Blackford plant site frustration
and if tomorrow we didn’t expand and sat on what we have we’d be very comfortable.
“We don’t need to invest, you know? But we do it because it’s in our blood.
“It’s the excitement of building things and getting things to grow and work.
“But also, on the other hand, if your local councils [and] people are going to influence everything that you do and [are] going to force you down and look at you with this narrow sight that they tend to have in this country, you walk away. That’s what you do.”
And quizzed earlier during the same interview about the gWest development site north of Blackford, al-Tajir suggested his family would only be willing to develop it “properly” when politicians settle on what direction the country will take after the likes of the decision to leave the European Union has taken full affect.
He said: “At the moment ... Brexit has come along, Scotland’s screaming for independence ... and the next phase of gWest is another £50, £60, £100million and as a family we’re not willing to put that sort of money in if we don’t know what the future is.
“If tomorrow Scotland got independence and they decided to turn it into a tax haven like Monaco we’d be the first there to put the money in.
“In fact, we’d put three or four [ golf ] courses in and build another two hotels.
“But the way we are today where it looks like taxation is going to go up, the local councils and local villages are going to control everything around them ... maybe it’s not the place I need to put my money.
“There are better places to put it.”