trowie246

Quote "If emissions reductions had begun in 2005....." unquote The above statements worries me because this suggests emissions are not being reduced......so does this mean that all the hundreds and thousands of windfarms already covering many countries aren't working?

^^^ So does this mean that when we get all the windturbines up and running they'll be switching off the power station then? an whit aboot me car??!!!

Speaking of Sullom Voe I wish people would stop saying that people were against Sullom Voe when it was first spoken about and look how it's turned out. Maybe there were people who did not want oil to come to Shetland, I don't know, I was but a babe in arms but Sullom Voe can't be compared to the VE project. For one thing the vast majority of people living in Shetland have never been to the Sullom Voe terminal and have no idea of the size of it or indeed, what goes on there. It is tucked away nicely and hidden from view so completely that when you pass the end of the road on your way from Toft to Brae you have no idea that it is even there. The only thing in sight is two flare stacks. One of the main things that worries me about the VE project is the visual impact here in Shetland - you can not say that about Sullom Voe no matter what other worries people may have had at the time.

The authority in this case is with the Energy Unit in Edinburgh - it's not a normal planning application overseen by the Council. The SIC Planning report were effectively comments submitted to the Energy Unit as input to its considerations, along with all the supporting/objecting letters and the later report/vote/comments from Councilors. If the Council vote had decided not to support the application then that would have forced a public hearing, but everything would still have been dealt with by the Energy Unit - permission for this development is not given/refused by the Council. I didn't read keetiebairdie post as that, I thought she/he was asking who had the authority within the SIC to object or not object to the windfarm.

And it looks like the youngsters aren't getting much encouragement with their musical skills either, now the SIC have started not filling positions for tutors (apparantly because there was no suitable candidates - yeah pull the other one). You would have thought that there would have been some sort of joined up thinking between music provision in schools in Shetland and Mareel.

Might be wrong but I think our elected members have the final say - which must be very frustrating for the council officials, but it is a two-way street - the officials only let the councillors know what they want them to know. Ultimately very frustrating for them as well. I went to read a report online about VE on the SIC website and was amazed at the amount of councillors that had to declare an interest and could not take part in the discussion or vote at the meeting. It wasn't just because some were VE directors either, there were other reasons.

So basically, according to this rather vague guideline, if you live out in the sticks you're stuffed. Soonds joost aboot right.

It's the Charitable Trust who have the share in VE, not the SIC, so presumably any profits gained can only be spent on things over and above what a local authority have to provide ie. education. So any income from VE won't be spent on school revenue but there was talk of the Charitable Trust building a new AHS then it being leased back to the SIC. This is the problem with the money from the VE project as I understand it, correct me if I'm wrong, but it won't save schools from closure but it WILL support Mareel, as the Charitable Trust supports the Shetland Arts Trust and also the Shetland Recreational Trust, so the leisure centres will be safe as well. The money being given directly to the communities as some sort of compensation as well I imagine will only be able to be spent on certain things, how many local hall refurbishments/extensions can be done? What exactly is all these millions of pounds going to be spent on?

Dear Bug, I have a bit of a dilema. I have tinnitus and I have been told by a specialist that there is no cure (by the way, that isn't the dilema). My problem is now a giant windfarm is being built in Shetland I feel like I want to leave Shetland but I am probably the one who should stay. You see, I have a noise in my head lik a drummy bee the whole time so although I don't live anywhere near the turbines I feel maybe I should let one of the poor souls who live there move out then I can move in, you know, sacrifice for the greater good and all that stuff. Like we have to sacrifice Shetland for the rest of Scotland. If I have to move nearer the windfarm at least the house will be cheap... What do you think? Yours whatever, whatever, Trowie246.

Yis, yis, joost whin dir startin tae spend money on hiring local halls so folk can work in dir own community dey'll mak da peerie bairns travel miles an miles tae git tae school. Very sensible.

