A quarry worth pursuing?

The then Secretary of State, Ian Lang, called in the application and on January 6, 1994, announced there would a public, local inquiry. It was to be the longest inquiry in Scottish planning history.

It started on October 11, 1994, and ended on June 6, 1995, in which time it sat for 100 days, with over 100 witnesses appearing, and between 400 and 500 written representations considered. Part one is in two volumes, more than 600 pages long.

Miss Pain is expected to take a few more weeks to consider and include any amendments to Section One from parties who believe she may have misrepresented their position during the inquiry. Then it is on to Section Two.

It is in that document that she will present her confidential recommendations to the Secretary of State as to whether he should uphold the planning permission granted to Redland Aggregates. After that, the council and other parties will no longer have any need to maintain the #500,000 insurance policy they had taken out on Miss Pain's life, to cover legal costs of another inquiry in the event of Miss Pain's untimely demise.

The final decision will be Mr Dewar's, and he will not be faced with a more difficult or lonely one in his time in St Andrews House. If he turns to his Ministerial colleagues who know most about the islands, he is liable to get conflicting advice: Brian Wilson has supported the idea of quarrying at Lingerbay for almost 20 years, albeit with lessening enthusiasm as the scale of the project grew; while Calum Macdonald, after a spot of early fence-sitting has been a firm opponent of it.

Government agencies are equally divided. Highlands and Islands Enterprise are supporters, Scottish Natural Heritage opponents.

The Western Isles Council's position would also serve to confuse Mr Dewar.

Having decided by 24 votes to three to support the project at a special meeting in Tarbert in June, 1993, the night before the public inquiry rose in June, 1995, it voted by 21 votes to eight to reverse that decision.

Neither need Mr Dewar look to the people of Harris for a clear message. In June, 1993, a referendum found 62.1% supported the project and

37.9 % opposed it.

In May 1995, a second referendum found 68% against it and only 32% in favour. But the latest opinion poll conducted last year found that opinion was swinging back in favour of the quarry.

On the ground in Harris this week things were even more bewildering. Donald Macdonald, a Free Presbyterian missionary, lives in Lingerbay with his wife and not only does he want the quarry to go ahead, almost literally in his backyard, he has become a leading force in the Coastal Quarry Local Supporters Network.

This group of local people went out to secure a better deal for the people of Harris from those who would benefit most if the quarry was to go ahead: the Dunblane-based Ian Wilson who holds the mineral rights; and landowner Donnie MacDonald.

A bit over a year ago, amid speculation that Redland was behind their efforts, the network launched its

Harris Initiative. This two-stage proposal, which would be financed by the two main royalty recipients, could mean up to #12m coming into Harris over the proposed 60-year life of the quarry. This to be on top of the #6m that Redland could end up paying into a local trust fund.

''We had nothing to do with Redland,'' says Donald Macdonald. ''We felt we had to do something because really there is no work in Harris apart from the fish farming and that is in difficulty. People have left the island and they are continuing to leave. At the moment the roll at Leverburgh Primary is 55, but if the present trends continue, it will be down to 22 in six years' time. So we need something here.''

HE adds: ''I believe the royalty recipients, who stand to make a great deal of money, should put something into the community and they are willing to do so. Our idea is that we would use the money raised by the Harris Initiative as a catalyst. For example, people starting their own small business, we could help them. We would also hope to use the money to lever money out from other sources, but in the end we will have to put the package to the community to decide.''

Mr MacDonald believes that local opinion should be tested again and is confident that opinion has swung back. ''I am sure that if the waters were tested again, the support would have swung back. When we sent out 1500 slips last year we got over 700 back, almost 50%, which was a lot better than we thought. In fact I feared we might only get 30 or so back.''

Morag Munro of the Quarry Benefits Group, who has become an impressive advocate of opposition to the project, does not agree with another referendum. ''I think we would lose all credibility. How many votes are we going to have, the best of five? I believe that when the second referendum was held it gave the best picture. It came at the end of the inquiry whose proceedings were reported independently every day in the newspapers and on radio and every week in the Stornoway Gazette. The local people had a chance to learn of all the evidence that was being presented and to consider it. It was at that time opinion was most informed.

''But it is a genuine dilemma for all of us. I am the chairman of the Harris Development Company which is trying to attract jobs here and we would not turn up our noses at any job. But I feel the people should be told the truth.

''The picture that is being painted is the best possible. What we hear from people in the aggregates industry is that demand has fallen and they don't see it rising again to the level of the 1980s when the superquarry idea was developed. Glensanda for example, are still only producing five million tonnes a year although they had planning permission for 15, and they have been in operation for 15 years.

''My worry now is if Redland gets planning permission we still won't know when they will start. We will be in limbo. We won't get the jobs but it will stop other investment coming in. That would be the worst nightmare. We would lose on all sides.

''I don't think the people of Harris have been made fully aware. They hear the figures of all the money that could come in and of 100 jobs in the quarry.

''But this money is over 60 years and the jobs depend on full production. Glensanda hasn't got full production yet, so it is quite likely there will be a lot fewer jobs.''

Despite the firmly-held positions, there is a general weariness in Harris.

After all this time most want a decision one way or the other, and that is down to Mr Dewar. A man of manifest integrity, but if he is looking for moral high ground at Lingerbay he will have a long search.

As a general principle, one would not wish to see mountains or chunks of islands removed at an undeniable cost to the environment, but neither does one want to see an island lose its people, as Harris has most assuredly been doing. The population of Harris fell by a breathtaking 39.32% between 1951 and 1991, and the trend continues. The primary school population on Harris dropped by 31% between 1975/76 and 1997/98, while the latest figures from the Scottish Office showed that the biggest drop in population of any area in Scotland in 1996/97 was in the Western Isles, with a drop of 2.2%. It is a fairly safe bet that the decrease in Harris would have been even greater.

It will be a question of cold judgment for Mr Dewar whether the quarry can prevent any further depopulation and whether the environmental cost is worth paying. If he decides against, Harris cannot be left as she is.

There is a huge moral responsibility on all the opponents of the quarry who dangled alternative developments as carrots before islanders not to disappear into the woodwork. If they do, then some kind of government initiative or task force will be needed, trite, but there would be little else.

If Mr Dewar decides in favour, it will be up to the new French owners of Redland to demonstrate that in the 21st century, a modern multi-national industrial company can be sensitive to the needs and aspirations of a fragile community like Harris, something Redland has signally failed to do hitherto.