Mutley

I heard today that the Council have just sent 2 employees to India for 2 months! In a time of cuts with schools closing and budgets being slashed, surely this can't be true? How much is that little lot costing?

I think you can safely say from the list who are currently 'undecided' that these WILL certainly stand again: Alastair Cooper, Betty Fullerton, Robert Henderson, Bill Manson, Cecil Smith and Allan Wishart. It appears to be part of the strategy to keep quiet about these things at the moment in the hope that this will minimise public debate about individual failures and achievements. The former rather than the latter it has to be said. Cooper, Manson and Wishart are, after all, steeped in Viking Energy. - will that affect votes? Betty Fullerton to stand for the south end someone said? Most probably as there won't be much chance of re-election in her current ward. Will be interesting to see who comes out from under the bush over the next few weeks. At least credit to those who have nailed their colours to the mast at this point. Wonder when those above will? http://www.shetlandtimes.co.uk/2012/01/17/at-least-six-councillors-to-stand-down-before-election-in-may

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Let's not forget a panel employed this guy which consisted of the full Council plus adminstrative staff. They employed this guy as we know and it has been a disaster. Never mind the pay-off - that is bad enough, but what about all the wasted time? If an excellent candidate was in position (from the alleged short-list it didn't seem there was such a candidate) we could have been moving in a very positive diretion for 8 months instead of shifting Shetland into reverse gear so that's effectively 16 months wasted. Two highly paid members of staff have been absent for long periods of time from post doing nothing - OK it is questionable what Willie Shannon does actually do anyway - other than acting as coffee taster in The Peerie Shop cafe or Skipidock during the working day. What we need to know: What Councillors did not think Mr Clark was suitable for the position during the initial interview? Why wasn't some kind of probationary period insisted on (common in many walks of life, particularly for senior positions) especially given past balls-ups like with Mr Reiter? Where were all the background checks? Surely that would have set alarm bells ringing? The bottom line is that the clowns in the Town Hall have blown more than £250k - it is much much more than that. Let's hope for a breath of fresh air at the next election.

I don't think any Councillor which is closely aligned with the Viking Energy project is a good idea.

^^^Well said, Axolotl. As well as the above quote, your post has more sense in it than all the media coverage (both letters and reported news) put together. I could not agree more. Axolotl has nailed it. Mr Shannon has a reputation for being a fixer, yet no-one can actually work out what exactly he has fixed as he has flitted from post to post. I have to say that the quote about life being too short and getting on with it etc. from the paper yesterday is hardly suprising given the alleged fact that he was fudged into a senior position, even writing his own job description. It would appear that he has been sussed out at an early stage by Mr Clark. I can remember Brian Smith ranting on about the situation where this job 'appeared' without any open competetive process yet nothing seems to be mentioned about that now.

(** mod edit - quote of whole previous post removed **) Yes - good point and taken, the kind of behaviour we need from all senior Council officials but particularly the CE. My point however was that you have to wonder given the circumstances if there was a particular level of baiting going on and if really comments made were really that bad - maybe they were not and he cracked which is a weakness but of course we simply don't know. He appears to have a track record of dealing with larger contracts well which of course involves professional people behaving in the right manner around a table (most of the time I guess) with hard-nosed negotiatory lanuguage being the call of the day but not necessarily larger than life characters giving you personal abuse down a telephone. Your teacher was of course right but we are all human, particularly where personal insults are concerned. Perhaps he should have just put the phone down. Is this the kind of behavour want from our Councillors too? Maybe your teacher would have suggested that this should have happened: "When, finally, Wills was done with his cursing, Clark asked him with a smile: "My friend, when a person gives something to another person and if the person refuses to accept it, then who shall own the thing?" Wills answered offhandedly: "Of course it belongs to the giver." Clark said: "That's right. You have been cursing me until now. If I don't accept your cursing, then who will receive the cursing?" Upon hearing the wise and compassionate questions from Clark, Wills was speechless and never dare to curse Clarka gain."

