Controversial mega service station announced for the Orkney Islands
In this guest post, Tam MacLeod, Lead Economics Correspondent at the Orkney Times, writes about the mixed responses to this controversial development.
In a dramatic announcement today in the Scottish Parliament, the SNP announced plans for a mega service station in the Orkney Islands. This will be constructed as part of plans to boost economic development in the Northern Isles. Finlay Campbell, Scottish Minister for Regional Equity, released the following statement:
For too long the people of Orkney have suffered serious inequalities in terms of their access to convenient and cheap fuel. The transport infrastructure of the islands has lagged sadly behind our major cities. This massive investment of £500m will provide a massive boost to the island economy. Moreover, the new service station will attract drivers from all over Scotland, as the fuel will be heavily subsidised to ensure that it is a commercial success, as well as enhancing social justice.
Many people were caught completely off-guard by the announcement and are already asking searching questions. I caught up with the Minister shortly after the announcement and asked him: “Wouldn’t it have been more sensible to build the service station much closer to centres of population, and more easily accessible by motorway?” The Minister’s reply was scathing:
There are already many service stations on our mainland motorway network, but these are simply not accessible to the Orkney Islanders. How is that fair? And don’t forget, this investment will encourage many more tourists to visit the Orkneys. As well as cheap fuel, they will enjoy a range of other facilities, such as a 500-cover restaurant and gift shop, serving locally sourced produce. No-one should be surprised by this announcement. Scottish Independence and Regional Equity are the corner stones of our manifesto.
Later on, I met with Moira Mackenzie, chair of the Friends of Orkney community group. She said “All well and good, but where is it going to go? And how will people, particularly tourists, get here when there are limited ferries from the mainland?” I put this question to Campbell, who responded in his characteristic bombastic fashion:
Of course it will be sited on Orkney Mainland! Anywhere else would be completely ridiculous. Regarding access for tourists, I am pleased to announce that as well as the large investment in the service station itself, we are also going to inject more capital into the ferry services, with a multi-million-pound investment in new ferries, port facilities and training for staff. This investment will unlock many times more investment from commercial companies in a whole series of Public Private Finance Initiatives.
He also outlined plans for new coastal service stations at each ferry port, to remain on standby for those times when ferries could not depart. This would mean that anyone coming to the islands for fuel would never be caught out. I asked about the economics of this approach, but he brushed this aside, claiming that the additional investment would pay back many times over. He explained “This investment will increase tourist numbers dramatically according to model forecasts made by the boffins in my department”.
However, many welcomed the announcement. One such is Finn Leslie, CEO of the Islands Fuel Association, the advocacy group aiming to end island fuel poverty. He made it clear to me that this investment should be welcomed. He explained that the need to build on farmland would be balanced by the many benefits of the scheme, “including but not limited to cheaper fuel and no more queuing”. Farmers would be dealt with fairly since they would be offered large annual rental payments in compensation. We tried contacting the Orkney Farmers Association for a comment, but no-one was available.
Another vote of confidence came from Erin Myles, president of the Orkney Tourist Board. She welcomed how the new service station would serve not just the islanders but would attract tourists from the mainland and all across the world. “The new service station is designed to complement the rugged Orkney landscape and will provide a positive addition to the traditional heritage assets on the islands. Isn’t it about time that we Orcadians had our own Tebay?”
However, there has been a rather embarrassing leak from inside the Department of Regional Equality. A reliable source told me:
Many members of the board voiced serious concerns about the difficulty of accessing the new service station by ferry since the services are frequently disrupted by bad weather. On average, ferries only sail about 30% of the time, and actual crossings can be affected in unpredictable ways. The minister addressed these concerns by pointing to the public funds that would ensure the service station remained viable, guaranteeing 10s of local island jobs.
When I raised this issue with the minister, Campbell explained that part of the investment in the new ferry services would require larger ferries with double the capacity of the older ferries. This meant that when the ferries did cross, they would be able to carry many more vehicles. He explained:
Everyone understands that ferries sail intermittently but by providing larger ferries the average number of vehicles transported will be increased. Anyone claiming not to understand this is wilfully ignoring the consensus position on maritime logistics. I have no time for ferry transport sceptics! We are already in the process of winding down our fishing fleet through our Nets Zero policy, so this maritime investment, with appropriate retraining, will completely revitalise our hard-pressed fishing communities.
So, it seems that this scheme is going ahead, at least for now, despite many objections. Whether the Minister can convince the sceptics remains to be seen but we’ll be keeping a close eye on this as we have heard from our source that this is unlikely to be the last island-based mega service station.