I was delighted to be in Westminster this week. Angus MacDonald MP led a Parliamentary debate about community-operated helipads. The discussion focused on the impact that recent health and safety regulation changes have had on rural communities.
At the end of the summer, Angus and I visited the helipad on the outskirts of Portree. It serves the north end of Skye, including the local hospital. I was impressed by the effort involved. It is an important facility for our rescue services.
I was even more impressed by the determination of individuals like Neil from the Community Trust. They are working to find a solution. This will ensure the helipad can be used for the purpose it was constructed for.
A Purpose-Built Facility Sitting Idle
The Portree and Braes Community Trust helipad was first established around 30 years ago. It was recently refurbished to high safety standards with input from the Coastguard and NHS Highland. Yet despite meeting these standards, search and rescue helicopters operated by Bristow are not currently able to land there.
Angus explained this in his debate. The problem stems from an overly rigid interpretation of new Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) guidance. This followed a tragic 2022 incident in Devon. Bristow has withdrawn from operating at sites that are not fully compliant with the new standards. The CAA has confirmed the guidance is non-mandatory. Pilots can conduct dynamic risk assessments to land safely when necessary.
The Real-World Cost
The consequences of this bureaucracy are not theoretical. Angus highlighted a recent incident in Portree. A patient suffered from a suspected heart attack and was forced to walk across rough ground. This was necessary to reach a helicopter because the aircraft could not land on the designated helipad.
“If that lady had died, we’d all be asking why the helicopter couldn’t use the purpose-built site just a few feet away,” Angus said. “This is bureaucracy gone mad.”
He’s absolutely right. The problem isn’t the quality of Portree’s helipad – it’s the red tape from the Health and Safety Executive and the fear of litigation that is keeping our constituents’ helipads out of action.
Time for Common Sense
Rescue helicopters are vital for rural communities like ours across Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch. We cannot allow over-regulation and ambiguity to hamper the extraordinary work carried out by our search and rescue and mountain rescue teams.
I hope that the minister and her departmental officials will review this over-regulation – which was prompted by understandable reasons following a tragic incident – and allow these community resources to be used again for the purpose they were built for.
Angus has requested a meeting with the responsible minister to discuss solutions. I fully support his efforts and will continue to work with him to ensure that the Portree helipad – and others like it across the UK – can be fully reinstated for emergency use.
Lives depend on it.