FRESH fears for the future of a Moray airbase were raised last night after it emerged that the UK Government is considering selling off a pipeline used to supply it with jet fuel.
Moray MP Angus Robertson said he feared the money-making privatisation plan could have serious consequences for RAF Lossiemouth.
Coalition ministers are examining the case for disposing of the Government Pipeline and Storage System (GPSS).
Mr Robertson, who is the SNP’s defence spokesman, described the proposal as another an “unnecessary sale” of a public asset, which was established in 1939 to reduce the movement of tankers on the roads.
The 40.6-mile pipeline – part of a 1,500-mile network across the UK, maintained by about 50 workers – runs from Inverness to RAF Lossiemouth, which was safeguarded from closure in 2011 after nine months of uncertainty.
A Ministry of Defence (MoD) spokesman said GPSS, which serves airfields and airports such as Heathrow in London, was part of wider oil supply infrastructure and claimed the contractual conditions of the sale would maintain “surety of supply” to defence and civil customers.
He added that any investment by a new owner had the potential to “increase the resilience” of the system and allow even greater commercial development by removing current restrictions, unless there was an underpinning defence requirement.
The controversial proposal emerged just weeks after Royal Mail was privatised by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat administration at Westminster.
Mr Robertson said: “It is very worrying that the UK Government has confirmed it is taking forward draft legislation to enable the sale of publicly owned GPSS.
“Government lawyers have already pointed to a host of obstacles – if a commercial operator were to break the contract, how would the UK Government compensate for the RAF not getting fuel in a crisis?
“The pipes mostly run under agricultural land. What if landowners and farmers do not allow their land to be used for commercial purposes?
“The privatisation of this pipeline would cause a whole host of problems which would have a detrimental effect on Lossiemouth and its operations.”
Elgin City South Labour councillor John Divers, who used to work at the airbase and helped save it from closure, described the plans as “strange”.
He said: “I do not think the threat of closure has been lifted and the UK Government is trying to get money together with little consequence for what comes later.”
Bernard Annikin, secretary of the Lossiemouth Business Association and the local postmaster who campaigned to keep the base open, described the proposal as “worrying”.
“Anything owned by a private company can be switched off – look at what is happening at Grangemouth – and surely the same thing could happen with the privatisation of pipelines,” he said.
“What would happen if a private company has trouble with their workers, there is no fuel and the Russians have entered our airspace?
“It sounds like trouble to me.”
But Moray Conservative councillor Douglas Ross said he was confident the plans would not compromise the base and the biggest threat facing it was Scottish independence.
He added: “The UK Government have made a strong commitment to RAF Lossiemouth with the decision to locate the Typhoons there and the considerable investment they have pledged for the base to prepare for the new aircraft.”
The MoD said the pipeline was being considered for sale because it was predominately being used for commercial purposes.
It added that the sale was “not expected to make much of a difference for landowners”.
A spokesman said: “Work is under way to identify the preferred sale structure for the GPSS and no decisions have been made at this stage.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said it was “vital” that ministers in London fully considered the implications the sale would have for secure supplies to RAF Lossiemouth as well as local communities.