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Unst - what does the future hold?


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The SIC should, instead of trying to find more and more offices in central Lerwick (which reduces the potential space for housing), move some of its administrative facilities to Unst.

 

I appreciate that there are reasons why many of the SIC personnel have to remain "central". However with the availability of broadband, there is no reason why much of the work currently done in Lerwick could not be done in Unst, where there are lots of "free" ready-made offices and houses.

 

This would certainly take a bit of personnel-shuffling, but even if only twenty people were re-located this would be helpful - the cost of re-training, if need be, could easily be offset by the massive savings offered by free-ing up valuable space in "da toon". In a time where the SIC is trying to make savings, perhaps it should consider saving the money it intends to spend on Lerwick housing (£13 million) by instead using its offices in Lerwick for housing. Unst has plenty buildings and is URGENTLY in need of an influx of paid workers to rescue its local economy.

 

Perhaps handsome re-location incentive payments could be made to staff, offset by the cash made available by "releasing" the Lerwick property for housing? £13 million could go a long way in this respect.

 

Now, the SIC were going to spend £130,000 per "unit", for 100 "units", on the current proposed development for new-build housing. Say, (picking figures out of thin air), forty SIC staff were moved to Unst (NOT against their free will I might add - I know a number of Unst people working in Lerwick who would happily move back north if there was work), freeing up one SIC office block, which could be converted into flats. The cost of converting the building into flats would be, say, £150,000, and the cost of purchasing and converting the buildings in Unst would be, say, another £150,000. A complete guess here but say you get TEN(?) new flats out of that, which would perhaps be equivalent to, say, a very conservative FOUR(?) of the SIC's proposed new-build "units". You've just saved over £200,000, which could be used as "relocation" incentive money.

 

I have tried not to make my figures too optmistic and to be honest, they are all plucked from thin air, but I believe that the SIC should be striving to de-centralise to relieve pressure on Lerwick and bring a little of the money, and the graduates and young families back into rural areas, and that this could be a golden opportunity.

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Actually, there's no need to relocate anybody.

 

The Western isles model of decentralisation works along the lines of offering vacant posts to anybody living in the isles. If the best candidate comes from an outlying area, they are employed and put to work in a local office. If a manager wants a post to be Stornoway based they have to put up a convincing argument as to why that should be.

 

Potentially a decentralisation process could be put in place which gradually builds up a rural workforce without having to relocate anybody. The resistance to this comes from Lerwick based managers bereft of imagination.

 

Peter makes a good point though, there are plenty of rural workers stuck in Lerwick who might happily move back to the rural areas if the opportunity were there.

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New Magnie wrote

 

Potentially a decentralisation process could be put in place which gradually builds up a rural workforce without having to relocate anybody. The resistance to this comes from Lerwick based managers bereft of imagination.

 

While I remain convinced that enforced transfers of SIC staff to rural areas would not work, this idea has great potential and if the Western Isles Council (sorry but I cant remember the Gaelic name) can make it work then surely it could work here. Any word of Orkney trying anything similar.

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Potentially a decentralisation process could be put in place which gradually builds up a rural workforce without having to relocate anybody. The resistance to this comes from Lerwick based managers bereft of imagination.

 

Peter makes a good point though, there are plenty of rural workers stuck in Lerwick who might happily move back to the rural areas if the opportunity were there.

 

Very interesting. I am one of those who is dead against everything being centred on Lerwick, and I live here. I would love to move out to the "contry" but I don't have a car and I would struggle to get back and forth to work as although I generally start at the same time, there is the potential to finish late, and therefore after the last bus has gone. At the moment I work in a stores job so I have to come into town. Few managers are far-sighted enough to allow their staff to work from home. Like the publicans who believed that a smoking ban would ruin them, these managers don't believe that staff work more efficiently and more devotedly from their homes.

 

I used to see someone who lived in the north and the commute each day was soul destroying. The lang kames is only interesting the first time.

 

What may be happening though is that whilst everything is centred on Lerwick, those in the outer reaches can claim Euro money for initiatives on the edge. This brings money into Shetland in a "perverse" way. Just as when I was in Belize, the roads were not repaired as the condition of a country's road were considered when aid was handed out. It might not be as stupid as it seems, from the bean-counters point of view at least. The rest of us have to live with it though.

 

It has got to the stage now that if I go out of Lerwick it is to go to Aberdeen. There is sadly nothing in the country for me. This is not at all what I imagined when I moved to Shetland and the thought of ending up on a housing estate that looks much the same as any other housing estate in the south fills me with dread. I would love to live in the country, sadly I just can't afford to.

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Big Mouth wrote

 

I would love to move out to the "contry" but I don't have a car and I would struggle to get back and forth to work as although I generally start at the same time, there is the potential to finish late, and therefore after the last bus has gone

 

Probably of no help to Unst but Big Mouth raises a valid point about our bus services which seem to be run for people from the country to get to Lerwick and then to go home leaving just after 5pm. Makes life difficult for country dwellers who finish work late or for townies to go for a day out to the country. Well parts of the country anyhow.

