Brief outage hits Lerwick district heating

District heat pumps briefly failed this morning (Sunday), causing a outages in Lerwick.

In a social media post around 9am, Shetland Heat Energy and Power (Sheap) said that “a short power blip” caused the failure.

Sheap provides heating for roughly 6,000 people in Lerwick, as well as NHS and council buildings.

Pumps were only down for a few minutes, Sheap said, but customers may have noticed a “temporary disturbance”.

“Our technicians have been in and reset the system and everything should be back to normal,” the statement reads.

“It may take a few minutes before you have heat again but [it] will be coming.”

Roughly an hour after the post, one Lerwick resident commented that their heat was still off.

Sheap, which is owned by the Shetland Charitable Trust but operates as an independent business, did not immediately respond to questions about what caused the outage.

RNLI sail Christmas tree out of Lerwick harbour

Lerwick RNLI took advantage of the deteriorating winter weather today (Saturday) to practice some drills — and sign a festive farewell to 2024.

The local crew have fulfilled their annual Christmas tradition of sailing the shape of a Christmas tree south of Lerwick harbour this afternoon.

In between their strokes of artistry, the crew worked on some of their rescue skills.

“With increasing winds and sea swell this afternoon, it’s been a test of their search planning and boat handling skills,” RNLI Lerwick posted on social media.

Last month the RNLI helped deliver Santa and his elves into Lerwick for a Christmas parade, and celebrated the institution’s 200th anniversary.

MSP accuses SNP of breaking food poverty promise

The SNP has “broken its promise” to tackle food insecurity, according to Labour Highlands and Islands MSP, Rhoda Grant.

The Shetland Foodbank this year distributed almost 140 food parcels on average each month. That figure has tripled since 2018, despite the SNP pledging to make access to food a legal right under Scots Law.

Across Scotland the percentage of adults worried they would run out of food has increased three quarters since 2017.

Ms Grant has been campaigning for almost four years to enshrine the right to food and introduced a bill in February 2024 which she says SNP colleagues have refused to back.

“The SNP has no excuse for opposing my Bill,” said Ms Grant.

“Access to food is a human right and I have been working to enshrine this in Scots law – but the SNP has broken its promise.”

In response the SNP said it was committed to ending food and all other types of poverty across Scotland.

“For a Labour MSP to accuse the SNP of breaking promises is astonishing given their party’s own actions over the past few months,” said SNP member for the Highlands and Islands, Emma Roddick.

“Unlike Labour, we are delivering the real change needed to tackle poverty,” Ms Roddick said, noting her party’s plans to reintroduce winter fuel payments and abolish the two-child cap on benefits in Scotland next year.

A Human Rights Bill, dropped last month from Holyrood’s 2024-25 legislative programme, would also have placed a statutory responsibility on the Scottish government to ensure access to food for Scots.

This year’s SNP manifesto does not mention legislating for a right to food, but does describe an “essentials guarantee” to ensure everyone can afford food, and blames rising prices on Brexit.

Last month Ms Grant took her concerns about food poverty to First Minister’s Questions, where she accused John Swinney of “missing the point”.

NorthLink cancels Saturday sailings 

NorthLink’s Saturday evening sailings have been cancelled due to “adverse weather”.

Hjaltland was  scheduled to depart Aberdeen sailing for Kirkwall and Lerwick at 5pm.

However, due to the weather, the call into Lerwick will not go ahead and the ferry will only arrive in Kirkwall.

Hrossey was scheduled to depart Lerwick sailing for Aberdeen at 7pm, but this sailing has also been called as a result of the forecast.

Freight services have also been called for Saturday – Helliar was  scheduled to depart Aberdeen for Lerwick at 6pm and Hildasay was scheduled to depart Lerwick for Kirkwall and Aberdeen at 5pm but both sailings will no longer go ahead.

The ferry operator warned both NorthLink sailings on Sunday could be delayed, though are not expected to be cancelled, while freight vessel services are under review. 

Times campaign nominated in press awards

The Shetland Times has been recognised in the Highlands and Islands Press Awards.

The newspaper has been shortlisted in the Campaign of the Year category, in recognition of its call for charity Dogs Against Drugs to benefit from the proceeds of crime.

New Shetland Times reporter Daniel Shailer is also in the running for the Alex Main Trophy, after being nominated in the Young Journalist of the Year category.

There are two nominations for former Shetland Times reporter Ryan Nicolson, who has been shortlisted in the environment and sustainability category, and the Feature Writer of the Year category.

The award winners will be revealed at the Press Ball, which will be held at the Kingsmills Hotel, Inverness, on Friday, 7th February.

Head judge Nicola McAlley said: “As with previous years, the standard was exceptionally high, which meant we had some difficult decisions to make with much debate and deliberation over finalists and winners in each category.

“I want to thank everyone for taking the time to enter and demonstrate again that there is a high quality of work being carried out in our vast and varied area of Scotland.”

Statkraft submits application for substation 

A planning application for Mossy Hill windfarm’s substation has been submitted to the SIC.

BAM Nuttall fined £800k after Viking windfarm death

A construction company was today (Wed) fined £860,000 for breaching safety regulations when a worker died on the Viking Energy windfarm site.

Inverness Sheriff Court had heard how BAM Nuttall employee Liam Macdonald died after an accident at the Kergord construction site on 5th June 2022.

The company’s case was called for sentencing at Lerwick Sheriff Court this afternoon and Sheriff Ian Cruickshank fined it a total of £800,000 – reduced from £1.2million given an early plea of guilty.

Sheriff Cruickshank also imposed a £60,000 victim surcharge.

Mr Macdonald, from Tain, had been crushed by a bale arm of a concrete skip, while cleaning it by hammer.

Despite CPR being given, a post mortem ruled the 23-year-old died from his injuries, which included haemorrhaging.

The crown prosecutor told the court how the bale arm would have struck Mr Macdonald to his chest with 160 newtons of pressure — the equivalent of 36lbs of force.

The skip was used the morning before and was supposed to be cleaned on the same day of use.

The defence asked Sheriff Ian Cruickshank to consider the incident a “one-off,” despite previous convictions.

Sheriff Cruickshank was also asked to consider the “small profit” the company had made after a “significant” turnover last year.

North Mainland by-election confirmed

Only two candidates will contest the Shetland North by-election next month.

The SIC posted the notice of poll today (Tuesday), confirming the date and the candidates on offer to voters in the ward.

Polls will open between 7am and 10pm on Thursday 23rd January 2025, with Natasha Cornick and Andrew Hall the only names on the ballot.

MSP ‘astonished’ over accountability claim for iCentre closures

A Scottish government minister has been accused of dodging accountability over the closure of all Visit Scotland’s tourism centres.

One MSP was left “astonished” when she claimed the minister for business passed on responsibility to VisitScotland.

List representative Rhoda Grant asked the minister Richard Lochhead to take action to prevent the closures of the visitor centres – known as iCentres.

However, she was left irritated by Mr Lochhead’s outright dismissal.

“I am astonished that having put very detailed questions to the cabinet secretary, his stark response addresses none of those concerns but instead bats the issue over to VisitScotland as an operational matter for them,” Ms Grant said.

The Scottish government funds 94 per cent of VisitScotland’s budget, the Labour MSP continued.

She added: “But that appears to be of no concern to the SNP government.”

In March this year, Visit Scotland announced it would close all of its 25 visitor centres across the country.

The move courted controversy, with isles tourism bosses branding the axe of the Lerwick facility a “fundamental blow,” to the hospitality sector.

The Scottish government has been approached for comment.