About Me
Firstly, let me tell
you something about myself. I’m 59, married
with two grown up daughters and stay in Wormadale, Whiteness. I have lived in the West Side all my life
apart from 13 years spent in Orkney during my school years.
I am a Chartered Architectural
Technologist and have been involved in the local building and construction
industry in Shetland all my working life.
I have been a
partner in a Lerwick based architectural practice since its inception 27 years
ago and if elected I intend to leave the firm and become a full time
Councillor.
I have been
interested in local and national politics since my school days and have been an
active member of the local Liberal Democrat party and am at present vice-chair
of Tingwall, Whiteness and Weisdale Community Council which I have served on for
the last 14 years.
I have thought long
and hard about standing for election but I feel that my business experience
together with knowledge of the area and my involvement in the community can
contribute to a new council.
Many issues will
dominate the next Council but the following three, in particular, are going to
be very difficult and divisive.
Spending Cuts
I am very concerned about
the size of the proposed spending cuts and the speed with which they are to be
implemented. We are in danger of
wrecking our economy and driving people from Shetland. I believe it would be better to draw
prudently from our reserves in the short term in order to stabilise our economy
now. What use is a huge reserve that
leaves Shetland with a weak, fragile economy and a falling population? Whether we like to admit it or not, Shetland
has come to rely on a council-run economy and until that changes the Council has
a responsibility not to pull the rug from under it but try to support it over
these testing times.
Education
How can we consider
closing Junior Highs when Curriculum for Excellence isn’t clear? Having secondary pupils away from home between
eight and nine hours a day or living in a hostel in Lerwick from the age of
twelve is unacceptable. Proposed hostel
charges will create a two tier educational system and will set a precedent for
other charges to be applied.
Primary schools in
Shetland West are unsuitable for amalgamation principally due to their
geographical locations. Parents and
children in many communities have been placed in a state of constant fear and
alarm for many years due to yet another education review with school closures
hanging over them. Rural community sustainability
and children’s safety and comfort must be a priority. Bussing five year olds over single track roads
that the Council propose to grit less in winter is unacceptable. There will be an inevitable drift to the
Central Mainland if out-lying schools are closed. Consideration must also be given to what
happens to existing buildings.
Viking Energy
This has been the
most divisive issue I can ever remember in Shetland. Some people relate it to being like oil coming
to Shetland. That’s nonsense. For a start the sheer visual impact of this
far exceeds anything the oil industry built and Shetland wasn’t asked to put a
huge amount of money at risk. The
massive scale of the project is intimidating to the communities of Aith,
Weisdale, Voe and Nesting and people are naturally worried about their health
and also what it may do to the value of their properties.
In the first place there
should have been a Shetland-wide referendum. I had hoped that the Scottish
Government would have at least called for a public enquiry and I am
disappointed but not surprised at their decision.
I fear that if this
goes ahead and an interconnector cable is built it will trigger landowners
setting up smaller wind farms everywhere which will further blight the
landscape.
As previously
mentioned those are only three of the issues which a new Council will have to
contend with. There are many more like
the governance of the Council, the make-up of a new Charitable Trust, the
provision of social services, transport, housing, contract procurement and our future in Scotland to name but a few.
Over the years Shetland
seems to have lost confidence in its ability to do things for itself and if
elected I would hope to contribute a good common sense and transparent approach
to these issues and try and maximise local resources so as not to see our money
haemorrhaging out of our Islands.
I can be contacted
at:
01595840480
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