AN ARMS firm has scrapped plans to test bombs in the middle of a Scottish World Heritage Site.
Overwatch, a UK company, was revealed by The Guardian to have asked the Civil Aviation Authority for permission to drop anti-personnel bombs with drones onto Flow Country land owned by the Liberal Democrat peer John Thurso.
The Flow Country became the UK’s newest Unesco World Heritage Site in July, the first peatland bog to ever gain the prestigious status and Scotland’s first natural World Heritage Site.
The bomb tests were cancelled after The Guardian intervened and highlighted to Overwatch that the area was a Strathmore peatlands site and home to rare and threatened birds – including dunlin, golden plover and greenshank.
Mark Melhorn, Overwatch’s chief operating officer, told The Guardian that the firm had no idea the area they planned to bomb either the Flow Country or a Strathmore peatlands site.
He added that its application to the CAA would be cancelled and all further bomb testing in the UK postponed.
Lord Thurso, meanwhile, said he wasn’t aware either drones or fragmentation bombs were involved and that a quarry he owns near the peatlands has been used for military testing for 20 years without incident – which he assumed was where Overwatch planned to do tests.
A NatureScot spokesperson said: “We are surprised the provider had not engaged with us to determine any environmental considerations including an assessment of the impact on designated nature sites, but we are relieved to hear that the live fire testing application has been cancelled.
“It was only last month that the Flow Country was awarded world heritage site status, so it is understandable that the applicant may not have been aware of this recent honour. However, the Strathmore peatlands site of special scientific interest has been designated since 1992.”
