SCOTLAND'S richest man is locked in a new battle over a spaceport that neighbours his land.
Anders Holch Povlsen, who launched an unsuccessful legal challenge to overturn planning consent for Sutherland Spaceport, is now fighting a proposal to move the facility’s antenna park to the top of an iconic mountain.
Mr Povlsen’s conservation and ecotourism company, Wildland Ltd, is objecting to the controversial plan to separate the antenna park from the main spaceport site on the A’Mhoine peninsula and instead install it some five miles away on the summit of the 302m high Ben Tongue.
Wildland Ltd is now calling on members of Highland Council’s North Planning Applications Committee (NPAC), who are expected to determine the planning application later this year, to visit the site before making a decision.
The company’s objection, prepared by Wildland Ltd planning consultant Ian Kelly, states: “It is considered absolutely essential that the councillors conduct a full and detailed site visit to the Ben Tongue location before determining this application.”
Eight objections to the plan have so far been received, including one from Rachel and Ian Broughton who live at the foot of Ben Tongue and from Hamish Whittle, Skerray, who said the proposal would “destroy” Ben Tongue and was an act of “utter vandalism”.
Amid the increasing opposition, a representative from orbital launch services company Orbex, which is developing and will operate Sutherland Spaceport - work on which started last May - has been invited to speak to Tongue, Melness and Skerray Community Council at its meeting next Tuesday about the relocation plan.
The community council has yet to make its views known to Highland Council.
The significance of the adverse effects from the antenna park would be more starkly obvious had it been a separate planning application
The company’s objection
Orbex announced last year that it was seeking planning permission for changes to the layout and design of the spaceport, permission for which was granted in 2020.
As well as moving the antenna park, the company wants to make a number of changes to the main spaceport site, including reducing the size of the launch pad area.
Lesley Still, chief of spaceport operations, said at the time that the company had inherited the spaceport design from Highlands and Islands Enterprise and that when it was reviewed it became clear that the flight of the rockets could not be tracked from the main site.
Billionaire Mr Povlsen, who owns the Ben Loyal, Braesgill, Hope, Eriboll, Polla, Kinloch and Strathmore estates in Sutherland, objected to the original planning application for the spaceport, citing concerns about its impact on vulnerable protected areas.
Wildland Ltd challenged the Highland Council’s planning permission and a judicial review was held at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.
However Judge Lord Doherty dismissed the case saying he was not satisfied that the “ground of challenge is well founded”.
In the latest submission, Mr Kelly states that Wildland Ltd’s land and development interests would be affected by the implementation of the spaceport project.
He states that Orbex should not have included the Ben Tongue antenna park site in the same planning application as the main spaceport site.
His submission reads: “The significance of the adverse effects from the antenna park would be more starkly obvious had it been a separate planning application.
It is easy to imagine that many interested spectators might be drawn to this elevated viewpoint
The company’s objection
"Perhaps the approach that is being taken reflects a lack of confidence in being able to secure a planning permission for a standalone antenna park”.
Wildland Ltd is concerned about lighting and noise on the summit of Ben Tongue from the rocket launches, particularly those taking place at night; the impact of the antenna park on protected species on Ben Tongue; and the impact of increased traffic and visitors.
Mr Kelly states: “It is easy to imagine that many interested spectators might be drawn to this elevated viewpoint.”
Among the other objectors to the spaceport application is John Williams, a retired physics teacher who lives in Talmine.
He said: “The installation on Ben Tongue (existing telecommunications infrastructure) is already visually unappealing. The addition proposed will elevate it to be an even more blatant abomination - one visible for miles in many directions except when in cloud.”
Fashion tycoon Mr Povlsen fought the Sutherland spaceport, but finally declared peace on Earth with the UK's first vertical satellite launch facility.
ANDERS Holch Povlsen is a Danish businessman who made his fortune in retail. He is the largest shareholder in the online giant Asos and a large investor in Zalando.
He is Scotland’s largest landowner, with more than 220,000 acres over 13 estates, and has been investing heavily in conservation for several years.
Mr Povlsen is said to be worth £8.5 billion.
In 2017 he bought the Jenners building on Princes Street in Edinburgh, reportedly for £53 million and plans to renovate the building, including a hotel and rooftop restaurant.
Mr Povlsen is also one of the backers of Prince William's Earthshot Prize.
It was announced in 2022 that Wildland Ltd and spaceport developer HIE had signed a memorandum of understanding.
Both parties confirmed their commitment to work constructively on opportunities for sustainable economic and community development in and around Tongue, Melness and Skerray.
Each will also continue separately to support their own initiatives that they consider appropriate for the local area and for the sustainable development of the space sector in the Highlands and Islands.
A third signatory to the memorandum is Braesgill Ltd, a sister company to Wildland, which holds a sporting lease with Melness Crofters Estate on which the spaceport is being built.
In the memorandum, HIE agreed that, until at least 2029, it will operate the site using a single launch pad and restrict launches to 12 per year as provided for by its planning permission.
Wildland also agreed not to object to planning applications or variations submitted by HIE in relation to the site - but crucially, as long as these are for minor adjustments and there is no increase of infrastructure or launch activity planned as a result of any application.
Ironically Mr Povlsen put £1.43m into the SaxaVord Spaceport on Unst, which was granted a range license by the Civil Aviation Authority in April and is preparing for the first orbital launch in the autumn.
