Comhairle reveals it has taken legal advice

The Comhairle highlights that HIAL’s proposal equates to centralisation of services without due regard to the likely socio-economic impacts on the communities served, the views received from staff, local authorities and other stakeholders who have engaged with HIAL since the proposal was first proposed.

The Comhairle also emphasises the relevant Trade Union’s view that expenditure to-date on the project is significantly over budget although there is a general lack of transparency about actual costs.

A spokesman said: “What it does show, however, is that HIAL are pressing on with proposals, irrespective of the Islands Community Impact Assessment and stakeholder opinion.

“With specific regard to the downgrading of Benbecula Airport, the view from the professional community is that the number of airlines prepared to tender for the PSO air route between Benbecula and Stornoway would be limited if Benbecula was designated as an Air Flight Information Service.

“In terms of any economic arguments advanced by HIAL, there is a report by Copenhagen Economic (26 March 2019), which argues that remote towers do not save money when the airport is not competitive.

The key findings can be summarised as follows: “competition is needed to guarantee that cost savings from remote towers benefit the airports and not the providers of air traffic control; competition can generate cost savings that remote towers cannot generate; remote towers are unlikely to achieve savings of the same magnitude as competition; the case for remote towers seems to be exaggerated because required investments in remote towers are underestimated while foregone investments in conventional towers are overestimated; and the risk and associated costs of cyber and physical attacks on centralised remote towers seems to be underestimated”.

Commenign, Councillor Uisdean Robertson, Chair of the Comhairle’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said: “The Comhairle and other stakeholders are firmly opposed to these proposals of centralising ATC and the downgrading of Benbecula Airport which we believe will have a detrimental impact on our Islands’ communities and economies.”

The Comhairle has sought legal advice from counsel in recent weeks on the legitimacy in law of HIAL’s proposals.

Meanwhile the results of a new survey of ATC staff is expected soon.