The final item of business today is a members’ business debate on motion S4M-12526, in the name of John Scott, on Prestwick airport spaceport bid. The debate will be concluded without any question being put.
Motion debated,
That the Parliament welcomes the inclusion of Glasgow Prestwick Airport in the shortlist of sites being considered to host the UK’s first spaceport; believes that the location of a spaceport at Glasgow Prestwick Airport would represent an opportunity to increase the airport’s revenue, enhance the reputation of the Prestwick aerospace campus as a centre of excellence and provide a boost for the Ayrshire economy, and notes the view that the airport should be promoted as Scotland’s preferred bidder to be the UK’s first commercial spaceport.
17:04
I thank colleagues from all parties for their support for my motion and for taking part in the debate.
Since 1913, when Monkton meadows was first used for manned flight, Prestwick has been at the forefront of pioneering flight. In 1935, Hamilton and McIntyre created Scottish Aviation at Prestwick, which is still the blueprint for the airport and aerospace hub that surrounds Prestwick today. The 1950s and 1960s saw Prestwick pioneer transatlantic flight from the United Kingdom. Now, just over 100 years after the first flight from Monkton meadows, another Scottish and UK pioneering opportunity exists at Prestwick airport.
So what opportunity does a UK spaceport represent? No longer is space the “final frontier”, to borrow a phrase. In our modern world, it is the next frontier. We must urgently grasp with both hands the opportunity to develop the space industry.
Mr Scott, could I stop you for a moment? Could the back door be closed, please? I am afraid that noise is drifting into the chamber.
The UK space sector has a turnover of £11.3 billion and employs 34,000 people. The target is to grow our UK space industry to £40 billion turnover in the next 15 years and to create 100,000 jobs in the process. The major barrier to that growth is the lack of a UK spaceport. While America and Russia lead the way in this industry, we in the United Kingdom must create our own spaceport, and we must do so soon in order to capture our share of the growing satellite launch and deployment market, and to position ourselves for space travel and space tourism in due course.
If we accept that we must develop a spaceport, the next question is where is best suited to our doing so. I suggest that the location of choice in Scotland and the United Kingdom is Prestwick airport. First, Prestwick airport is already home to a diversified manufacturing aerospace industry and a maintenance, repair and overhaul hub. There are more than 3,000 jobs in our world-class aerospace hub and its supply chain at Prestwick. Creating, building and maintaining pioneering and existing aircraft is part of our DNA at Prestwick and throughout Ayrshire. The Twin Pioneer and the Jetstream 31 and 41 aircraft are perhaps the most iconic examples of that.
Our local community has always welcomed innovation at our airport and in our aerospace industry. It takes particular pride in Prestwick’s history and a keen and supportive interest in its future. More than 800 acres of land is available to and used by this already diversified airport, and significant land is available for future growth. First-class road and rail links now exist; motorway connections from Glasgow and central Scotland are available to the front door of Prestwick airport and there are now, in addition, direct rail links to the airport from Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Prestwick already handles civil passengers, freight, United Kingdom and NATO military aircraft, as well as search and rescue from HMS Gannet. NATS Ltd has one of its two UK centres less than a kilometre from the airport, where it employs more than 700 dedicated professionals in the air traffic control industry. With clear and uncluttered airspace all the way to the north pole, Prestwick is also ideally placed within the United Kingdom for high inclination polar launches.
On his last comment about airspace, does John Scott accept that Prestwick is not unique and that Machrihanish would fit that criterion, too?
Yes—of course I accept that point.
I turn to other aspects that make Prestwick the location of choice in Scotland and, indeed, the United Kingdom. One is the weather conditions at Prestwick, which are due to its location in the rain shadow of Arran. The launch delays at Cape Canaveral over the past 40 years because of cloud cover will have crept into the consciousness of colleagues. Prestwick airport was located where it is because of the lack of cloud cover—a fact that saved the lives of many American and British fliers during the second world war. That fortunate and deliberately selected geographical location is now also important to commercial space operations, with Prestwick having the lowest prevalence of cloud cover when compared with competitor English and Welsh airports, according to available Met Office statistics.