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New Magnie wrote

 

Potentially a decentralisation process could be put in place which gradually builds up a rural workforce without having to relocate anybody. The resistance to this comes from Lerwick based managers bereft of imagination.

 

While I remain convinced that enforced transfers of SIC staff to rural areas would not work, this idea has great potential and if the Western Isles Council (sorry but I cant remember the Gaelic name) can make it work then surely it could work here. Any word of Orkney trying anything similar.

 

Comhairle nan Eilaan Siar - or something like that.

 

I completely agree with you. Wholesale relocation of staff is not feasible - just look at the trouble SNH have got themselves into over a move to Inverness. Ultimately they'll make it work but it will cost the taxpayer a fortune for no good purpose.

 

The Western Isles process is one that works. On implementation none of the existing staff were forced out of Stornoway but local centres were built and as vacant posts came up and if the best candidates were from that locale, they went to work in the centre. Once the centres are functioning, existing staff can apply to be redeployed to the rural areas.

 

Takes the strain off the transport system as well.

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New Magnie wrote

 

Potentially a decentralisation process could be put in place which gradually builds up a rural workforce without having to relocate anybody. The resistance to this comes from Lerwick based managers bereft of imagination.

 

While I remain convinced that enforced transfers of SIC staff to rural areas would not work, this idea has great potential and if the Western Isles Council (sorry but I cant remember the Gaelic name) can make it work then surely it could work here. Any word of Orkney trying anything similar.

 

Comhairle nan Eilaan Siar - or something like that.

 

I completely agree with you. Wholesale relocation of staff is not feasible - just look at the trouble SNH have got themselves into over a move to Inverness. Ultimately they'll make it work but it will cost the taxpayer a fortune for no good purpose.

 

The Western Isles process is on that works. On implementation none of the existing staff were forced out of Stornoway but local centres were built and as vacant posts came up and if the best candidates were from that locale, they went to work in the centre. Once the centres are functioning, existing staff can apply to be redeployed to the rural areas.

 

Takes the strain off the transport system as well.

 

Sounds like a sensible idea to me - has any of this ever been spoken about within the Council?

 

I don't think it need cost too much either in the grand scheme of things if existing public buildings are either extended or adapted. There's a real opportunity here to make council services more accessible to the public too - which can only be a good thing. Places like Baltasound, Mid Yell, Aith, Sandwick etc could all have combined school and public libraries (subject to appropriate security arrangements) with say a small council sub office and internet cafe attached to each - bringing those uses along with the schools and leisure centres in one single location and possibly utilising existing support and security/janitorial staff too.

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Excellent ideas guys n gals.

 

I did hear of the horrendous difficulties SNH have had with that move, and the general outcry that resulted over it.

 

You might have noticed, as well, the piece in the paper this last week, about the Policewoman who wanted to stay in Lerwick for the sake of her kids, but the Constabulary wanted to move her to Brae.

 

I do, of course, agree that no-one's ever going to welcome a forced move.

 

Sorry to witter on about it, but if I could add though, in my defence, that I didn't propose a wholesale forced move. What I suggested (or at least had in mind - maybe I didn't explain very clearly) was a number of voluntary moves made by individuals from different departments. It would require some (but not a great deal) of re-training of staff and a little personnel-shuffling. You would be aiming to move a dull and straghtforward admin operation like, for example (and I'm undoubtedly at risk of offending someone here...), the Payroll department. One dull admin job is much like another? Well, maybe not.... I'm sure there's something there though.

 

The Westen Isles model sounds absolutely excellent.

 

I'm sure there are many individuals who could just as readily do their job from Unst as they could from Lerwick if they were given the chance.

 

Sounds like a sensible idea to me - has any of this ever been spoken about within the Council?

 

Not sure. Who would be best to approach? If you know any councillors or council managers, you could maybe mention it to them.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Found this on the Shetland News website earlier. Hooray! :

 

 

"Manson: SIC should relocate jobs

 

COUNCIL officials in Shetland have been asked to identify a number of smaller sections of the authority which could be relocated outside Lerwick.

 

Shetland Islands Council is striving to "promote efficiency" by developing a single council headquarters campus, while at the same time seeking to decentralise some employment away from the islands' capital.

 

The local authority is also exploring ways of promoting more flexible hours to suit those with child care responsibilities, and is even looking into working from home.

 

Councillor Bill Manson said he was keen to explore further the idea of small units within the SIC working outside Lerwick.

 

The council already provides a significant number of jobs outside Lerwick such as teachers, ferry staff and the ports and harbours department, which is based at Sella Ness, near the Sullom Voe Terminal."

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^ :lol: ^

 

Truth being often stranger than fiction, they will probably require that all employee homes have european standard office equipment, disabled access, gender separated toilets, commercial car parking arrangements etc etc.......

it could cost a blooming fortune right enough!! :P

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... as opposed to leaving the whole business in lerwick, driving up house prices, overpopulating schools, increasing congestion and fueling the demand for more metropolitan gewgaws to entertain the masses.

 

Yeah, right enough, leave it all as it is.

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