Blast-off: planners give green light to Highland spaceport

Plans to launch satellites into orbit from the Highlands have been given the green light by the local authority.

The decision means small commercial satellites and launch vehicles designed and manufactured in Scotland could be taking off from Sutherland in the next few years.

Up to 12 rockets, some of which will be used to monitor climate change, will blast off each year from the new spaceport.

The development, Space Hub Sutherland, is to be built on land owned by Melness Crofters Estate on the A’ Mhòine peninsula, south of the village of Tongue.

It will include a control centre, 2.5km of road and a vertical-launch pad, occupying a little over 10 acres of the 740acre peatland site.

The scheme is expected to create about 250 jobs, including more than 60 in the local area.

Planning permission has been granted by Highland Council after Scottish ministers opted not to call in the proposals.

Approval is subject to a set of 34 conditions, including measures to ensure safety and protect the environment.

The decision comes after the council received 457 responses objecting to the hub and 118 in support.

Development agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has approved a budget of £17.3 million to develop the spaceport, including funding of £5 million from the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and £2.5 million from the UK Space Agency.

Spaceports are also planned in other parts of Scotland, including Unst in Shetland.

Scotland’s minister for innovation Ivan Mckee welcomed the council’s decision.

He said: “This is the first of Scotland’s spaceport projects to clear the planning process and it represents a significant step forward for both the project and Scotland’s aspiration to offer the full end-to-end capability for manufacturing and launching small satellites and analysing their data.”

David Oxley, director of business growth at HIE, added: “In developing our plans we have always been very mindful of the environmental challenges presented by a project of this kind.

“Part of our ambition is to create the world’s most lowcarbon space centre and the conditions applied to the planning approval will help us make that a reality.”