Ian Blackford – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Transport

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Ian Blackford on 2016-03-01.

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will suspend the process of determining the application for the licence for ship-to-ship transfers in the Cromarty Firth until he has formally consulted Marine Scotland on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Mr Robert Goodwill

There are no valid reasons to suspend the process of determining the application for an Oil Transfer licence for ship to ship transfers in the Cromarty Firth.

Officials from Marine Scotland were sent the application details and information by email on 9 December 2015. A reminder about the deadline for comments on this application was sent to the same officials by email on 3 February, five days before the end of the extended consultation period.

A Marine Scotland official confirmed to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency on 11 February that they had seen the information and had no intention of submitting a response.