The spaceport competition was part of a broader plan announced by the government in April 2014. Earlier references and statements about a UK spaceport, with explicit statements about
HTHL spaceplanes, date back at least to 2012. A site selection process got underway in 2014. The sites of interest were principally
Scottish, such as
Campbeltown Airport,
Glasgow Prestwick Airport,
Kinloss Barracks,
RAF Leuchars,
RAF Lossiemouth and
Stornoway Airport, but they also included
Llanbedr Airport in
Wales and
Newquay Cornwall Airport in
England."
Shortlist: early 2015 The shortlist was released in March 2015, and only two airfields were ruled out. In narrowing the field, the overriding imperative of the licensing authorities was to find a location that limits danger and inconvenience to the general public. This led to all five of the short-listed locations being situated in coastal areas. The government ruled out two airfields in its consultation process:
RAF Lossiemouth and
Kinloss Barracks, in Scotland, due to operational defence reasons. Only five sites remained in the competition as of April 2016. The RAF Leuchars site had been removed from the shortlist prior to that time. ==See also==