North Yell Development Council are to build 5 wind turbines at Gutcher and a tidal generator in Bluemull Sound. These are truly community owned renewable projects and the way IMHO that Shetland should have gone in this industry, not this gigantic VE project which is going to cause so much destruction and disruption and open the flood gates for outside private companies. There are also 17 turbines, I hear which are the size of the VE ones, to be built near Burravoe by a German owned company.

^^^Possibly because the Leisure Centres are seen as useful and support the Scottish Governments compulsory increase in PE, whereas the Mareel is seen as purely for entertainment value?

Just today I was talking to someone who told me another story about an SIC employee who was IMHO, treated pretty badly. This person made the mistake of commenting publicly about a very high profile story here in Shetland and was called in for a disciplinary hearing. As far as she understood it was to discuss this issue alone so you can imagine her surprise when a letter she had penned to her line manager suggesting ways of saving money was produced and she was basically torn up for ar$e paper for the suggestions she had made. This wasn't even a letter she had made public and she spent the last half hour of the meeting in tears. No wonder people who work for the SIC are so reluctant to speak up.

The biggest problem with the leisure centres is that they have become indispensible as the biggest user are the schools, so unless you want the bairns to have their PE in the local halls and go back to learning to swim in the sea we're kinda stuck with them. Schools service have to pay the SRT for the use of the leisure centres and they aren't funded by the SIC but by the Charitable Trust as far as I know. As for Mareel, well as someone has already pointed out, Shetland Arts are not going to have to ask for money to run it as it will be able to not only break even but go on to make a profit in future years, or did I just dream that?

Anyone who is an SIC employee is effectively "gagged" from speaking out about things they don't consider right. Unfortunately this extends to friends and family of employee's who may be privy to information through that person and let's not forget the businessmen who following a letter critical of the SIC in the Shetland Times are told not to speak out publicly again if they want to secure further business contracts from them.

At the risk of being accused of being against other communities (which I'm not, I believe every school should be kept open) I will use the following as an example of how uneven the playing field is as far as school closures go. In the original review of education single-teacher schools were looked at as it was suggested that education in these schools were in some way inferior to bigger schools. Eventually it was admitted that this was wrong and that these schools were being looked at as it was perceived as being an expensive model for delivering education. In this Blueprint they looked at not only schools that were single-teacher schools but schools that had projected falling school rolls. Cullivoe and Skeld primary were on the list originally but removed when it was clear that the school roll was infact going up and not down. Cullivoe school roll at the moment has 24 pupils, 2 leaving at summer and 9, YES 9, primary 1's starting school. So that's 31 bairns. I'm not sure of Skeld's school roll but it has a nursery attached and usually has in the region of 24 or 25 pupils including nursery bairns. Cullivoe and Skeld are both mentioned as possibly up for closure under the new cuts. Nesting primary school has 14 pupils. Nursery bairns go to Tingwall. This school has never been suggested for closure under any review, mostly I suspect, because it is only 8 years old. Lunnasting primary school is about the same size as Skeld primary with a nursery attached. Brae is approx. 12 miles away so it is comparable with Cullivoe to Mid-Yell. It has never been suggested for possible closure under any review of education. As I said at the beginning, I am not against these communities having their schools, but I'm trying to make people understand that it feels like it is the same schools that are being picked on and there is very little reason for this happening, other than we are seen as easy targets. It also shows that the schools service doesn't appear to have any firm criteria or stategy in place for rationalising schools, there is no rhyme or reason and now we are being told there is no money. But it appears that there is no money only for certain areas.

Typical response from someone who doesn't live on an island or understand how a very small community which rely on inter island ferries work. An independent socio-economic study was carried out in Skerries as part of the Blueprint and the conclusion was that shutting the secondary was actually going to end up costing the SIC more money than if they kept it open. This was the main reason it was kept open.

This isn't strictly accurate. In Quarff parents were told that there were no suitable candidates for the opening of headteacher as there was only one applicant for the job. This resulted in an endless supply of supply teachers going into the school which parents found unsettling for the pupils. Unsurprisingly they started putting their children to Cunningsburgh and therefore the school closed. In Haroldswick they fought the council 3 times to keep their school open. When they were faced with the 4th time they simply held up their hands and said "enough is enough" - people can only put up with the stress of it for so long, the school lives in a permanent position of limbo, nothing can be planned for the future of the school because of the threat of closure.

