News / Low turnout for election call rally
AROUND 50 Shetlanders turned out on a freezing Saturday lunchtime to call for members of Shetland Islands Council to resign from office.
Anger has raged through the islands after councillors agreed to a £250,000 tax free pay off for the authority’s controversial chief executive David Clark who had spent just eight months in post.
Two days after the settlement was signed, which is likely to cost the council closer to £500,000, Mr Clark was reported to the procurator fiscal in relation to allegations that he threatened Lerwick councillor Jonathan Wills with violence in September.
An initial investigation by the police was laid aside, but now officers have interviewed new witnesses about the case.
A council investigation into the alleged threats found insufficient proof to uphold them, but councillor Wills complained that he had not received a fair hearing.
Yesterday’s turnout was a disappointment for the protesters, and less than half of the 120 who gathered last Monday and marched on Lerwick Town Hall in an effort to stop the council agreeing to any financial settlement.
Organiser Kathy Greaves said: “I am disappointed that more people did not turn out today, but it is very cold and many people are only just clearing their driveways of snow.”
Others suggested that people who worked for the council, by far the largest employer in the isles, had been deterred from attending the protest after a notice was sent to all SIC staff on Wednesday ordering them not to make any public comment on the settlement with Mr Clark.
Some people had come to protest about other issues, such as the decision last week to abolish free musical instrument tuition in Shetland’s schools as part of a broad programme of service cuts.
Mrs Greaves said that a group of campaigners would now press for a meeting with the council to air their grievances and to demand an explanation for recent events.
“There have been so many mistakes made, so much wilful waste of our money over the years, it must stop now,” she told the small crowd of people assembled at Lerwick’s Market Cross.
“The last few months’ series of embarrassments at the town hallhave been the final straw for the people of Shetland. Trust and confidence in the council are at an all time low and Shetland’s reputation has suffered.
“At the local elections almost three years ago we were promised fairness, openness and accountability; because of those promises we put Shetland’s future in the hands of those councillors who were elected.
“Because those promises have not been kept to, we are rallying here today, expressing our democratic desire for change.
“A few of our councillors have our trust, but until they all resign and stand again for re-election, the council will not gain the trust of the people of Shetland. Those who do not pass scrutiny should not be re-elected.”
Mrs Greaves and her fellow organisers are planning to create a website for people to register their comments. This follows a petition which raised 1,300 signatures calling for Mr Clark to be sacked last week.
Other protesters said they had lost faith in the council’s ability to take responsibility for the wealth the islands’ have accrued from hosting the oil industry at Sullom Voe for the past 30 years.
Ironically Mr Clark’s father Ian was the SIC chief executive in the 1970s who negotiated the deal from which the islands profited. In a letter to The Shetland Times on Friday Mr Clark senior staunchly defended his son, saying that he had been the victim of “a torrent of abuse” and the “orchestrated efforts of a coterie” determined to get rid of him.
Local government watchdog Audit Scotland are due to start an investigation into what has been going on at Shetland Islands Council shortly.
A complaint submitted in December signed by six councillors, more than a quarter of the membership, which raises 20 questions about Mr Clark’s performance has not been addressed.
Meanwhile the Standards Commission is investigating a complaint against councillor Wills after he protested about the council’s internal investigation into the alleged threats. The complaint was signed by the chief executive and council convener Sandy Cluness, vice convener Josie Simpson, depute chief executive Hazel Sutherland and head of legal Jan Riise.
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