Ghostrider Posted January 10, 2009 Report Share Posted January 10, 2009 This is craziness! Why can't they have it somewhere else, the 'plan' is too near to us, I can see from the living room window. It will smell, too bloodyand it's not your cup of tea! I'm sure everybody concerned would be more than happy to "have it somewhere else" to be rid of the aggrivation and delays that will inevitably occur due to the objections with the current plan. However, "somewhere else" does not come with an already erected building, of a standard very close to what is required, and available now, and probably at a very decent cost from a Receiver wanting to get what he can reasonably quickly for the assets of a bankrupt business. Folk are, quite rightly, always complaining about businesses being artificially propped up with council handouts, and pie in the sky schemes being financed from the same source. Here you have a section of an industry taking an initiative and trying to stand on its own two feet and within its means. An existing building needing only a limited amount of conversion work and on the market to sell, is the best deal thats going to come along anytime soon, it would be foolishness not to at least try for it. Its nothing other than good business sense, keeping capital costs minimised and achieving production at the earliest possible time. Now, if someone is willing to sign a cheque to cover the additional costs of establishing the same facility on a green field site, plus cover the additional interest that would be charged on any borrowings for the extra period that construction took, I would expect the developers would be quite happy to site their slaughterhouse anywhere whoever signs the cheque pleases, within reason. Failing that, this shed is the best deal on the table right now, and that's what any business decision is made on. If anyone should be taking any stick over this it should be whoever made the decsion to build residential properties so close to an industrial site. I would hope that neither the developer nor the planning board were as naive when the residential applications went through, as to think that just because the industrial units were currently fish processing, a fish shop and a vet's surgery that they'd always be that. From a casual observer's POV it would seem both parties took the decision that the proximity of "residential" to "industrial" was "acceptable" as is. What would the currently objecting resident's reaction have been had someone bought this shed and proposed converting it in to say for example a vehicle repair business or a steel fabrication one, with all the noise, traffic and smell that goes with that? Would there have been the same outcry, as quite honestly both are infinitely more noisy and smelly than a properly run slaughterhouse. Or are we just getting an "ick" factor going on here because a living creature is being killed, and the whole traffic/noise/smell/mess etc card is being played for all its worth and then some? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brunalf Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 Isn't it more than a little bit ironic that one of the shops hosting a petition against the abbatoir is the Scalloway Meat Company? i doot da irony dusna end dere on dis subject. mibee if da animals we wir eating wir preditors,an dey wid eat wis first afore we eat dem,mibee fok wid change deir minds tae a slaughter hoos dan.imagine animals lik dat wandering aboot blydoit,doot aabody wid be blyde tae git rid o dem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaxFusion Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 I think it's the packaging rather than the meat that's not up to standard... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuckleJoannie Posted January 19, 2009 Report Share Posted January 19, 2009 The first application for grant funding for this project will be heard at the Development Committee on Thursday 22 January. DV021-FShetland Abattoir Cooperative Ltd, and Shetland Livestock Marketing GroupLtd.Abattoir and Meat Processing facility, Scalloway. Agree to provide grant funding of up to £25,000 in the currentyear and subject to appropriate grant conditions to SLMG forthe purpose of conducting a business review and preparing adevelopment plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepshagger Posted January 20, 2009 Report Share Posted January 20, 2009 Now, if someone is willing to sign a cheque to cover the additional costs of establishing the same facility on a green field site, Maybe arthur will stump up some of the money his many ventures recieved in grants. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MuckleJoannie Posted January 22, 2009 Report Share Posted January 22, 2009 The documents submitted for the Planning application are here. http://www.shetland.gov.uk/planningcontrol/apps/pdfs/default.asp?filter=2009_009_PCD It looks like it is being controversial in the council already. The Development committee meeting today only gave them half of the grant recommended as they didn't like the Development Department's report. