Lerwick antiques Posted March 7, 2015 Report Share Posted March 7, 2015 After reading the paper today and taken a look at the work going on up the hill, it looks as if we are going to loose the Staney hill. 400 houses and a school, that should take most of the hill away. Whats everyones thoughts on this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted March 7, 2015 Report Share Posted March 7, 2015 Nothing that you could call 'thoughts' but, if the people who get to live there can stand being placed on top of one of the windiest spots around Lerwick then, fair enough. At least they should get a good view, possibly as far as the other 'estate' to be built at the old observatory site.. <G> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post tooney1 Posted March 7, 2015 Popular Post Report Share Posted March 7, 2015 To me it seems very short-sighted filling up every available space in Lerwick with social housing and putting a strain on already limited resources including schools, roads, health centre etc. There's plenty of land in Shetland, and if it needs to be obtained via compulsory purchase then so be it. The argument "but everyone wants to live in Lerwick" is also very short-sighted. That situation has arisen due to little infrastructure being built outside of Lerwick. Why does every council building need to be Lerwick-based for example? The powers that be need to think outside of Lerwick and plan for proper growth. wilks, Acid, Suffererof1crankymofo and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Capeesh Posted March 7, 2015 Popular Post Report Share Posted March 7, 2015 I benefited from a housing assosiation flat before buying a property and starting a family. This new development borders my house and will possibly have a detrimental effect on value etc.When we got the thing through the post asking if we had any objections to the development, me and the Mrs decided that to pull the ladder up behind us and deny others the same opportunities we had would be wrong, so I welcome it. jz, Kavi Ugl and Kafka 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urabug Posted March 7, 2015 Report Share Posted March 7, 2015 These houses will be built to get as many into the available space as they can. The view out over the beautiful harbour will probably be of little or no concern to the planners. The main concern will be to cram as many houses into this space with some degree of privacy between them to meet building regulations. It all comes down to money and I would think it will be similar to the Quoys and Sundhammer schemes, fine houses but only some have a decent view. As for jobs, ask yourself the simple question how many businesses do you know that would or could operate out of the Lerwick Area. Go from employer to employer and you will not find very many. That is why folk live in the toon ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urabug Posted March 7, 2015 Report Share Posted March 7, 2015 Sorry forgot to answer the actual question --YES we are losing the Staney Hill . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whalsa Posted March 7, 2015 Report Share Posted March 7, 2015 I'm sure there are lots of people who commute OUT of Lerwick rather than in. I agree wholeheartedly with tooney1, successive Councils have been too concerned with expanding Lerwick at the expense of everywhere else. Think about how many people commute up north every day to SVT/SGP, why do all those people have to have houses in Lerwick? Obviously people can choose to live wherever they want but the Council can choose where to provide social housing. Believe it or not most of Shetlands wealth is actually generated outwith Lerwick. Acid 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urabug Posted March 7, 2015 Report Share Posted March 7, 2015 Your right whalsa,but remember houses were removed/demolished in Mossbank because no one wanted to stay there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted March 7, 2015 Report Share Posted March 7, 2015 Yeah, say goodbye to the hill. There's not much else way to go unless incorporating Gulberwick in to the toon, or urbanising the Black Gaet, so if folk want to stay in the toon, what else can be done? Point taken about commuting and whatnot, but speaking from a local perspective the only reason most of the council houses are occupied in Yokeland right now, is that folk wanting to stay in the toon but can't get a house there, have taken them rather than have nothing, and they'll move on out of it and in to the toon at the first chance they have of grabbing anything there. I may be wrong, but from where I'm seeing it if everybody who wanted to stay in town could, there would be empty council houses in a lot of areas, and I don't think it would be far from the truth to claim that far, far more folk would rather stay in town and commute out to elsewhere every day, than vice versa. For some reason a lot of folk seem to prefer the urban enviornment rather than a rural one, and as long as that continues coupled with modern day expectations of being able to walk in to your own place at 16, both parties have their own place immediately upon having split up, the inevitable steady trickle that comes off the boat expecting accomodation etc, the toon needs to expand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lerwick antiques Posted March 8, 2015 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 It's just a bit strange to think that Lochside/Burgess street is (was) the edge of Lerwick with the only view left of the countryside (staney hill) Now lochside is going to be the centre of town with the school and houses replacing the Staney hill. It is going to be a real change. Just out of interest. Someone said that the clickimin loch might have to be filled in due to health and safety regulations with the school? is there any truth in that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gorgonzola Butt-cheese Posted March 8, 2015 Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 Good point, probably best to run the loch full with concrete to provide some much needed car parking space........