RHASS could launch legal battle over Edinburgh Airport plans
22.06.08
The organisers of the Royal Highland Show have said that its stand-off with Edinburgh Airport could end up in court, accusing the airport of causing ‘incredible’ delays to the show's proposed £353 million relocation the Sunday Herald reports.
In the week when the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS) unveiled plans for a 10,000-seater national showground to MSPs, its chief executive, Ray Jones, vented his frustration at the pace of negotiations with airport owner BAA. The airport owner agreed in 2003 to foot the bill for the RHAAS's move across the A8 at Norton Park, required for the airport's own expansion plans, But it has understandably baulked at the removal cost demanded by the RHASS.
The newspaper says that the dispute is embarrassing for the Scottish government, which has designated the expansion of the airport as a major plank of its national planning framework but has so far kept out of negotiations between the two parties. BAA has long insisted that the only way it can expand to meet future passenger growth projections is to take over the current Highland Show site.
Mr Jones told the Sunday Herald: ‘BAA says it is struggling to put together a business case for compensating RHASS. We are saying, that's your problem. It's a bit late in the day to say you are having difficulties. In my view, this is all tactical stuff as part of the business negotiation.’
‘It's only in the last six months we have got around to having sensible conversations. BAA has compulsory purchase powers, but we are seen as a special case as a showground, and in the end it might be that the land tribunal decides a price.’
Senior sources at BAA hit back at the criticisms, telling the newspaper that the discussions had been held up for over three years until 2007 while the RHASS campaigned to remain on its current site. They say the RHASS has since raised its estimated cost of the move from £275m to £353m following a more detailed study. They concede that the first estimate included a 25% margin of error, but say that even RHASS members had been shocked at the final figure.
‘It's not the case that the RHASS writes a figure and we sign a cheque. There are people there who don't understand how business works,’ a BAA source told the newspaper. It adds that a public-sector observer in Edinburgh said the RHASS needed a ‘reality check’.
However, Mr Jones said: ‘If the government wants us to move, it may have to fund some of the gap. We generate £250m of economic impact, and we believe we can double that by 2018 to 2020 by bringing larger events and conventions to Edinburgh.’
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