JustMe Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 This carry on with the bridge is a farce! I think the council should back down, but we all know the idiot councillors never do that as its not their money that they are wasteing away! Ok so come election time we get the chance to change councillors. Remember there are many countries in the world where the people do not have a chance to vote in free and fair elections so lets use our votes wisely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Styles Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 Pity that a lot of them have no one standing against them so just get in automatically. Usually if their is a choice its not much better. Just giveing the gravey train from one individual to another! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustMe Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 Pity that a lot of them have no one standing against them so just get in automatically. Usually if their is a choice its not much better. Just giveing the gravey train from one individual to another! Thats up to you, me and every other person in Shetland. We (or at least those registered to vote in Shetland) can also stand for election or talk others into standing. Every member of the current council should be opposed as otherwise it is a waste of democracy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Posted July 15, 2006 Report Share Posted July 15, 2006 This whole bridge thing has been going on forever too - go dig up old Shetland Times issues in the library and you'll see the exact same debates going 'round and 'round in circles. Why not build a bridge between Yell and Unst instead? Then the two islands can help keep each other populated as they can share public services and such. Getting to Lerwick from Bressay on the ferry is no difficult project. Then again, if the bridge were built, maybe some of the Bressay folk would head up to Yell or Northmavine to get away from the creeping fingers of Lerwick, thus helping those areas stay populated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustMe Posted July 16, 2006 Report Share Posted July 16, 2006 There is always plan X. Remove the subsidy from all inter island ferries and abandon all plans to spend a disproportionate sum of money per head on a bridge or tunnel not only to Bressay but to all the isles. Might come a time when some future government decided that Shetland was going to get a lot less from central funds and drastic cuts had to be made so it would be good to show that options such as plan X had been considered and rejected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tarotangel Posted July 17, 2006 Report Share Posted July 17, 2006 I'm going to rant away from a hugely biased point of view: Personally I'm against a bridge/tunnel and by the time the LPA and the SIC have done arguing about it all the funding will be gone from it anyway so they won't be able to do anything. Another personal point of view living near the Forth Bridges and not too far away from Kincardine I think the maintenance for a bridge/tunnel will be huge financially and just, if not more, expensive than keeping the ferry. I don't see why Bressay is seen as a viable overspill from Lerwick for housing. Would everyone be happy if Bressay was just a huge sprawling estate to foist all the folk that you didn't want living near you? (I may be completely wrong but that's the impression I've got, not from Shetlink but generally) I know live sooth at the moment but will be returning to bide in a couple o years. It's something that my current council are looking at the amount of green space that is available to them and to keep a good balance of green and housing space. As for the bridge/tunnel location it's fine if you have transport but what happens if you don't? I know that there is supposed to be a bus running but there has been no guarantee's of how often it would run. I suspect this may put folk off biding in Bressay, it already does with the ferry being about a mile from the existing council/Hjatland housing. How many of you would actually visit the Maryfield if you had to come up round Heogan rather than the ferry? Would you pay for the taxi for a large round trip? I suspect a great many folk would be put off by this including tourists unless it was included in a bus tour. It would be cheaper biding in Lerwick and having a few more pints there I think the consensus may be and not having the £10ish taxi bill on top of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neptune Posted July 17, 2006 Report Share Posted July 17, 2006 If you check out this link http://www.flavourproductions.co.uk/bressay.htm# You will see that the simple design would be very low maintenance compared to the Forth bridges (in fact there is no comparison) and the volume of traffic would be miniscule compared to even the Kincardine Bridge. In fact there isn’t an argument on an economic level as far as a fixed link V ferries goes, fixed link wins every time. And as far as I know this has always been a transport issue and not a housing issue so to use the argument that the bridge is being built to house Lerwick’s overspill is really unfounded. It currently costs £10 for two people and a car to Bressay so you could get more people further for a £10 taxi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustMe Posted July 17, 2006 Report Share Posted July 17, 2006 If you check out this link http://www.flavourproductions.co.uk/bressay.htm# You will see that the simple design would be very low maintenance compared to the Forth bridges (in fact there is no comparison) and the volume of traffic would be miniscule compared to even the Kincardine Bridge. In fact there isn’t an argument on an economic level as far as a fixed link V ferries goes, fixed link wins every time. And as far as I know this has always been a transport issue and not a housing issue so to use the argument that the bridge is being built to house Lerwick’s overspill is really unfounded. It currently costs £10 for two people and a car to Bressay so you could get more people further for a £10 taxi. Well lets start with the ferry fare.......foot passenger £1.42 return if they have a book of tickets.......much better compared to a taxi over the proposed bridge. I had a look at the pictures (sadly the video did not run) and the bridge looks nice on a summers day. I wonder what a ships skipper would think about the supports when entering the harbour on a windswept night. Not a housing issue?........perhaps not officially but I feel sure that owners of the poorer land on Bressay will be watching the debate with interest. As for a transport issue I have to agree that there is a transport issue and that is the continued prosperity of Lerwick as a port and if a bridge threatens that prosperity as the Port Authority claim it could then it seems to me that the tunnel option has to be considered