Ardersier Port joins Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport consortium
Port owners say the prize is too important to not be involved.
Port owners say the prize is too important to not be involved.
A veteran politician who has seen the low-tax zones come and go in his city fears mistakes of the past have not been learned for Scottish projects.
Scotland’s First Minister is upbeat about the prospects for a major north-east decarbonistion project, amid growing uncertainty about its future.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says he “completely believes” awarding green freeport status to the Opportunity Cromarty Firth (OCF) consortium will entice young people to stay in the region and address the thorny question of depopulation in the Highlands.
A successful bid to establish one of Scotland’s two freeports around the Forth will bring with it billions of pounds of investment and 50,000 green jobs, its backers said.
Confusion still surrounds when an announcement will be made on the successful Scottish green freeport bids.
With an increase in the tax imposed on North Sea oil and gas is considered “inevitable”, a speaker at a business event in Aberdeen called for the north-east region to be recompensed with a green free port to ensure jobs are retained and the transition to low carbon energy is achieved.
Heavyweight backers of the Opportunity Cromarty Firth (OCF) consortium’s green freeport bid insist the status would be a “vital catalyst” for long-term local and national benefits.
Never more than now has the world needed the expertise, the vision and the sheer graft of the north and north-east people.
Oil and gas removals firm CessCon Decom is to create up to 50 jobs with a new decommissioning base at the Port of Aberdeen.
A plant to make low-carbon aviation fuel from waste could create up to 920 jobs in Peterhead and be worth £133 million to the local economy.
Billionaire Sir Ian Wood has led a pledge of “unwavering support” for a bid to win green freeport status in the north east.
Ministers have received a letter urging them to support a bid to create a green freeport Highlands.
The race is warming up to determine the locations for Scotland’s two Green Freeports.