Spaceport site should be an enterprise zone

Sir, It has been great to see the Campbeltown spaceport site at Machrihanish featured in the national news recently.

Huge congratulations to the MACC team for all of their work in raising their profile and making themselves serious contenders to be the site of the first UK spaceport.

As the UK government considers the licensing criteria for future spaceports, which is about technical criteria not political backing for any specific site, private sector support is absolutely key.

MACC has made significant progress and its new partnerships with Telespazio Vega and QinetiQ shows the world that the industry is prepared to back it.

Now it is time for the Scottish Government to step up and show the same support, letting the industry know that Campbeltown has its backing too.

Prestwick Airport was awarded enterprise zone status by the Scottish Government last year – so the Scottish Government needs to level the playing field and let Campbeltown get the same advantage.

I hope our local parliamentarians will ensure steps are taken to make this happen as soon as possible.

Given Machrihanish’s inherent advantages, it makes sense to give it full Scottish Government backing, including all the resources it has available through the enterprise agencies, to enable Scotland to take full advantage of the rapidly growing space industry. Councillor Rory Colville, Campbeltown.