Nigg Yard Meeting Outcomes

Joint news statement from Scottish Government, The Highland Council, and KBR.

Yesterday, a constructive meeting took place (27 July 2009) at The Highland Council’s headquarters in Inverness chaired by Enterprise Minister Jim Mather.

Representatives of KBR, The Wakelyn Trust, Scottish Government, The Highland Council and Highlands and Islands Enterprise attended the meeting.

At the meeting the Council’s draft Nigg Yard Development Masterplan was discussed along with the responses of KBR and The Wakelyn Trust to ideas for the yard’s future development.

KBR are at the planning stage of considering further options for Nigg with a potential decision by the end of this calendar year. This would focus on the offshore wind energy sector where there are significant growth opportunities over the next 5 to 10 years.

The final Masterplan will be agreed at the Council’s Planning Environment and Development Committee on the 23rd September – it will then be submitted to Scottish Government Ministers for consideration as supplementary planning guidance. Thereafter The Highland Council will consider it on the 29th October.

Enterprise Minister Jim Mather said: “This was a really constructive meeting, at which everyone responded to both the serious need to make more and better use of Nigg and help Scotland gain more value and jobs from our Renewable Energy Strategy.”

He added: ”I would particularly like to thank David Zimmerman, president of KBR Services, for joining us, playing such a positive role and being so open with us. This is now the restart of a continuing dialogue and I am convinced that everyone is working to achieve a positive outcome.”

Councillor Sandy Park, Convener of The Highland Council said: “We see significant potential for the Nigg Yard to play a major role in the development of offshore renewables in the UK.  We are interested in long term sustainable jobs and feel that real progress was made today.”