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vik Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 I am glad I don't have to be part of the decision making process here as the council planners have created a real problem with this one. Firstly the ex No Catch fish factory was built as an industrial unit for the processing of flesh for human consumption. Quite why the SIC allowed an industrial unit there is beyond me but it is an industrial site and should have been seen as such by anyone intending to build houses next to it. I wouldn't want to live next to an abattoir, fish factory, quarry or any other industrial set up and to this end I choose to live nowhere near such and If anyone decided to put one near me I would fight it with all means including petrol & matches if necessary. However you cannot move next to an industrial site (even one that is temporarily closed) then complain about an industrial activity. You shouldn't have moved there in the first place. Reminds me of a couple who built a new house in a rural part of Shetland and come the summer complained about the smell of slurry spreading spoiling their enjoyment of their new house & tried to stop the farmer! How stupid. [/b] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Njugle Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 Yup. It's a big mess alright. The industrial estate was designated when there was just an empty field there, pretty much. It's also interesting to note that there is a scallop shelling business right next to the empty factory and no-one has predicted any problem with attracting rats, smell, flies, traffic or hygiene from that and anywhere shelling scallops and storing scallop shells outdoors will incur all those issues - as much as a slaughterhouse that must comply with stringent regulations and be constantly monitored. Tricky. Most of the arguments against the slaughterhouse would seem to imply that the scallop business must be closed - and the vets too because they kill animals and that leaves the shop and the engineering business. (which both attract "dangerous traffic" anyway). Very tricky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted January 23, 2009 Report Share Posted January 23, 2009 ^^ In other words the objectors are standing on exremely shaky legs.... Good luck to them though, this is still a democracy we live in, I think....maybe.... Everyone is entitled to have their opinion, and have their say, but they're going to have to pull something much better out of the hat than they've come with so far, as the list of reasons for objecting so far amount to a whole lot of not much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Njugle Posted January 24, 2009 Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 Indeed, good for them in making a stand but (you knew there'd be a but didn't you) Another thing that struck me: The scallop processing unit has animals going in alive and coming out dead for food use too. One thing that has concerned me about the 'anti' campaign is their exaggeration.It has been said that all the residents of the neighbourhood have signed the petition, which they haven't (technically impossible as they haven't all moved in yet)And above all the description of the idea as "barbaric". If this came from a vegan source I could understand it, but from omnivores, with other animal food production right there already it's just absurd. Yes, I agree that a better location could be found, but pretending that meat doesn't come from an animal, and not taking a pride in those animals, is bonkers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EM Posted January 24, 2009 Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 ... all the residents of the neighbourhood have signed the petition,I didn't find that unusual. Given that the residents will continue to be living next to each other I would have been a tad surprised if it had not been unanimous. And above all the description of the idea as "barbaric".Yep, that really stood out. I've heard several people highlight it as smacking of desperation given the way the fundamental facts of the resident's argument seem difficult to reconcile with common sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khitajrah Posted January 24, 2009 Report Share Posted January 24, 2009 ... all the residents of the neighbourhood have signed the petition,I didn't find that unusual. Given that the residents will continue to be living next to each other I would have been a tad surprised if it had not been unanimous. The Shetland News website says this woman took less than two days to gather all the signatures on the petition. Did she knock on everyone's door and ask them to sign it? If so, there'd be a bit of pressure to sign it, I'd imagine. It'd take a strong person to say no, no, I'm actually ok with the idea if all one's neighbours were allegedly against it. Peer pressure and all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Njugle Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 The nearest neighbours are in the new scheme, all of whom are only moving in at the moment, hence, as I said above, they haven't all signed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muppet Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 Are petitions not quite the thing in East Voe? Not long ago someone was telling me about a neighbour knocking on their door asking them to sign a petition against new houses being built there. They told them to get to France! "I've been here a darn sight longer than you and no-one asked me to sign a petition against you moving here" True story, apparently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EM Posted January 25, 2009 Report Share Posted January 25, 2009 I wonder if in the future we are going to start seeing the business community organise petitions against proposed housing developments which are close to commercial property, in order to avoid this kind of issue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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