Significant new development is planned for the navy base at Faslane – but good luck to anyone trying to find out what it is.
The Ministry of Defence has announced that it is seeking approval for ‘Structures 22 and 23’ at HM Naval Base Clyde, ‘describing them as ‘maritime construction works’.
The proposal has been advertised, but with no statement as to what it actually is – although there is a lot of detail about why normal marine licensing laws don’t apply and they are not included in Marine Scotland’s list of recent applications.
The MoD now needs planning permission from a local council for most new buildings, but there are exceptions to this – such as the loophole which Argyll and Bute Council cited this year as the reason why it did not take action over empty MoD buildings, despite a ‘housing emergency’.
And the Faslane plans are not on public display – instead anyone wanting to see them has to email to make an appointment at an unnamed location (the naval base, which is protected by armed guards?).
The Royal Navy’s press office at Faslane has not made the information available following a request more than two weeks ago, and which has been repeated since then, though they did find time to send out a press release about a black-tie awards event in Glasgow.
So to summarise – we know there will be two structures, but not what they are or where they will be, let alone how much they will cost.
It may well be that they are entirely benign and unobtrusive – but having to make an appointment just to find out what they are is unacceptable.
The details must be made available online immediately, in a format which is easy to understand.
The advert, which is worded in a manner that could kindly be called technical, appeared on the website of a Glasgow-based newspaper – so must have cost hundreds of pounds.
The full wording is reproduced below:
Ministry of Defence Approval for Construction Projects
HMNB Clyde: Structure 22 and Structure 23 project
Notice is hereby given that the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) has applied for approval to carry out marine construction at HMNB Clyde Faslane.
The Ministry of Defence is the key decision-making authority for this project under Schedule 5 of The Scotland Act (1998), defence is a reserved matter and therefore the marine licensing provisions of the Marine (Scotland) Act 210 do not apply (MSA Section 34 1)
This is an established position between the MoD and the Scottish Government.
To ensure good practice and compliance with EC directives and other international commitments, the Secretary of State for Defence’s ‘Health Safety and Environmental Protection (HS&EP) in Defence policy statement requires that: “Where Defence has exemptions, derogations or dis-applications from HS&EP legislation we will maintain Departmental arrangements that produce outcomes that are, so far as reasonably practical, at least as good as those required by UK legislation.
Therefore the MoD intends to undertake a process which mirrors the marine licensing and EIA processes that would be required for non-defence marine construction projects in Scotland.
Copies of the application, including plans showing the location, the proposed works in more detail and presenting an analysis of the environmental implications, are available for inspection free of charge by appointment only. To arrange an appointment for viewing of the application please contact the applicant via email at marinepublicnotices@atkinsglobal.com
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