The future for Uist
Was I on the invitees list, or deputising for someone?
Was I coming along, anyway, despite not being invited?
Actually, I had other tasks to undertake in the islands and as part of that I talked to a lot of people involved with the range, directly or indirectly.
The principal objective that has to be shared and endorsed by everyone is that the retention of the range is of primary importance for the Uists, and that party politicing has to be put aside.
That being said, there was some consternation (to say the least) about the lack of engagement with the Range from both the Comhairle and MP until it is (almost) too late.
A Parliamentary question best sums it up....
Angus MacNeil (Spokesperson (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; Fishing and Tourism; Transport); Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Scottish National Party)
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether his Department consulted (a) community representatives, (b) representatives of QinetiQ employees, (c) local enterprise agencies and (d) Comhairle nan Eilean Siar before QinetiQ's decision to relocate operations from the Hebrides Range to Aberporth Range.
Quentin Davies (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Ministry of Defence; Grantham & Stamford, Labour)
The MOD wrote to all major stakeholders for both the Aberporth and Hebrides Ranges in July 2007 outlining the study into the future of the ranges and the possible implications for the sites and workforce. Further letters were sent in June 2009 outlining the proposals and entering into a formal period of consultation which will conclude in August 2009.
A meeting has been held at ministerial level with the hon. Member for Na h-Eileanan an Iar. Offers were made to meet with the chief executive of the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and other representatives. MOD officials have also met with the National Trust for Scotland and other parties with an interest in the island of St. Kilda on a number of occasions.
So WTF was going on between July 2007 and last week, that no-one thought to do anything to try to address this before it became a crisis?
The claims by Donald John MacSween about including the £30m costs of restitution of St Kilda, should the military withdraw, is absolutely spot on, and begs the question of why this was apparently excluded from the assessment. It may not be enough in itself to derail the process, but I think it certainly puts a huge question mark over the accuracy of the information being used to come to these decisions.
9 comments:
How about a petition calling on the MP and MSP to open the file on what they have done about this issue since first being ifnormed of the potential job losses two years ago? If the answer is (as it seems) nothing, then this is a huge dereliction of duty and the same would be true whatever party they belonged to.
"Staff will no longer work on St Kilda - instead the range radars there will be operated remotely with staff only visiting for maintenance and servicing."
"The claims by Donald John MacSween about including the £30m costs of restitution of St Kilda, should the military withdraw, is absolutely spot on, and begs the question of why this was apparently excluded from the assessment."
Angus, it's not spot on at all! Can you explain how the cost of £30m is going to be incurred - nowhere does the MOD say they are pulling out of St Kilda and abandoning any of their infrastructure there, but then again don't let a good headline get in the way of the facts. It was excluded simply because they have no plan (currently) of pulling out of St Kilda!!
Looks like MacSween falls into the definition of a crofter as espoused by the DAFS chappie that came to do a check on the sheepies for the subsidy
"All these god-damn crofters and their sheep numbers, they can all add up but I've yet to see one that could subtract"
Well the question has to be asked. Why has it take the Beach Buoy over 2 years to make his way to St Kilda? This is the Buoy "Oh sorry or as his press release states Dr Allan" who was going to visit the archipelago last summer but failed to turn up. But what would you expect from the Beach Dr as he shown nothing but contempt to the workers at HM Rocket Range in Uist by never stepping over the threshold since being elected over 2 years ago.
I wonder if Qinetic and the MOD are going to have the decency to take the radioactive waste with them when they skulk away, or will they just leave it buried all over the machair for future generations to tidy up if there any future generations left to do the dirty work.
What about the waste that the patrol boats regularly dumped behind Hartamul?
So after 2 years and 2 months the Beach Dr is going to visit the Uist Rocket Range. What is excuses going to be to the workforce why it took him over 2 years to visit them. After all he is a member of the Benbecula branch of the Royal British Legion.
ps. Does anyone know where the Benbecula branch of the Royal British Legion is based.
Benbecula?
Anon 9.37 Could you tell us where in Benbecula as I would like to join.
Post a Comment