I think in the longer course both Tavish Scott and Alastair Carmichael are really going to regret getting involved in this.....particularly as this appears to be based on "the strength of feeling that we detect in the wider Shetland community" - whatever the hell that is meant to mean? Don't they have more important political matters to spend their brainpower on? It sets a dangerous precedent and I notice that Alastair Carmichael has been left to do the interviews. Looks like Tavish feels that he is too close to the whole Shetland side of things to be directly involved in this way - time will tell. Politicians getting involved in Council affairs is a bad news particularly when they are simply asking for the bloody obvious - maybe the Shannon/Wills PR wagon has been whipping up the scene a bit. We simply don't know the seriousness of the situation as yet but you would have to assume that if Dave Clark has consulted his top officers (as well it appears with some Councillors) as has been stated, then he has been following professional advice along with guidance from some Councillors. It would seem then that he has hardly made this decision in isolation. He is however the boss so carries the can if correct procedure has not been followed. At the centre of this is Willie Shannon so perhaps a total review of the situation will go back to the circumstances under which his post was originally created - murky by all accounts - and if indeed proper procedure was followed for that - maybe we will at last we will get a full picture. Wouldn't it be interesting if the ex CE was dragged into this review too so we can peek inside the dark innards of the SIC dodgy decision-making department? Meanwhile you have to wonder what Jonathan Wills said to Dave Clarke to provoke an alleged reaction like that - maybe again we will find out - but it sounds like both men have acted inappropriately if this is all true. Particularly sad if comments are being made on private lives. I don't think the police will treat this seriously - just because of who they are - but more likely to see this as any altercation between two bampots and handle as handbags at 5 paces.....it is surely impossible to prove to anyone what was said what unless it was recorded? there's a thought - maybe it will be streamed via Shetland News!? All sounds like more convenient negative PR for the Clark hitters at the right time. Meanwhile, this strange and bizarre Council contines to stumble on. Interesting times......poses the question....what will Cecil 'The Boomerang' Smith change his mind about next? He employed this guy didn't he?!

Yeah me too. Got to a couple of things but wish they would split the book and film festivals - too much at one time to ensure a good turnout for a small place like Shetland.

Not at all. I recently wrote my own job description too, and there are many good and honest reasons why this is a useful thing to do. Just because he was involved (allegedly) doesn't mean that nobody else had a say in it either. There are also beyond many good and honest reasons why, as a senior publicly funded position, that this, if true, is not in any way 'good and honest'. A highly paid position was created (by whichever means) which effectively was the second most senior staff position in the Council. This was was filled by conveniently (for whatever reason) muddling someone into the position without any open and competetive employment process. Is that good and honest? I don't think as a tax payer this is good practice in the public sector - do you? Collectively I am sure the senior levels of Council Service Heads at the time would have been doing a collective back-flip at not being given a sniff of an opportunity to at least apply for a post of this nature, never mind the fact that a post of this seniority, like the Chief Executive position, should clearly have been subject to an open, fair and wide-ranging recruitment process at the time. I don't think the current position is good practice either but we do need to put everything in perspective.

Not only was the post not advertised (I can remeber the Times and the Unions complaining about that too at the time) but allegedly Mr Shannon also wrote the job description for the post as well.......mmmm that stinks if true and I would have zero sympathy in this situation as Mr Shannon has clearly through stealth elevated himself into an unsustainable position. The fact of the matter appears to be that upon the arrival of Mr Clark the role of 'puppet' is no longer required whilst it is clear that Mr Shannon does not have the skills to address the admittedly difficult task of managing the capital programme. What is also clear from reading the reports is that the 'team' which Mr Clark met with to discuss this also think the same. I can also recall Mr Shannon having some kind of reputation as a fix-it man from his earlier Council career but ask anyone and no-one seems to know what exactly he fixed. This is obvious from various quotes which seem to indicate that he is a 'nice man' but 'we're not really sure exactly why is so good at his job'. I think when you get to the position of saying that anti-nazi poetry is giving you comfort at this time you have accepted that you won't be employed by the SIC anymore and you are hedging your bets for a bumper payoff.

