North politicians weigh in to help in Green Freeport bid
They say the Inverness Cromarty Firth bid will benefit the whole UK, including speeding our progress towards net-zero
A cross-party group of MPs and MSPs hope for an opportunity to provide the North with a "one-in-a-lifetime" opportunity to provide transformational change.
That is how Green Freeport status is being billed, as the UK government is urged to choose Inverness and the Cromarty Firth as one of the locations in Scotland.
The group of SNP, Lib-Dem, Conservative and Labour representatives highlighted the strengths of the bid, including the potential to attract £20-30 billion investment to the area, echoing support voiced by major international offshore energy developers and others.
The letter, to the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, was signed by MPs Ian Blackford, Drew Hendry and Jamie Stone, along with MSPs Edward Mountain, Jamie Halcro Johnston, Donald Cameron, Rhoda Grant and Maree Todd.
In it they said: “The Highland region has particular challenges, lower-than-average incomes and productivity, and multi-generational population decline. It desperately needs new job opportunities to reverse these present trends. We believe this is possible but we need help.
“We have £20-30 billon investment opportunities on our doorstep and Green Freeport status, and its accompanying benefits, is exactly the vehicle we need to ensure they can be realised.”
The locations of two new Green Freeports are expected to be announced by the UK and Scottish governments later this summer. A bid by the Opportunity Cromarty Firth (OCF) consortium submitted last month is competing against four others, from the North-East, the Central Belt and Orkney.
Setting out the arguments in favour of Inverness and the Cromarty Firth, the north politicians said: “The area is uniquely placed to benefit the whole of the UK through energy security, trade and investment, lower cost electricity and speeding progress towards net-zero.
“It can create tens of thousands of high-quality fair, green jobs, thus meeting the Scottish and UK governments’ regeneration, trade and investment and net-zero objectives.
“This bid not only delivers on the Government’s Green Freeport objectives, but also the levelling up agenda; spreading opportunity more equally across Scotland.
“It has the land space, some of the deepest waters and quaysides in the UK, sheltered anchorage locations and a cluster of best-in-class companies working together to compete with leading offshore energy port hubs across Europe.”
They added that Inverness and the Cromarty Firth offers “the only location in Scotland with the port infrastructure and experienced supply chain in place to deliver UK energy security through offshore wind, floating wind, pumped hydro storage, green hydrogen and critical manufacturing for the nuclear sector.”
Speaking on behalf of OCF, Port of Cromarty Firth chief executive, Bob Buskie, said: “We very much welcome this strong show of cross-party support from our elected representatives from across the Highlands for what we are confident is a compelling bid for Green Freeport status for Inverness and the Cromarty Firth.
“It echoes what industry and others have said, pointing out that the area is already in pole position in the development of offshore wind and other technologies needed to deliver UK energy security and lower cost electricity. We also wholeheartedly agree that the Highland economy urgently needs the transformational opportunity that Green Freeport status can bring.”