Prestwick’s concrete runway is also of sufficient length to accommodate space flight launches, unlike the runways at Newquay and Llanbedr, both of which would require extension to bring them up to a minimum standard. In the time that is available, those are some of the key reasons why Prestwick is the location of choice not just in Scotland, but in the UK as a whole.
What is needed now is for the Scottish Government to come to an early decision on which airport will be the preferred Scottish option and then to throw its weight behind that choice.
Make no mistake—the bids for Newquay in Cornwall or Llanbedr in Wales to be the locations for the spaceport are already being lobbied for extensively within the corridors of power at Westminster and in America, while our own bid team at Prestwick is only modestly resourced by South Ayrshire Council and Prestwick Airport Ltd.
Prestwick could be described as a late entrant to that very competitive field, but with support its obvious attributes should make it a clear winner in the Scotland and UK bidding processes. The strength and depth of the Prestwick bid team should also be noted, with widespread support coming from the aerospace sector, which is keen to develop and build on its internationally recognised skill set.
Support has also been forthcoming from South Ayrshire Council, the University of the West of Scotland, the University of Strathclyde, Ayrshire College and Ayrshire Chamber of Commerce, but perhaps most important of all is the support of the local people of Prestwick, Ayr and Troon for this pioneering project.
Minister, the choice is yours: I urge you and the Scottish Government to select Prestwick airport as Scotland’s choice for the spaceport and then to support Prestwick airport as the location of choice for a spaceport in the UK. Thank you.
17:12
I congratulate John Scott on securing the debate, which is on a subject that both of us are happy to work together to promote. For the benefit of members, although the airport falls within John Scott’s constituency, the aerospace part lies within mine.
In any case, the whole of Ayrshire is united in its desire to see the aerospace industry and the airport thrive and prosper after some difficult trading years post the 2008 crash. Forecasts for the sector as a whole over the next 15 years are extremely good, with several aerospace markets set to double in size.
Currently the UK aerospace sector accounts for 17 per cent of global market share—second only to the USA. Prestwick is the largest cluster in Scotland: it accounts for more than 50 per cent of the Scottish aerospace workforce, contributes some £400 million to the local economy and supports 3,200 jobs.
The question is how to secure the future of Prestwick and take advantage of that growth. For me, winning the bid to become the UK’s first operational spaceport will go a long way towards achieving that objective.
The UK Government is seeking to establish such a facility by 2018. It will become a launch station for next-generation satellites and space instruments using the modern generation of horizontal take-off space launch vehicles and, in due course, will become an operating base for manned flights using reusable spacecraft.
Prestwick has to be the preferred bidder from a Scottish perspective. There is an experienced high-tech aerospace workforce in the substantial aviation and engineering companies on site, and the Scottish Government has awarded the aerospace park enterprise area status.
Our universities in the west of Scotland are at the forefront of space and engineering research and technology. If that is coupled with the airport’s established physical infrastructure, which includes a 3km runway, safe over-water flight paths, clear airspace, an enviable weather record and well-developed transport connections to the rest of Scotland, the case becomes incontrovertible.
Surely it is a no-brainer that Prestwick should maximise the value that can come to Scotland from space sector growth. That does not mean that other potential Scottish locations should be left out in the cold. Prestwick could operate Machrihanish as a diversionary location and for special tests operations. Highlands and Islands locations should be developed for ground station networks.
A bid that incorporates those features would have every chance of success. Scotland would clearly be best placed for UK satellite launch and polar orbit deployments and for ground stations for satellite data capture. I urge the minister to throw the Scottish Government’s weight behind such a bid.
17:16
I, too, congratulate John Scott on securing this debate on Prestwick airport’s spaceport bid. I must apologise to members in advance: I will have to leave before the end of the debate, because I have another engagement.
On 26 February, Prestwick airport was accepted as one of the preferred bidders for the UK spaceport. The other airports that made the shortlist were those of Campbeltown, Stornoway, Newquay in Cornwall and Llanbedr in Wales. I am pleased to say that, since then, the Prestwick team has been very busy in its endeavours to secure the bid for the only UK spaceport.
Prestwick airport is delighted to have commissioned Reynolds, Smith & Hills, which is the premier US designer in the spaceport industry, to prepare a logically and technically strong bid that meets the US licensing framework. The airport feels that that consultant will be a great advantage and of great assistance to it.
