Current status: Answered by Jim Fairlie on 20 March 2025
To ask the Scottish Government what its response is to Aberdeenshire Council’s decision to remove the nightwatch service at Macduff Harbour, in light of reported concerns about the economic impact of the decision.
We recognise the importance of this issue to harbour users; however, ports in Scotland are mostly independent statutory bodies – each governed by their own local legislation – and are deemed commercial entities. Therefore, the Scottish Government has no say in the day-to-day running of their business, nor can it dictate business decisions made by a company on how to best utilise its resources. These are matters for the port authority.