Al Fayed hopes of oil-rig visitor centre in firth now a pipe dream

plan, which included upmarket hotel, depended on donation of a rig

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Harrods boss Mohamed Al Fayed’s dream of having an oil rig visitor centre moored in the Cromarty Firth now seems very unlikely to be realised.

The multi-millionaire and staff on his Balnagown Estate, at Kildary, in Easter Ross, spent several years working on the proposed tourist attraction – which would have been the first of its kind in Britain – with Ross and Cromarty Enterprise (Race), the Cromarty Firth Port Authority and Highland Council.

It was hoped the oil rig visitor centre, which was to include an upmarket hotel and restaurant, could provide a massive boost to the local tourism industry by attracting 500,000 people a year to the area.

And hopes were high that the project could go ahead when, in February 2006, former Race chief executive Maitland Hyslop confirmed that he had located a suitable oil rig.

Mr Hyslop said the rig would be available towards the end of 2008, but he would not say which oil company would be supplying it. He also refused to comment on whether the rig was to be bought, donated or leased.

But, the following month, Mr Hyslop became the highest-profile victim of a cost-cutting reorganisation programme at Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

There has been no news on the oil-rig proposal since then, and Balnagown estate manager Martin Lynch yesterday admitted they were no longer “actively pursuing it”.

“We haven’t totally given up on it, but it’s on the back burner on a very low setting,” said Mr Lynch.

He said the whole project was reliant on the donation of an oil rig.

“At the time when we were last seriously looking at it, a couple of years ago, economic conditions were slightly different as far as the oil exploration platforms were concerned and, almost immediately afterwards, virtually all the oil platforms disappeared from the Cromarty Firth as they were all in use.

“The whole programme was founded on the donation of an oil rig, and I think that, in the current climate, is highly unlikely,” said Mr Lynch.

He added that the estate’s proposed development of 100 homes on a 90-acre site to the north and east of Highland Park retirement village at Barbaraville, near Tain, had not been affected by the credit crunch.

A planning application for the scheme, which includes a mix of affordable and executive homes, was submitted in July of this year.

“While the oil rig project is on the back burner, the Barbaraville development is definitely going ahead.

“We’ve always said that the building programme would be determined by demand, and at this stage we’re powering ahead with the planning application.

“It may take nine months to get planning permission, and it means that we will be in a position to move when the market improves,” said Mr Lynch.