^^^^ This is only the beginning what with national staffing levels being brought in and classroom assistants and additional support staff being cut. Education is only going to go one way now and that is down-hill. The annoying thing is that I don't believe for one minute that they will make any significant savings - aren't most of the scalloway teachers now working at the AHS?

^^^ I live in Cullivoe so here are a few facts for people who seem to think it is okay to comment on communities that they obviously know nothing about. Firstly regarding nursery age children going to Mid-Yell nursery school. I took my child in a car. The car journey took 20 minutes. I drove straight there and picked her up 2 and a half hours later. Currently secondary children leave Cullivoe at 8.20am. The bus does not go straight to Mid Yell but goes into North-A-Voe on route. They arrive about 9am. They leave Mid-Yell at 3.40pm and are home around 4.15pm. This is a journey of approx. 14 miles. Any child living in Gloup would have to travel approx. 17 miles to get to school in Mid-Yell. The condition of the road from Cullivoe to Gutcher - This road is very narrow with poor verges and steep embankment in places. My dad who worked as a roadman for most of his working life said it was probably one of the worst roads in Shetland considering the number of vehicles that go over it. The primary children travel directly to Mid- Yell for a few hours on Thursdays for PE and library and the big bus which was taking them there went off the road with 2 of my bairns in it. I got a phone call to come to Mid-Yell health centre as soon as possible so my bairns could be examined by the GP. I was told on the phone that everyone was fine so I wasn't too worried but when I drove past the bus it was the scariest feeling in my life and I started to greet. The bus was lying right over on her side propped up on a fence. The only thing that stopped it from being a serious accident was that the fence had just been renewed the week before and the bus driver had made sure that all the children were wearing seat-belts. One of the parents asked to see the police report on the accident and was told by the policeman that the official cause of the accident was that the road was too narrow in that specific point for the vehicle to pass safely.

I can completely sympathise with Mrs Inkster when someone effectively 'nicked' her unique and original idea and set up in direct competition with her, but as she has said herself, it was bound to happen sooner or later and she appears to have accepted that and got on with it. I was never aware at the time of her griping about it on a public forum, but if someone can tell me otherwise than that is fine. It just seems to me that Mrs Ramsay is not just happy with having her slice of the cake. She wants the whole thing. While Mrs Ramsay continues to spout off on here and on the Shetland Times website where it turns out she mis-informed the public (which she has publicy apologised about) Mrs Inkster keeps it off the internet. Someone please take Mrs Ramsay's spade away, and well done Mrs Inkster for not entering into these forums.

My family live at the croft next to Greentown in Walls. My cousin Mona Walterson is the registrar for Sandsting and Aithsting and lives in West Burrafirth. If you get in touch with her she will definitely be able to help you. I don't know if she has an email address but if you contact the registry office in Lerwick they may be able to help you.

When I go onto the Viking energy website they repeatedly talk about the "central mainland" windfarm, there is even an ordnance survey map displaying the windfarm. The only problem is that if you google the ordnance survey map of Shetland it is plain to see that 40 of the proposed turbines are infact in North Mainland Shetland. To me this is fundamentally wrong and I feel that this basic mistake has misled the people of Shetland. I have had people say to me "but it is only a few windmills in the Lang Kames isn't it?" I don't understand how they can be allowed to continue using the phrase "windfarm in Cental Mainland" when it isn't true.

I think it is an absolute disgrace that Mike Russell has still not come back with any decision on Uyeasound or Burravoe primary school. This is tantamount to torture for the pupils and staff at these schools. The original transfer dates if closure goes ahead have to remain in place (October) although it is obvious now that these dates are completely unachievable and no other possible dates are being discussed. The schools are stuck in limbo. I know that we had the summer break, where apparantly things grind to a halt at the Scottish Parliament, but this is ridiculous.