BILLIONAIRE SPACEPORT APPEAL FAILS
Topshop owner fears for environment
THE billionaire owner of Topshop has failed in his bid to overturn a local authority’s decision to grant permission to build Scotland’s first spaceport.
Anders Holch Povlsen,48, instructed lawyers to go to the Court of Session in Edinburgh to stop the building of the Sutherland Space hub in the far north.
The businessman believed Highland Council was wrong to grant planning permission to the vertical launch facility, which supporters believe could boost the local economy.
Lawyers for Povlsen believed the August 2020 decision failed to take into account the risks to the local environment and wildlife populations.
The action was raised by Povlsen’s company Wildland Limited. Its advocate Malcolm Thomson QC told judge Lord Doherty earlier this year that Highland Council didn’t follow correct legal procedures.
However, in a judgment issued at the court yesterday,
Lord Doherty rejected the submissions.
Povlsen is Scotland’s largest private landowner. He owns the clothing empire Bestseller and is believed to be worth more than £6billion.
Experts say he owns more of the UK than the Queen and the Church of Scotland combined.
Povlsen is the largest shareholder in online fashion retailer ASOS. In February, the company bought Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia retail empire – which included Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge – in a deal thought to be worth £330million.
He later announced he had invested more than £1.4 million in a rival spaceport on Shetland.