"Crown Estate putting Pentland Firth development at risk by delay" Thurso
October 15, 2009 12:00 AM
The Crown Estate is putting Britain's lead in marine energy at risk by its delay in awarding leases in the Pentland Firth according to John Thurso the MP for the far north. John raised these concerns in a Commons debate yesterday, and Scottish Secretary Jim Murphy, who was recently up in Caithness for the annual Caithness Conference, agreed to try and speed up progress.
Would be developers are apparently frustrated by the Crown Estate postponing the awards from this autumn until well into the new year. John is worried that delays will not only encourage companies to look elsewhere for investment, depriving the area of a growth industry which create a large number of jobs, but is potentially putting Britain's world lead in maritime power at risk.
John compared the attitude of the Crown Estate to that of the USA where Washington is doing everything in its power to develop this fledgling industry. "Faced with going somewhere where they will be welcomed with open arms and a straightforward regulatory process or somewhere with a highly complicated process which keeps getting delayed, it's a no-brainer which one developers would choose… We're not there yet, but we need to be careful not to squander this opportunity."
The Crown Estate, a quango based in London, owns the right to the seabed out to the 12 mile international limit. The Crown Estate received a total of 42 applications from 20 companies.
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