Any chance of an Arrowhead reunion?

I'm not so sure you are going off the topic. It is important if the 'Creative Industries' flag is being flown that there is clear understanding what it is and for the 'arts' elements of the creative industries which Shetland Arts would potentially influence/develop/support via Mareel to be clearly identified within this rather large heading. This obviously then needs to be weighed up along with the softer community benefits against a fairly hefty capital and revenue cost to the public purse. Table A2 at http://www.culture.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/4DE5B8FB-A95F-49B6-9900-3BE475622851/0/CreativeIndustriesEconomicEstimates2007.pdf gives a good tick list for this for those who want to get detailed as to what the Creative Industries are all about. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport defines the Creative Industries as "....those industries that are based on individual creativity, skill and talent. They are also those that have the potential to create wealth and jobs through developing intellectual property. The creative industries include: Advertising Film and video Architecture Music Art and antiques markets Performing arts Computer and video games Publishing Crafts Software Design Television and radio Designer fashion http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/Creative_industries/ That's quite a wide area and ather unsuprisingly the national 'estimates' show that the main elements of this are (rather unsuprisingly): Software, Computer Games and Electronic Publishing, Advertising, Publishing, Architecture and Radio/TV. It will be interesting to see this report and to find out what, for example, the Architecture industry is worth in Shetland if the above definition has been taken seriously.

There is a further camp.........the one that looks forward to the outcome of the VE investigation into this imporant project whilst also realising that oil won't last forever; are potentially happy to develop a windfarm which we realise won't save the world, yet which also wont 'cover the island in wind turbines' and which will provide community funds for the future. I couldn't agree more about the point on tidal power and I am totally in favour of this being investigated - we have great tidal movements around Shetland but I guess this is not itself immune from the likes of environmental problems, even though they would be largely invisible to the human eye. I think what I am trying to say is that all options should be thorougly investigated as far as is practicable. It is difficult to find any solid information on the VE website on its remit to investigate other potential sources of energy but as technologies advance these should be given serious consideration and added to the mix. I looked at this page which has a fetching picture of Drew Ratter on it: http://www.vikingenergy.co.uk/viking_energy_ltd.asp) The danger in always holding off is that you never really grasp an opportunity, however if these technologies are advancing significantly (I have no knowledge of this incidentally) VE could be in a danger of owning a Betamax when what we all really want is a VHS!

What we have is a music venue which is going to be too small to make any real difference - I'm sorry but I've totally made up my mind on that fact - a cinema which we son't really need (the Garrison refurbishment idea seems to make perfect sense to me) whilst I am sure that the proposed areas for workshops/education can be provided separately in some way. Shetland Arts 20 + staff (bloody hell I can't believe there are that many - what do they all do!!?) can sit tight where they are at I am sure. Actually in a perverse way I seem to remember a hell of a lot more activity from Shetland Arts when there were only about 6 of them Arthur Watt, Jackie Clark, Davie Gardner and crew at the auld office - mind you there was more work going on then and much less fixation on jollies sooth at any cost! The harsh reality is that that the scary facts behind this project are now sinking in and this is why you have more than 1/3 of the Councillors already firmly pitched in the NO BLOODY WAY camp.

Gavin Morgan's story from The Shetland News website dated 5th April: "Mareel advert might cause a stink†states: "But councillor Allison Duncan has pledged to see the plans “blown into oblivion†and seven councillors have signed his notice of motion to drop the Mareel, which will be debated at a full council meeting on 14 May". Unless my arithmetic is wrong, I make that 8 Councillors out of 22 at this stage who are against Mareel and it will only take another 4 of the remaining Councillors to stop the project in its tracks, regardless of the debate at the end of next month. Any idea who has signed this petition?

