News / Former isles head stands for council
FORMER Whalsay head teacher and current Shetland Arts chairman Jim Johnston has announced he is standing as an independent council candidate for the North Isles in the May elections.
Mr Johnston claimed that the current independence debate put Shetland in a strong position with Holyrood, Westminster and Brussels, and the isles should push for the best deal.
“The current constitutional debate and its outcome with a vote in 2014 could put us in a very strong position,” he said.
Mr Johnston moved to Shetland in the mid 1990s from the isle of Harris where he was appointed as Scotland’s youngest secondary head teacher in 1984 and set up a successful tearoom and restaurant with his wife Marilyn.
He also served a number of community roles including auxiliary coastguard, chairman of Harris Council of Social Services and convener of the national body managing the voluntary sector.
While serving as the Whalsay head for 17 years until his retirement last year he brought in several innovations, including the rural skills and crofting connections course which has now spread across the highlands and islands.
He also spent two years as a senior education officer and is a fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts.
Setting out his stall, Mr Johnston said Shetland should take full advantage of the current independence debate to win concessions for the isles, such as exclusive fishing grounds, tax benefits and income from renewables.
“If, as Alex Salmond insists, the oil revenues are all down to geography, then, given oil field distribution, we must be in a strong position to benefit. Let us open the debate and see who offers us the best deal,” he said.
He added: “I learned a great deal about council procedures during my secondment, from the decision-making process in chamber, to the logistics of inter-relationships between departments.
“A councillor’s job is not an easy one, where balance and fairness should be sought. My hope is that within the next council, there is a core of councillors with real ability and vision, with an urge to work as a team to get things done. I look forward with relish, to the challenge of working with them, if elected.”
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