The Prestwick team is the only UK contender to have attended the US Space Foundation event recently. That was hugely beneficial, informative and useful in making contacts within the spaceport industry and helpful in the team’s preparation of the bid.
Prestwick airport is critical to not only the North Ayrshire economy; it is critical to East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire as well. If it were chosen to be the UK spaceport, that would be a huge game changer for not only Ayrshire, but all of Scotland. If it were accepted, it could be used as the take-off point for space tourism under proposals from Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and XCOR Aerospace for space expeditions. However, turning Prestwick into the UK’s first spaceport would not mean just space tourism for the super-rich; it would allow Ayrshire to capitalise on and play a key role in satellite launching and manufacturing, as well as in the space science sector, which is currently earning around £11.3 billion in revenues. That figure grew by 7.2 per cent between 2011 and 2013, despite the recession.
At this stage, the UK has no satellite launch facilities of its own, so the facility would be the first of its kind and would open up Prestwick to an untapped wealth of future potential. That would have a huge impact on the Scottish economy through the promotion of skilled jobs, training facilities, opportunities for high-tech suppliers and services, and the boost for tourism.
Prestwick airport is, hands down, the best site in the UK. It is well connected by both road and rail. Furthermore, if Glasgow crossrail were pursued, the airport would be connected by rail to the whole of Scotland, which no other Scottish airport would be. As we have heard already, it also has excellent weather reliability, and it is the main diversion site if other airports have to be closed due to bad weather.
Finally, the site offers an attractive long main runway and a varied and established business environment and engineering sector through the international aerospace park and enterprise zone. That would be easy to expand and build on if the spaceport bid was accepted.
Now that Prestwick is among the final five, it is in a strong position to become the site of the UK spaceport. Prestwick not only meets the criteria but surpasses them. It has the skills, the space, the transport links and, bizarrely for Ayrshire, the good weather. The best way forward is to have one bid from Scotland, so that Scottish bids are not competing against one another. I hope that the airports can come to an agreement on a joint Scottish bid that would be mutually beneficial for all involved and could present a combined offer with a range of strengths and benefits. I am eager to see that approach as a solution and I hope that it can be developed into a winning bid.
I will campaign vigorously from now until the announcement is made later this year to ensure that the first spaceport, which is due by 2018, is Scottish and is based at Prestwick, because it has all the attributes that are required. I hope that the Scottish Government will back the bid.
17:20
I am delighted that John Scott has brought this debate to the Parliament. I have had a love affair with Prestwick since I was a European business manager with Digital in Ayr. We regularly flew to sister companies by Bandeirante to Shannon and by Lear to Geneva. I was therefore surprised by the airport’s decline when I returned to Scotland and to Ayrshire after 25 years. Any suggestion that the airport might close was anathema to me and to many others.
I do not diminish the notion and passion that accompany the desire of other Scottish airports to become the UK’s permanent spaceport but, leaving parochialism aside, the questions in the Department for Transport consultation on supporting commercial spaceplane operations in the UK lead to only one outcome. On that basis, at the time of the DFT announcement, I said in a press release that Prestwick, which was one of the sites in the shortlist, would benefit from ultimate selection, and that the UK Space Agency in general would benefit from that, too.
I believe that Prestwick would secure at least the expected 10 per cent of the global space economy, which would boost not just Ayrshire and Scotland but the wider UK, through industry, economic growth and research and development. As John Scott said, the space economy already contributes £11.3 billion to the UK economy and supports nearly 35,000 jobs. By 2018, we can see immense growth in the deployment of, for example, variable-size satellites via new launcher technology and, of course, trans-global suborbital flights. It would not be the first time that Prestwick has been the base that is associated with man going where no man has gone before. The airport was founded by the Marquis of Clydesdale and D F McIntyre, who were the first to fly over Everest, in 1933.
