Vandalism or the community’s future? Crofters feel ‘helpless’ in face of spaceport radar station

An antenna park has divided the community living beside a world heritage site in the Scottish Highlands

On a small croft in the shadow of Ben Tongue, a 302-metre high mountain in the Scottish Highlands, Ian and Rachel Broughton lead a quiet life, growing produce and relishing the calm of their rural haven. But changes are afoot.

The retired couple are horrified by plans for a radar station for the Sutherland Spaceport, one of the UK's first spaceports, on the summit of the mountain, with a new service road that will skirt within metres of their 170-year-old stone cottage.