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Time to stop depending on the spoils of war

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Published Date: 29 June 2009
By Lesley Riddoch
THE National Trust says the World Heritage status of St Kilda is at risk thanks to Ministry of Defence plans to remove 125 staff from its radar base on Hirta and associated missile ranges on Benbecula and South Uist.
On first hearing, that claim sounds crazy. Anyone who has trekked four hours each way to reach the near-legendary islands will have had the same reaction upon arrival. Wow. Swiftly followed by, "What the hell are these prefabs doing here?" And, there...



The full article contains 993 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
Page 1 of 1

  • Last Updated: 28 June 2009 10:59 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
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29/06/2009 00:20:55
Comment Removed By Administrator
Reason:
2

Colin B,

Bearsden 29/06/2009 00:52:09
SNP chasing out the armed services again while Labour cut spending on them to give to prisoners
3

Dr. James Wilkie,

Vienna 29/06/2009 15:18:00
I agree with the article, although I am not so sure of the community buy-out proposal. I was a member of a pioneering work-party on Hirta (living in tents, we restored cottage no. 4 for occupation by later parties), and for several years I also crewed the supply boat out of Oban (Alistair Gibson's Glen Carradale). I remember how dependent we were on the military at the time, but that ought not to be the case by now, when suitable accommodation and technology for civilian settlement is available.

Quite apart from the present instance, Lesley Riddoch is right about the need to get away away from civilian dependence on military facilities and projects. Military forces are reducing internationally as tension diminishes generally, and there is no justification for maintaining such establishments purely because of the effects closure would have on the local economy. When St. Kilda is evacuated, then it should be totally cleansed of signs of the military presence.

Incidentally, St. Kilda is not the most scenically spectacular NTS property. Nothing on it approaches the awesome scale of the western cliff architecture of Mingulay in the southern Hebrides. This is something that only be appreciated from a small boat close inshore in rare good conditions, and not from the deck of a cruise liner.

 

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