For the Record: From The Shetland News Website. Any comments on this? Mareel not a priority 4 April 2008 I have today signed Councillor Duncan's motion to review the proposed SIC investment in Mareel. The simple reason is that at present we cannot afford over £4m of public money to help build it, nor could we afford the annual subsidy if it went ahead as planned. This is very clear when we look at the council's capital and revenue spending projections for the next few years. My priorities on capital projects are the new Anderson High School (the costs of which I wish to reduce), the new school and care centre for Yell, the very urgent replacement of the Whalsay ferry terminal and a new primary school for Lerwick. These are essential. Mareel is not. On the revenue spending side I will back education and social care before arts centres or leisure and recreation. I made this clear during my election campaign. I know many people have worked long and hard on the Mareel project and they'll be very disappointed if the council decides not to put any more money into it. I don't dispute that it would be a fine thing to have, despite its monumentally ugly design. I wish them luck in their search for other, private, sources of funds to make up the shortfall. The good news is that the (equally ugly, in my opinion) new Anderson High School design already includes several of Mareel's ingredients: the school hall will seat about the same number of people as the proposed Mareel auditorium and the architect tells me audiences of several hundred more will be able to see the double-sided stage from the very large main concourse, or atrium; the hall can easily show films (as can the fisheries college, the Garrison and the auditorium at the new museum); there will also be two recording studios and plenty of rehearsal space, along with vast areas suitable for displaying works of art. My suggestion is that once the new community school is completed the council should donate the 1862 Anderson Educational Institute building to Shetland Arts, to provide offices, recording studios, rehearsal space and, most importantly, teaching areas for Shetland College's music courses. Yes, it's a listed building; no, it's not purpose-built; but the council's budget problems, already acute, have been made worse by the stock market crash and for the time being we'll just have to make the best of what we've got. After some 45 years' involvement in Shetland's artistic and literary scene, Ihope I won't be condemned as a philistine because of this decision. Like other councillors who've signed Mr Duncan's motion, I hope rather to be regarded as a realist who recognises that a community of 22,000 people livingon some small Atlantic islands cannot expect to have the same cultural facilities as city folk. What we do have here is already pretty impressive for a place of this size. Compare the facilities in Wick, Thurso, Stornoway, Ullapool or Fort William and you may see what I mean. Yours sincerely, Jonathan Wills Independent Councillor for Lerwick South jonathan.wills@shetland.gov.uk

That's fair enough, but hasn't half of the educational element to the project now been removed in favour of offices for Shetland Arts? I may be wrong on this so apologies if it is the case but word on the street is the proposal is radically different to what was envisaged early on in the project. By the way, has Mr Gibbons taken the plunge and actually moved to Shetland yet, 18 months down the line since starting in post? If not, why not!

