HC Deb 23 May 1973 vol 857 cc438-40
2. Mr. Douglas

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make a statement on the number and nature of sites considered by his Department as suitable bases for oil-related developments.

The Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Gordon Campbell)

Sites will be required for many kinds of development. Possible refinery sites in Scotland have been studied. Recently my Department issued a discussion paper about sites for building oil production platforms. Sites for other purposes are kept under review.

Mr. Douglas

I thank the Secretary of State for that reply. Will he consider the wider dissemination of the information that he has produced in the discussion paper, especially the possibility of making it available to hon. Members, who have experienced considerable difficulty in getting it? Secondly, will he undertake to give an assurance that no one in his Department is associated financially with companies which may have an interest in developing these sites or in any other oil-related developments?

Mr. Campbell

On the first matter raised by the hon. Gentleman, this is a continuous process of trying to assist local authorities and, where helpful, with consultative documents because of new techniques and new methods continually being introduced as well as the new exploration and discoveries as exploration proceeds north and west. The hon. Gentleman's second point raises a much wider question which I could not possibly answer now, though I recognise his concern.

Mr. Wolrige-Gordon

Will my right hon. Friend clarify to the people of Scotland the reasons why the heavy construction work, especially that involved in building oil rigs, consequential upon the North Sea oil industry cannot be done more easily in those parts of Scotland where there is a tradition of heavy engineering and where there is still labour available?

Mr. Campbell

This is one of the matters that we wish to see fitted together. I was glad to enable planning permission to be given at Ardyne Point, which is an area near enough to Glasgow and the high unemployment zones. The consultative document on platform production to which the hon. Member for East Stirlingshire (Mr. Douglas) referred brings out the particular conditions and requirements which are needed and considers without any kind of commitment the parts of the coast where these operations can be carried out.

Mr. Ross

Apart from responding to inquiries of individual local authorities, surely it is becoming more and more obvious that we require a much more comprehensive planning approach to this problem. Do important matters of this kind come under the recent remit to Lord Polwarth?

Mr. Campbell

Yes. Naturally, because it is related to the oil industry, this is one of the matters with which he will be concerned and on which he will be co-ordinating. But I agree with the right hon. Gentleman that, as this new industry develops more and more techniques, more and more requirements appear. It is the business of the Government to assist in every way. This is what we are doing.

Mr. Norman Lamont

Did my right hon. Friend notice the statement in The Times last Saturday by Ian Peters, the executive director of Onshore Investments, the parent company of Nordport, that it now controls the staggering total of 40,000 acres in the Shetland Isles and the implied threat that it would not sell this land at an excessive profit unless it was left with no alternative by the Shetland County Council? Will he keep an eye on the situation and ensure that no financial group, however well connected, will be able to undermine the strongly supported plans of the Shetland County Council?

Mr. Campbell

I am aware of reports of this kind in the Press. A Private Bill, promoted by the Shetland County Council, which is at present before Parliament, is concerned with these and other matters.

Mr. Maclennan

What does the Secretary of State mean by saying that Lord Polwarth will co-ordinate planning? Does he mean that the noble Lord will be sitting in judgment on planning inquiries and giving his personal decision, or is it still with the Secretary of State? Is this a double banking of planning? What does it amount to? When the Dunnet Bay inquiry comes before him, who will finally judge on it?

Mr. Campbell

I said that my noble Friend would be co-ordinating on the whole question of platform construction. The planning responsibilities, laid down by the Scottish Planning Acts, clearly fall upon the Secretary of State for Scotland. Hon. Members on both sides of the House have agreed that it is necessary to help and assist with advice before planning applications are put in. It is not possible to state categorically that any particular project will go to a certain site until it has been through the planning procedures, and there is a great deal of help, advice and information which can be given before that.