Delight as people power kills off oil plan
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AXING plans for controversial ship-to-ship oil transfers in the Cromarty Firth is a major success for ‘people power’, delighted community figures believe.
The Port of Cromarty Firth this week confirmed that it was mothballing its plans for the open water oil transfers, amid a wave of protests that they risked causing irreparable damage to the ecosystem and the resident bottlenose dolphin population.
In its community newsletter the trust port announced that “due to higher priority projects the port will not be pursuing the re-submission of our ship-to-ship at anchor application”.
It did not wish to comment further when approached by the North Star. But the news comes after it confirmed plans for a £30m energy and cruise hub expansion at Invergordon.
Cromarty Rising, a protest group set up to oppose the oil transfers, is delighted at the news, but added that it would “remain vigilant” to ensure the plans are “never resurrected”.
Thanking its supporters, it said: [It’s] not an admission of defeat by the port but the nearest we will ever see in print and, for whatever reason, it’s great for the communities and environment of the Inner Moray Firth that this project has finally been dropped and testament to what people can do when we get together for a common cause.”
More than 100,000 people signed an online petition opposing the transfers.
And Highland Green MSP John Finnie believes this “people power” and “great work” by Cromarty Rising and fellow protest group Nairn Rising was a factor in this “victory”.
Kate Forbes, the SNP MSP for the Black Isle, said the decision demonstrated that “the most remote communities in Scotland have great weight”.
In other news affecting the Port of Cromarty Firth one of Europe’s top civil engineering firms has won the contract to build a new £30 million energy and cruise hub at the site.
The port has announced that Roadbridge UK will build the new hub, which will create an estimated 16 new full-time jobs through the construction and operation phases.
The hub is being built to cope with increasing demand from offshore renewable schemes and to accommodate a boom in the number of cruise ships visiting Invergordon.
Bob Buskie, chief executive of the port, said: “This is a hugely complex job with a very tight schedule, so we are delighted to be working with Roadbridge. They won this contract against very stiff competition from six other leading contractors. Their team is totally committed to ensuring the port’s communities benefit from this build in line with our own trust port philosophy.”
Construction of a 218m long quayside with steel piles will start in January. There will also be a new retaining wall and nine-acres of land reclamation.
