By Anne North
Cornwall’s Green Party – which took 18% of the vote in last month’s Euro elections – has become the first mainstream political organisation to declare itself opposed to the construction of a £20 million spaceport at Newquay.
The Greens say the development cannot be justified in the light of the council’s recent declaration of a climate emergency.
£12 million of local council taxpayers’ money will be in addition to £7.8 million from the UK Space Agency towards the development of “Spaceport Cornwall”, with the Cornwall & Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) providing a further £500,000.
The plan is for the site to be used to launch satellites from modified 747 jumbo jets owned by Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit, a spin-off from Mr Branson’s Virgin Galactic space tourism company.
Cornwall Green Party’s Co-coordinator Karen La Borde, said: “Cornwall Council cannot possibly justify spending £12 million on expanding Newquay airport for a so-called spaceport, when Cornwall remains one of the most deprived regions in Europe. Surely, this money would be better spent on improving public transport or retrofitting homes with insulation to improve the welfare of those living in Cornwall whilst also helping to reduce CO2 emissions. A spaceport benefits so few people at a very high environmental cost.
“While national and local government are proposing to pour over £20 million into a spaceport for the use of corporate customers, ordinary people in Cornwall are still waiting for the electrification of our main railway line – promised several decades ago but still not delivered.”