For the record this appeared in the Shetland News today. Windfarm clarification 2 April, 2008 ROSA is welcome to ask anything anywhere and if it's about the windfarm then I'll try to answer (Letter: Growing old disgracefully 1/4/08). To correct Rosa's first mistake: Viking Energy's mandate does not come from an early opinion poll. Viking Energy's only mandate comes from the support of Shetland's democratically elected councillors who have been willing to investigate the opportunity identified and who understand that they are committed to nothing more than finding out if the project can ever happen. However, the Ipsos Mori poll mentioned was a useful part of Viking Energy's consultation process. Useful to Viking Energy mainly because it gave us a good idea of how much people knew about the project. Rather than go into the detail I will merely direct Rosa (and anyone else interested) to the Viking Energy website where the analysis of the survey including full details of every question asked has been sitting for more than a year. http://www.vikingenergy.co.uk/news.asp The amount of money spent on this project has similarly been published before and I am happy to add to what has already been said. By this morning, Shetland Island's Council has spent just over £1.4 million over the last four years against budgets for everything to do with Viking Energy. A significant proportion of this is for costs such as wages, office, IT costs, etc. that would have been incurred regardless of whether the project existed. Our partner has spent slightly less and so, following a reconciliation process, Scottish and Southern Energy will reimburse half of the difference to ensure that both partners pay exactly 50 per cent each. Rosa's misunderstanding of scoping procedures is quite common and I think the easiest way to explain the site size is to say that Viking Energy's approach to environmental impact assessment is to understand more than the minimum necessary and instead we are happily surveying areas where we have no intention of putting turbines. The sheer volume of environmental data now collected for this project is already a valuable resource. We do this simply so we can demonstrate that we not only know what is going on within the windfarm footprint, but also that we know what is going on away from the windfarm. It is also good to have what are known as 'control' sites should the project proceed and the ongoing monitoring start. So our scoping site may be 32,000 acres but our actual proposed windfarm footprint will be less than a third of this. The area actually disturbed will be more in the region of 371 acres. As always, we welcome discussion of any kind. David Thomson Project Officer - Viking Energy Tel: 01595 744919 Fax: 01595 744920 Email: david.h.thomson@shetland.gov.uk Web: www.vikingenergy.co.uk

That is completely untrue If 'negative' comments are posted they are responded to in a constructive manner (if a response is applicable) I am afraid that I have heard exactly the same, but rather than remove a statement it is simply not added and further attempts result in your entry being blocked - this is not exactly balanced.

[quote name="Hardwadder" Well here we go again http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/feb/26/sciencenews.renewableenergy And it is the same pub' date=' make mine a malt! [/quote] Hey, I'm sorry but I've taken a look at this and it's over 3 years old! The success of the German initiative is clearly highlighted in the up-to-date Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology website. It does not look to me like an industry which is failing. Topline: http://www.german-renewable-energy.com/Renewables/Navigation/Englisch/root.html Further Info: http://www.german-renewable-energy.com/Renewables/Navigation/Englisch/wind-power.html § Some 214,000 people are now employed in the renewable energy sector and may have managed to prevent some 101 million tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere in 2006. § Renewable energy technologies in Germany have become an important industrial sector with high annual growth rates in the last few years. Many innovative German companies have advanced to become international technological leaders, providing key components for the wind energy, hydropower, solar energy, geothermic and biomass sectors. "Renewables made in Germany" are considered amongst the world leaders and are therefore being used all over the world. § A turnover of 11.3 billion euros arose from the erection of plants and 10.3 billion euros from the operation of the plants. § Renewable energy accounted for 5.8 percent of primary energy consumption in Germany in 2006 and the share of renewable energy in total gross electricity consumption rose to 12 percent. In relation to total road traffic, the contribution of biofuels to fuel supply reached 6.6 percent and, in the heat market, renewables' share in total heat provision was 6 percent. Its proportion in the total final energy consumption rose to 8 percent.

Must have been the same pub where the crane driving guy who thinks that you can site two 150m tower cranes to top off a wind turbine on a peat bog drinks. It's certainly not one where the mad guy who sits nodding to himself in the corner who reckons he can mind readthe guy who tells tall tales about 22 years to erect a windfarm and the lady who reckons that wind farming in Germany has been a failure: "In Germany, wind energy has experienced over recent years a degree of success that had hardly been thought conceivable" (EU Directorate General for Energy and Transport)

Once more we get this mind-reading drivel. I am sorry but my understanding was that Jonathan Wills was 'applauded' for attending the meeting. This being the case I think the meeting (although it probably acted as a stage for the , 'i've made my mind up already that I don't want a windfarm in Shetland and I don't care what you say - talk to the hand as the face ain't listening' brigade) that there were folk there who were genuinely interested in what the modus operandi of SS was. The people of Shetland need a good analysis of the project and that as far as I can see is happening.