§ 2.35 p.m.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they can state the present position in regard to the proposed guided missile range on the island of South Uist.]
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF DEFENCE (LORD CARRINGTON)My Lords, sites for the proposed guided missile range will be required on North Uist, Benbecula and South Uist. I visited the islands a fortnight ago and had discussions with many of the people who will be affected. The present position is that the plans for the siting of the necessary installations have been drawn up in some detail and these are about to be sent by the Air Ministry to the Department of Health for Scotland who, in the usual way, will invite the comments of the Inverness County Council and all bodies who may have an interest in the area, in order to give them an opportunity of expressing any objection they may have and of making suggestions for overcoming them.
VISCOUNT ELIBANKMy Lords, I beg to thank the noble Lord for his Answer. I am grateful to him, and I know the islanders are, for his personal interest in this matter and for his help in assuaging certain of their fears and uncertainties. May I ask the noble Lord this question? Under the scheme, will the nesting and feeding areas for those extremely rare birds, the red-necked phalarope and the hen harrier, and also the breeding grounds of the greylag goose, be made, so far as it is possible to do so, into an absolute sanctuary?
LORD SALTOUNMy Lords, before the noble Lord replies, may I ask whether the archæeological interests in the sites have been considered and will be safeguarded in carrying out the necessary work?
§ LORD CARRINGTONMy Lords, in answer to the noble Viscount's question, I may say that the boundaries in South Uist of the proposed rangehead have been drawn up in consultation with the Nature Conservancy Board, and they feel, I think, that the arrangements will not interfere with the nesting of these birds. With regard to my noble friend's question, we are very much aware of the number of archæeological remains, such as wheelhouses, on the islands, and for some time past there has been a representative of the Ministry of Works there plotting where the wheelhouses are. I gave an undertaking in your Lordships' House last year that these wheelhouses would either be excavated before the sites were developed or be preserved.