Sutherland Spaceport planning consent blunder over hardcore area created for high-profile guests
An area of hardcore put in to allow high-profile guests to safely access the site of a ground-breaking ceremony for Sutherland Spaceport, was created without planning consent, it has emerged.
Scottish Government business minister Richard Lochhead was among the prestigious guests at the turf-cutting ceremony in early May which marked the start of construction work on the £17.3 million development at A'Mhoine, west of Tongue.
The planning contravention has come to light in the first planning monitoring report to be produced on construction works, and which has just been released into the public domain.
Other breaches of planning conditions are also listed in the report including the siting of a "welfare container" outwith the designated spaceport construction zone.
Space flight firm Orbex, which has a base in Forres, is overseeing the development of Sutherland Spaceport which will be its “home” port from where it will vertically launch its newly developed Prime rocket carrying commercial satellites into space.
Orbex appointed Jacobs to manage construction at the 10-acre site and in turn Jacobs appointed Lybster-based John Gunn and Sons Ltd as its local construction partner.
Work began in April to improve and extend the bellmouth entrance to the spaceport access road and in May new passing places were created and existing laybys improved between Tongue and Bettyhill.
Highland Council, which granted planning consent to the spaceport in June 2020, imposed a number of planning conditions on the development including the appointment of an outside planning monitoring officer (PMO) to ensure compliance.
The monitoring officer made her first visit to the site in May and her report has just been published in the public domain.
The report states that a small area of hardcore had been laid to the west of the bellmouth, on an existing access to former peat cuttings in order to "provide safe access to an area used to allow those invited to a groundbreaking ceremony on May 4 to view the site".
Others at the ceremony were Orbex chief development officer Kristian von Bengtson and chairman Bart Markus as well as Highlands and Island Enterprise's David Oxley.
However, the hardcore area was created without planning consent.
The report reads: “The area of hardstanding will need to be removed and the land restored to its original condition, or planning permission will require to be sought for it to remain in place.”
The monitoring officer also found that a “welfare container” had been placed outside the approved construction zone, but she was reassured to be told that it was to be relocated when work started on the passing places.
The monitoring officer also flagged up concern over the absence of documentation to confirm full compliance with four planning conditions including confirmation of guidelines and advice provided to staff regarding the importance of avoiding heritage assets.
But the report reads: “Discussions are ongoing with the development project manager with regards to how best to share documentation and to ensure everything required is provided.”
A spokesperson for Orbex told the Northern Times: "We take our planning obligations in connection with the construction of Sutherland Spaceport very seriously. The planning monitor reports are prepared to satisfy the requirements of condition 15 of the planning permission. We can confirm that the items you specifically queried from the report in question have already been addressed."
