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Shetlands Amenity Trust


Turtle Kebab
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I've only been living in Shetland a few years now having moved here from Cornwall with my family... My move was spurred by memories of my father who spoke fondly of the island, its wildlife and its honest hard working get up and go people... in my short time here i can understand where his opinion came from. i love it so, i relocated my business here, and as such make a good living... an 'honest' income... However, In my short time here i have come to realise there are so many false economies that flourish with free money, one such elephant/s in the room are the departments of Shetlands Amenity Trust that deal with scrap vehicles and stone masonry... ive never seen such a blatant conflict with private business, does anyone know the yearly expenditure of these departments? Or in Shetland. Hoo much money do dey sook?

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At the time both departments were established there were next to no stonemasons to be hired in Shetland, and the Scrap Yard of the day would only accept cars if someone delivered them to their yard at their own expense, so few bothered.

 

Both departments may have outlived their usefulness in today's enviornment, but I'm yet to be totally convinced they have. While there are far more people who work with stone for hire in Shetland today, I'm less sure just how many of them are actually stonemasons, rather than dykers. No offence to dykers, but stonemasonary and drystone dyking are, while related, two entirely different disciplines. I don't doubt Shetland has some who are competent at both, but how many, I really have no idea. Likewise while the current Scrap Yard has been known to offer money for wreck cars and collect them, I suspect that was driven by the recent high prices for scrap metals, and when prices fall back somewhat it'll be back to "we'll take it if you put it in our yard...." Also, the Scrap dealer is under no obligation to collect anything they don't want to, the lower the value of the scrap and the more difficult the accessibility, the less likely they will touch it, whereas the Amenity Trust always have gone anyplace it was physically possible and cleared the site regardless of what exactly the scrap was.

 

As far as I am aware, all scrap metals collected by the Amenity Trust end up with local scrap merchants, so far from competing against local business they are in fact subsidising local business by giving them materials they want and will make a profit from at low or zero cost.

 

So, what is your own business BTW, it wouldn't happen to be stonemasonary/dyking or scrap dealing would it by any chance? :wink:

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^ All public services "enterprises", be they national or local government could be argued to be so.

 

The Amenity Trust was never designed to run commercial enterprises, only public services. Don't forget that despite smokescreens and posturing, the Amenity Trust has been until only very recently basically a council department. The council ran the SCT, and the SCT funded a significant proportion the Amenity Trust....

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Turtle Kebab is absolutely right. Shetland "Bruck and Muck Squad" wouldn’t stand a chance in the ‘free market’, nor would Shetland Archives, Shetland Museum, DaVoar Redd Up, the ranger service, the archaeology, geology, historical buildings ( stone masons?), place name and woodland departments, not to mention most of Shetland’s voluntary sector. Let’s float them all on the ‘free market’ and watch them go bankrupt to confirm Turtle Kebab’s faith in the ‘free market’.

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Northwards pick up waste vehicles, and in certain cases will pick up in complicated situations where the amenity trust won't touch it. Paid of course.

 

So why should our local authority now pay for this out of their budget when other local authorities don't?

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I think the real question can we afford the amenity trust? Last time i scrapped a car I didn't think of phoning them, I call 60 north and the picked it up. for a fee of course. Surely if there was a problem da cooncil could use one of their fleet to collect the antrin krang. Better to put money into education than let folk aff we leaving their bruckit cars lying around.

Another case of people here relying on a nanny state instead of taking personal responsibilty

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I think the real question can we afford the amenity trust? Last time i scrapped a car I didn't think of phoning them, I call 60 north and the picked it up. for a fee of course. Surely if there was a problem da cooncil could use one of their fleet to collect the antrin krang. Better to put money into education than let folk aff we leaving their bruckit cars lying around.

Another case of people here relying on a nanny state instead of taking personal responsibilty

 

I don't know if we still need the Amenity Trust to pick up scrap vehicles, but lets not condemn them for the service they have carried out over the years clearing our countryside of scrap vehicles. It's not so long ago that you didn't need to drive far before you came across many " steptoe's" yards.

 

Anything that encourages people to clear scrap from their property has to be a good thing. It's all very well saying that people should take responsibility and pay for it to be removed, but when there is little that's being done to force them to clear up, I'm glad the Amenity Trust has been providing a useful service, especially when you stay next door to "steptoe"!

 

You may see it as a "nanny state" but I see it as an excellent service which has helped make Shetland a more beautiful place.

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It's all very well saying that people should take responsibility and pay for it to be removed, but when there is little that's being done to force them to clear up, I'm glad the Amenity Trust has been providing a useful service, especially when you stay next door to "steptoe"!

Yep there lies the problem - there's no laws against littering such waste in your own property/land, or even in shared private property such as a block of flats.

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It's all very well saying that people should take responsibility and pay for it to be removed, but when there is little that's being done to force them to clear up, I'm glad the Amenity Trust has been providing a useful service, especially when you stay next door to "steptoe"!

Yep there lies the problem - there's no laws against littering such waste in your own property/land, or even in shared private property such as a block of flats.

 

People have and should have, IMHO, every right to have what some regard as 'scrap' on their own property. What might appear as 'scrap' to some would be regarded as family heirlooms to others and/or even of historical/vintage interest. Besides, look at what gets passed off as art these days ...

 

... and what about boats? Crumbs, how many peeps go "aaah" when they see an old boat laid up? Why should cars be regarded any differently? If they are leaking battery acid all over the gaff then that would be a health hazard, would it not, but ...

 

... There are existing laws (I think). If there's a health hazard then a Local Authority can act, even if on private property (I think I'm correct in that this applies under Scottish law - I know it does under English so please forgive my ignorance here if I'm wrong). Isn't it the case if a car has say been dumped it can be removed if it can cause an injury to a passer-by and then the Local Authority has the power to remove said offending vehicle and pass the costs onto (and fine?) the perpetrator(s)?

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Old boats have been removed by the harbour trust, a walk around town and the evidence can be seen at times. As for polluting the environment, that should be a definite no! The GOV want to bring in laws, if not already to force the clearing of properties of such eyesores, if the rest of the street think your garden has an influence on their properties, why should they not expect you to do something about it, or get something done.

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So, what is your own business BTW, it wouldn't happen to be stonemasonary/dyking or scrap dealing would it by any chance?

No clarification on that yet. Exactly what I had been wondering.

 

Seems to me that the OP has entirely missed the point of what the Amenity Trust was created to achieve. Their post appears to be pure Thatcherism and assumes that free markets are universally agreed as being the only way to operate everything. Thankfully the worst excesses of her sociopathic creed were not adopted here, allowing the trust to have achieved so much good.

 

There is of course the old technique (Whalsay style):

 

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