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghostrider Posted March 8, 2015 Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 Just out of interest. Someone said that the clickimin loch might have to be filled in due to health and safety regulations with the school? is there any truth in that? Considering what H&S get up to these days, it wouldn't be at all surprising if they did, but I would think (or at least hope) that was somebody's idea of a joke. But as with many things said in jest, its maybe not entirely without a hint of sense. Slicing enough off the Staney Hill to fill the loch would gain them a bonus chunk of prime(ish) real estate, and make what was left of the hill a far more habitable friendly height and terrain. Big job, but they managed to fill in the North Loch in the days of far more primitive machinery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shetlander Posted March 8, 2015 Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 (edited) To me it seems very short-sighted filling up every available space in Lerwick with social housing and putting a strain on already limited resources including schools, roads, health centre etc. There's plenty of land in Shetland, and if it needs to be obtained via compulsory purchase then so be it. The argument "but everyone wants to live in Lerwick" is also very short-sighted. That situation has arisen due to little infrastructure being built outside of Lerwick. Why does every council building need to be Lerwick-based for example? The powers that be need to think outside of Lerwick and plan for proper growth. Are you serious? The council has spent millions on piers, ferries, schools, leisure centres, care centres, roads etc outwith Lerwick over the last 30-40 years. Together with the financial support they've given to rural businesses in the same time, the whole lot provide/help to sustain hundreds of jobs. The council have been generous with its cheque book in terms of what’s been provided in Lerwick too of course but I can bet that folk in the further flung parts of Orkney or the Western Isles would cut their arms off to have what’s been invested in some parts of Shetland. I would like to see the council decentralising some of its office functions to somewhere like Brae but in the current financial climate and the costs involved (as well as the inevitable outcry from folk currently working in the toon) I just can’t see it happening. I'm 'yokeland' born and bred and although the attractions of Lerwick as a place to want to shift to have aye been a bit of a mystery to me personally they seemingly aren’t for a lot of folk. Jobs are only part of the reason and it’s not just a Shetland problem – the attractions of an ‘urban’ lifestyle are what’s driving most folk there IMO and there’s little the council or anybody else can do to change that. Edited March 8, 2015 by shetlander Kafka and jz 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B/M/S Posted March 8, 2015 Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 What about the huge bit of land the council bought at the ness of sound for a fortune but never put a single thing on it ?????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tooney1 Posted March 8, 2015 Report Share Posted March 8, 2015 Are you serious? The council has spent millions on piers, ferries, schools, leisure centres, care centres, roads etc outwith Lerwick over the last 30-40 years. Together with the financial support they've given to rural businesses in the same time, the whole lot provide/help to sustain hundreds of jobs. The council have been generous with its cheque book in terms of what’s been provided in Lerwick too of course but I can bet that folk in the further flung parts of Orkney or the Western Isles would cut their arms off to have what’s been invested in some parts of Shetland. I would like to see the council decentralising some of its office functions to somewhere like Brae but in the current financial climate and the costs involved (as well as the inevitable outcry from folk currently working in the toon) I just can’t see it happening. I'm 'yokeland' born and bred and although the attractions of Lerwick as a place to want to shift to have aye been a bit of a mystery to me personally they seemingly aren’t for a lot of folk. Jobs are only part of the reason and it’s not just a Shetland problem – the attractions of an ‘urban’ lifestyle are what’s driving most folk there IMO and there’s little the council or anybody else can do to change that. I'm serious, and in my view they haven't spent enough outside of Lerwick. Look at what Stromness is to Kirkwall compared to what Scalloway is to Lerwick. Why not begin to urbanise other areas? Build the infrastructure elsewhere and people, retail and whatever else will follow. Why not extend Lerwick and incorporate other settlements, rather than densify. The argument is also often Lerwick vs the Country, but when you break it down to Lerwick vs Brae, Lerwick vs Scalloway etc., you get more realistic comparisons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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