Council has failed us (Norman and Elizabeth Jamieson)
Shetland Islands Council has failed us regarding the Viking Energy windfarm.
1. They failed to offer us extensive consultation before recommending this massive project, funded by our money;
2. They failed to listen to their own planning department, who advised them in a 69 page report, compiled by experts over many months, that this project was completely unsuitable for Shetland;
3. They failed to vote for the opportunity to have a public local inquiry where the facts would have been examined in detail.
Their theory appears to be: don’t give anyone the opportunity to say anything they’d rather not hear.
Judging by their previous record, they have failed to make the right decision regarding any major project, eg Anderson High School, Bressay bridge, Nörrona etc. The Viking Energy project will be their biggest, most expensive and most controversial to date. No wonder so many people are extremely worried.
Norman and Elizabeth Jamieson
34 West Baila,
Lerwick.
Kathy Greaves
This is not the only way we have been let down by the council on Viking Energy wind farm issues. We, the public, have not been allowed to see what is contained in the original agreement between the partners, who signed it (and how they benefit financially), how it affects us, our islands, our oil funds, now and in future years.
The £1.9mil ‘promissory note’ which appeared last year seemed to come as a surprise to both councillors and trustees alike – yes, I know they are virtually the same people, but one would have thought there should have been mention of this PM somewhere in the paperwork, meetings, discussions, since the document was drawn up.
It has the feeling of sleekitness about it.
And, SIC, was there ever to have been a public enquiry, or a referendum? I think not. It was, as I have said before, a done deal. Almost 3,000 individual objections to the project count for nothing. Even though VE did state in their literature that if Shetlanders did not want it, it would not happen.
The latest suggestion from the Scottish energy minister, Fergus Ewing, that Shetland’s coffers can/will benefit to the tune of £30mil (per annum?) does not seem to come with hard facts and figures; and, surely any initial annual benefits should be projected to increase incrementally over the 25 years or so. And will those amounts be calculated from cost of living figures or from the increase in the price of electricity?
Perhaps Viking Energy could tell us.
Yours
Kathy Greaves
Lerwick