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Shetland's Partnership Plan


Davie P
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The new Partnership Plan seems to be a very positive thing

 

http://www.shetnews.co.uk/news/16910-partnership-plan-a-platform-for-innovation

 

I just had a look at the actual document and was pleasantly surprised at some of the stats about how Shetland compares with other locations. It's worth a read

 

https://www.shetland.gov.uk/communityplanning/ShetlandPartnership.asp

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Its good to have aspirations and dreams, its also good to have the ability to take a reality check when necessary.

 

The biggest problem hindering any grand plan such as this one, is that public bodies would need to step outside their self-manufactured little bubbles for it to have any real hope of progress. Public bodies these days are the product of so many 'policies' and 'plans', all built on top of numerous previous ones over so many years, few of which their clients were or are aware of, or could give a tuppney damn for even if they were, that their view of the world looking out, is a parallel universe to the world the rest of us living in it see looking around us.

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If public bodies want to 'improve' things, the perfect place to start would be to reorganise and streamline themselves to avoid duplication, and provide services in a competively costed manner so that everybody got better value for money. Case in hand, we've paid for years for two sets for management and admin to 'look after people', the NHS and the Council Welfare bods. We're paying for three sets management and admin to do the same job, now that they've gotten this IJB set up thats dabbling to some degree in what both other lots were doing previously.

 

Pare the Council back to half size, or less. Close the Welfare office, send the criminal type word to the Court Service to do, send everything else to teh Health Board to do. Close the Housing office, establish a Housing association run by elected tenant reps, or merge it all together with Hjaltland. Close down the Education office, let every school elect a board of governors from existing and prospective parents, let every board of Governors send one rep to a Shetland Education board, completely independent of the Council, which oversees all Shetland schools and deals with the government. Contract out piers and harbours to competent commercial operators on terms that encourage them to develop them to their full commecial (and profitable) potential so that that any operating subsidy for those that are socially desirable but can neve rbe commercially viable is minimised. Contract out ferries to someone with experience and competence in operating boats profiatbly, again to minimise subsidies for those which simply can never pay their way.

 

Let the Council get 'back to basics', doing the only things they arguably were ever much good at, and things everybody uses and/or relies on every day. Roads, refuse collection, sewerage, water and suchlike.

 

Combine the operating and support facilities for all the blue light services as much as possible, there's no reason why Police, Fire & Ambulance can't all use one block of offices, vehicle maintenance and repair facility, garage facility, canteen, support staff, record keeping suite etc. They've taken one tiny step in this direction by combining LK fire crew and ambulance bases, why not take it to its ultimate conclusion and do it properly.

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So 800 jobs in 10 years, this seems to me a very ambitious objective.

 

1-     What kind of jobs

2-     Full time, part time, zero hours, seasonal, voluntary.

3-     Will this be new jobs or replacements for say contractual  redundancies.

4-     Will this be for Shetland residents or immigrants?

5-     Who in the present political turmoil can possibly plan or see 10 years ahead.

 

I feel this is just a lot of waffle by our well paid heads who are trying to convince us by producing all this bull**it they are worth every penny they earn and are doing a fantastic job. Time will tell.

 

Could be they are going to give 800 folk a pick, shovel and a wheelbarrow and start tunneling to the Isles !

 

I remain highly sceptic of the whole idea but obviously wish it every success.

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So 800 jobs in 10 years, this seems to me a very ambitious objective.

I wonder what percentage of these eight hundred jobs will be held by relations of the big knobs that hang around the S. I. C. while doing nothing constructive? 5%, 10% - or possibly every single one of them?

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So 800 jobs in 10 years, this seems to me a very ambitious objective.

I wonder what percentage of these eight hundred jobs will be held by relations of the big knobs that hang around the S. I. C. while doing nothing constructive? 5%, 10% - or possibly every single one of them?

 

Probably none for will there be any jobs. :rofl:

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Just about the only way there's any hope of creating 800 jobs in 10 years is if we get full local control of local water out to 200/the median.

 

fat chance of that happening though the way every government and politician seems determined to leave the EU taking the minimum possible.

 

We gave the core countries of the EU plenty of 'materials' gratis '39 - '45, and they've been taking what they can get off us ever since. That flow needs to reverse 100%.

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800 Jobs no way , 80 is a more realistic target , get an aldi here , that's 40 or 50 covered straight away.

Should Aldi come here they might well employ 40 or 50 but other shops would then employ less to compensate for the loss of business so the gain would be minimal.

 

I suspect as Ghostrider would imply that Shetlands ability to employ those numbers of people would almost certainly  have to come from our indigenous industrious the main one being our fishing.

 

Unfortunately much of our "fishing" is now owned and operated from outwith as far as I am aware.

 

Possibly their is something new we know nothing about yet and that would be great.  I wait with little anticipation for such.

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