They also stated that "nobody locally was unemployed".
The report, which was compiled over the course of this year, also pointed out that initial analysis by Deimos Space UK looked at three UK sites (Mhoine, Unst and North Uist) and identified the Shetland site as being the most suitable.
The compilers also said "there might be limited income from 'space tourism' but given the current problems associated with the NC500 it is not clear, without additional infrastructure, the community would welcome additional tourists."
However, Carroll Buxton, interim chief executive of lead agency HIE, told the NT: "We commissioned an independent economic impact assessment as part of our due diligence. This concluded that Space Hub Sutherland has the potential to support 40 high quality jobs locally, and 400 across our region.
“It is important to stress that the plans for Space Hub Sutherland are still in development. We’re working towards submitting a planning application, and public consultation will be an important part of that process."
And an HIE spokesman said, in relation to the claim that Unst would be more approriate, Deimos had also concluded that "a remote island location would be logistically much more challenging than a mainland site such as the Moine peninsula."
