Mutley

Billy Fox is god. Literally. I mean only a god has omnipotent powers giving the ability to guage the Shetland population's views on this project and to make a statement in public which indicates that the 'silent majority' are actually against this project. I'm sorry, but Sustainable Shetland is sounding to me, more and more to me like a religion, and we all know how the 'kirk' numbers are falling. These kind of things alienate people and to be honest we had a bloody good laugh about this in the pub tonight. Like others I know (a straw poll conducted tonight) most folk look forward to some reasoned and dare I say it rational and grown-up debate on the issue instead of the mud-slinging match which appears to be developing. Perhaps it would be a good idea for Messrs Fox and Learmonth to meet with Messrs Thomson and Preist in order to discuss and agree on the basis of the facts developed before they enter the arena and to end some of this pointless debate via media. I think the work done by VE has been important and the consultation has been pretty good on the issues which need to be discussed for which is obviously an important project for Shetland. At no time, as far as I am aware, has VE gone ahead and said this must be built (correct me if I am wrong) but has concentrated on gathering the facts and presenting them for discussion. I am all for openess and discussion but surely some benefit could arise for both parties if they could meet to establish the basis for some facts (look before you leap and all that)...?

What about Mareel - it doesn't seem to say it has to have been built. Was that locally designed?

That's actually a really good point well made. It's just a simple case of waking up, smelling the coffee and realising that this is just a fact of life these days. Yes, fake ID is possible but it is likely that there will be a low incidence of this. No-one seemed to make too much of a song and dance when photo was made a requirement for air travel so why moan about the boat?

OK - I'm sold! 100 bampots on Shelink say OK! I'm afraid this survey is as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike! Like a hell of a lot of other projects on the Council's capital programme which are competing for cash.... See above and those in support of other projects competing for these funds! I'm afraid it is most like clutching at straws when you need to start searching around for other examples around the country. I agree with your second point but stand by my first. Planning is a discipline which is very heavily controlled by rules and processes. Here the government advice via HSE is absolute (don't know enough about the case south). This being the case it is a no-brainer that planning permission has to be turned down. The councillors may possibly (again don't know the detail) have the ability to overturn the ruling however I am aware that there are still a lot of people against the project. As stated - the profession is very much guided by rules and procedures - we see already Shetland trying to say that the rules have been broken elsewhere so we want them broken for us. Don't have the information to agree or disagree. Given the headline of yesterday's Sun this could well be hitting more than the local tabloid.

Can you really see a planning department which is continually under fire by the Shetland public conveniently ignoring government advice to build a new major public facility which a large portion of Shetlanders are clearly against (less than half of Shetlinkers according to the survey were fully for the proposals as they stand) although admittedly that is a vote of only over 100 people. Basically if the planning department does ignore this it opens the floodgates for ignoring guidelines across the board and for the public to expect this to be the case in other planning applications for other personal and commercial developments. I can understand Bryan's humour in the situation but unfortunately this is day and age it is very regretable as the 'quote' in the paper completely cheapens the seriousness of the entire episode. This is an issue which needs to be handled with care and tact. He is a publicly paid official and we should expect better. I do not need to remind him that ultimately most of those responsible for HSE decisions are most likely 'southern softies' Hey at least he didn't use 'soothmoother'!

And of course the publicly funded, usually out of date. www.shetland-music.com

You should research your move fully first, try moving here for a few months first!? You should remember that the seasons are a bit longer than further south as well. Shetland is a very mixed and accepting place so you and a great place to call your home. One thing for sure though - Shetlink is infamous for its negativity so speak to some real people first!