We can and we will wax lyrical about Prestwick. There are two major concrete soft runways, of 3,000m and 2,000m in length. It has a weather record that is second to none. The föhn effect creates a warm and largely fog-free microclimate with little rain, and that is not available elsewhere in Scotland. There is extensive maintenance and repair operation capability and an aerospace campus at the University of West Scotland that also involves the colleges. There are aerospace skills and passion, with the largest community of space industry employees outside London. There are also space programmes at the University of Glasgow, the University of Strathclyde and the University of Dundee. There is more, such as the national air traffic control centre at Prestwick. However, above all, it is a resilience airport with high skills and military experience and it is the UK’s primary strategic diversion airfield.
I referred to the DFT consultation on the feasibility of locations for the spaceport. I will mention just two of the 11 questions. Question 2 asked whether the location should
“still be active but at a low level of aircraft movements”
and whether it
“should have existing and appropriate ground infrastructure/facilities and service provision”.
A view was expressed that
“The combination of several sub-orbital operations a day with moderate aircraft traffic, commercial service, military service and general aviation could be co-ordinated.”
Question 8 received a Government response that
“the safety of the uninvolved general public”
is “paramount” and that the Civil Aviation Authority’s
“strong recommendation on a coastal location for spaceplane operations is valid”.
Those are just two questions on which Prestwick fulfils the criteria.
For those and many other reasons, without in any way denigrating other propositions, I support the view that Prestwick is it. Those who are driving the bid—Stuart McIntyre and his team—are doing a great job. For me, the love affair continues as do the belief and dream that Prestwick’s positive future is not only in the stars but in getting there.
17:25
I congratulate John Scott on securing the debate and I agree that Scotland should be the location of choice for the spaceport.
I am not here to rain on Prestwick’s parade—or not completely. I supported the Scottish Government’s purchase of Prestwick when I was a member of the Cabinet. Indeed, when I was growing up in Troon in Ayrshire in the 1960s, I used to go plane spotting at Prestwick airport. I remember seeing the Dan-Air Dakotas going to the Isle of Man, a regular service that operated at that time. I watched the passengers troop on and then realised that one of them must be the stewardess because she changed her hat just before she got into the plane.
However, the debate would not be complete without seriously considering the merits of Machrihanish. I will say why I believe that Machrihanish and Campbeltown are the places that should be boldly going into the race and ready to serve the final frontier.
The criteria for the choice are interesting indeed. There should be a runway with a minimum length of 3,000m. Machrihanish, of course, has a runway of just over 3,000m; unfortunately, Prestwick does not. Indeed, the parallel taxiway at Machrihanish is almost the same length as Prestwick’s runway.
There should be a coastal area. It is interesting to note that Campbeltown has coast on three sides, not just on one. That would be an important criterion.
On population density, Kintyre’s population density is 0.13 persons per hectare compared with the Scottish average of 0.65.
Campbeltown is also served by a deep-water port with three piers, one of which is a NATO pier. Indeed, in those modern port facilities there is a roll-on, roll-off facility that is used to taking large cargoes.
On the point that Mr Brodie just raised that there should be a limited amount of aviation traffic, I have to say, regrettably, that aviation traffic at Campbeltown is even more limited than the present aviation traffic at Prestwick, as it consists of two aircraft services a day.
Does Michael Russell also agree that Machrihanish is the only UK airport that has twice been approved for space flight?
How prescient of Mr McGrigor. I was just coming to that point, which features in the Campbeltown airport briefing. The airport has been approved twice for space flight—once by NASA and once by Virgin Galactic—so it has an advantage over all the other contenders.
Campbeltown is also a community-owned facility—that is an important point for the Scottish Government with its enthusiasm for community ownership. It has 1,000 acres of opportunity. There are 50 companies already operating on the site, but there is no shortage of space. It also has three jet fuel storage facilities and is capable of taking a substantial amount of fuel. If the fuel for the space flights were to be hydrogen, it could be produced from the existing renewable energy plants on the Kintyre peninsula.
On every criterion, there is an argument to be made for Campbeltown that is every bit as good as the argument for Prestwick. I do not want to see the matter as one place against the other, although that is what we have come down to. Mr Ingram’s view that there might be a possibility of collaboration is a good one, and I would like that to happen.
The people of Campbeltown ask—indeed, demand—that there should be a level playing field when the Scottish location is considered. It is fairly obvious that Campbeltown has the longest and most level playing field of any of the Scottish contenders. I hope that the Government will continue to take it seriously.