along with maintaining the status quo with the ferry or even a reduced ferry service to cut back the costs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewMagnie Posted July 17, 2006 Report Share Posted July 17, 2006 Tunnel or bridge, it's academic. Strategically, ferries make no sense against a fixed link. Oddly the bressay service, due to the volume of traffic is about the only one that runs at a nominal profit. This, of course is a bit of a moot point given the level of scottish exec grant aid received for all the ferries. (which isn't currently on offer for tunnel/bridge revenue costs which I find rather short sighted, but never mind) I find the notion that the SIC are desperate to get their hands on Bressay as a housing site utterly risible. In case anyone hadn't noticed there is quite a bit of empty land around lerwick which could be utilised for housing without the expense of building a multi million pound link to an offshore island specifically for this purpose. Its not as if there's houses clear to Scalloway or Veensgarth. As for plan X - JustMe, I suspect you may have your tongue firmly in your cheek - at least, I hope for the sake of your mental health that you do - closing down all he ferry links to the outer isles would involve handing back a fair few spondooliks to the Jock Exec as well as preciptating an exodus that would leave the Shetland economy crippled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewMagnie Posted July 17, 2006 Report Share Posted July 17, 2006 Tunnel or bridge, it's academic. Strategically, ferries make no sense against a fixed link. Oddly the bressay service, due to the volume of traffic is about the only one that runs at a nominal profit. This, of course is a bit of a moot point given the level of scottish exec grant aid received for all the ferries. (which isn't currently on offer for tunnel/bridge revenue costs which I find rather short sighted, but never mind) I find the notion that the SIC are desperate to get their hands on Bressay as a housing site utterly risible. In case anyone hadn't noticed there is quite a bit of empty land around lerwick which could be utilised for housing without the expense of building a multi million pound link to an offshore island specifically for this purpose. Its not as if there's houses clear to Scalloway or Veensgarth. As for plan X - JustMe, I suspect you may have your tongue firmly in your cheek - at least, I hope for the sake of your mental health that you do - closing down all he ferry links to the outer isles would involve handing back a fair few spondooliks to the Jock Exec as well as preciptating an exodus that would leave the Shetland economy crippled. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted July 17, 2006 Report Share Posted July 17, 2006 I find the notion that the SIC are desperate to get their hands on Bressay as a housing site utterly risible. In case anyone hadn't noticed there is quite a bit of empty land around lerwick which could be utilised for housing without the expense of building a multi million pound link to an offshore island specifically for this purpose. Its not as if there's houses clear to Scalloway or Veensgarth. Hmmm....I don't know, depends if we're talking just "hooses" for all and sundry here, or whether we're talking folk wanting a decent bit of space round their place, a view, and a short commuting distance. In the 70's the private builds were in Wasterloch and started creeping up the Soond Brey, the 80's filled the Soond Brey, and the 90's started on Gulberweek which is getting a bit crowded now in the 00's. Certainly there's still plenty of places for just "hooses" around Soond up to and around the Observatory and so on, and out the old Nort Rod, around the Decca and so on, but with the views afforded by the likes Soond Brey and Gulberweek you're talking south of Gulberweek or around Skalawa or Tingwil, unless somebody wants to build in the face of the hills around Dale. Bressa with a bridge has the views and a far shorter commuting distance. So goes my conspiracy theory da nicht onywye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewMagnie Posted July 18, 2006 Report Share Posted July 18, 2006 Hmm, possibly. My view of what represents reasonable commuting distance and an acceptable view my be coloured by my current location. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustMe Posted July 18, 2006 Report Share Posted July 18, 2006 NewMagnie wrote As for plan X - JustMe, I suspect you may have your tongue firmly in your cheek - at least, I hope for the sake of your mental health that you do - closing down all he ferry links to the outer isles would involve handing back a fair few spondooliks to the Jock Exec as well as preciptating an exodus that would leave the Shetland economy crippled. Yes and no. Certainly I do not think the SIC should be considering removing the ferry links at the moment but I do think they should take a long look at each route, the level of service provided and ways to reduce operating costs. A look at costs might well include timetable changes but also changes to the ferries in order to reduce running costs. At the same time the SIC should examine the concept of people commuting to Lerwick from Whalsay and Yell........and look at what level of service would be needed without the commuters, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewMagnie Posted July 18, 2006 Report Share Posted July 18, 2006 Always a thorny issue and yes, spending should never go unscrutinised. The level of service to the outer isles - and for the sake of staying on topic I'll include Bressay in that - can be taken as a microcosm for the level of service/expenditure enjoyed by Shetland as a whole on the back of its Central Government settlement. Specifically, it's difficult for a Lerwick based administration to argue the rights and wrongs of supporting on offshore economy if it fails to follow that logic in its own back yard. The way the ferries are funded tends to dissuade administrators from looking too closely at the costs as well. A large %age of the ferry revenue costs are supported by ring fenced funding. In accountants terms, cutting expenditure on the ferries is bad news because it reduces our overall revenue stream. It is for this reason that the ferries are owned by SLAP and leased back to the council, the capital costs can be written off as revenue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muppet Posted July 18, 2006 Report Share Posted July 18, 2006 It is for this reason that the ferries are owned by SLAP and leased back to the council, the capital costs can be written off as revenue. Am I not right in thinking that the ferries (at least the two Yell Sound ferries) were recently bought by the Council to make it look like they had cut their revenue spending? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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