Notwithstanding his reasonable comments about Machrihanish, does Mr Russell agree that Prestwick’s particularly distinguishing attributes are the 3,000 people in the maintenance, repair and overhaul hub around the airport, as well as the motorway, rail and port accessibility, which could trump Machrihanish?
I think that those are good points to make, but I think that Campbeltown is accessible and could be even more so.
On the issue of jobs, the potential for creating new jobs in a spaceport is fairly great. This is not simply about sustaining jobs—indeed, we do not know how many of those jobs could be sustained, as there are many different attributes that are required for the space industries that do not exist in the aviation industries. However, the potential for creating new jobs on a community-owned site is substantial.
I hope that the minister will look kindly at what is a friendly rivalry that might contain the potential for co-operation. However, Campbeltown deserves to be considered. The time is coming for Cape Campbeltown.
17:30
A challenge has been set out for me today to choose between the two remaining bids in Scotland. However, I will resist it, because that taste of the debate between Michael Russell and John Scott shows the strengths of the two sites.
Of course, the choice will not be for the Scottish Government, because the matter is reserved to the Westminster Government. All extraterrestrial matters are reserved to it and, no matter how good a result the Scottish National Party might get on 7 May, I am not sure that the decision will transfer to the Scottish Government. We will back both bids and support both locations.
I note that, between Michael Russell and John Scott, there was the middle way of Adam Ingram and Chic Brodie. Margaret McDougall touched on the Prestwick bid’s strengths, and John Finnie intervened to point out the strength of the Campbeltown-Machrihanish location.
One reason why I will resist the temptation to back one bid over another is that I am not sure that it would add any extra value. The Scottish Government is clear that we want the spaceport to be located in Scotland, and we will do what we can to secure that, while recognising the strengths and the opportunities of the bids.
In a sense, the debate seems somewhat futuristic. However, as John Scott and others pointed out, the economic benefits are real and are in many ways already here, given Scotland’s contribution to this growing sector and the industry. Latest figures show that Scotland accounts for just under 5 per cent of the total turnover in the UK’s space sector and for 16 per cent of the jobs. There is an ambitious target for Scotland to seize 1 per cent of the global space sector market by 2030. That percentage might not sound like much but, in economic value, it represents £4 billion a year to the Scottish economy, so it is a prize that is absolutely worth pursuing. A spaceport could generate a step change in the industry by stimulating further growth in manufacturing, research and development, design and tourism, and it would contribute to the sense of location, wherever is selected.
We have supported the bids, but we will be even more supportive when the timescales are made clear by the UK Government and the final criteria are established. That is another reason not to rule out either bid. We do not want to end up rejecting a substantial and legitimate bid.
With regard to the economic benefits, the economic opportunity and the sense of location, both bids are strong. That said, Prestwick airport has made considerable progress, as it has key local and national partners involved in its bid. Scottish Enterprise will continue to support both bids.
Previously, members have asked about the other bids. It has been for other agencies to pursue those bids. Highlands and Islands Airports has made its position clear, and the Ministry of Defence, by its silence or its reluctance to comment, has made clear its position on its preferred locations.
Clear technical requirements will need to be fulfilled for any bid to be successful. However, there is a strong case around the added value that any location brings in terms of the space industry.
This will be significant for Scotland and in a UK and European context, for the reasons that John Scott gave. I congratulate him again on securing the debate. The focus will be on the launch of satellites, tourism, destinations and the other benefits that the spaceport would bring.
This members’ business debate is about Prestwick. John Scott has covered the infrastructure at the location, the history and the potential that is presented. Even the weather is used—uniquely—as an asset and a positive in a Scottish context. Scotland is the only country in the world where we can have four seasons in one day, but at the location in Prestwick, that is a clear advantage, for the reasons that have been given.
We will back both bids as they progress. As all becomes clearer through the UK Government, we will support them through individual support and, I hope, collaboration, as a number of members said. The choice for a spaceport in the UK should be in Scotland, so that we can maximise the benefits and take advantage of the immense potential that our people and destinations can offer. In that sense, we whole-heartedly support both bids and look forward to working enthusiastically with the partners to secure the spaceport for Scotland.
Meeting closed at 17:36.Previous
Decision Time