Letters / Social terrorism
For a number of years now there has been a drift to Lerwick of people and the housing they need to follow the ever growing centralisation of services, infrastructure, jobs and all other resources.
Because there isn’t enough room for all of us to live and work in Lerwick, places such as Gulberwick and Quarff become overspill car dependent eyesores and a testimony of a failed planning system driven by the drift to Lerwick.
Tingwall is next and is well on the way to being another housing eyesore.
Rural schools are going to close and yes – “Yahoo!” – we are going to have a consultation on this, as it’s a legal tick box requirement…but rural schools are going to close.
Gritting of rural roads is going to stop and village hall upgrades or improvements have had their day, but hey folks, we can all choose where we live!
OK SIC – we can all choose where we live, but when it becomes impossible to live and work in the rural areas of Shetland and the SIC pulls its Lerwick drawbridge up, where are we all going to move to and who will buy our rural houses?
Some years ago a senior local politician (canna mind his name noo) said that if the Scottish Executive saw that we (the SIC) didn’t continue to support the rural areas or the outer isles of Shetland and favoured a more centralised system, we may fall foul of the opinions in certain parts of the Westminster government that think Shetland gets too much in subsidies and it might be better to shut Shetland down and re-locate everyone to Aberdeenshire or thereabouts.
Hmm blanket wind farms and nobody to object! Maybe even a nuclear dump, as it’s so far away from the mainland.
Yes, we have to have cuts but the panic slash and burn coming out of the mad house in Lerwick without a strategy of what we want Shetland to be in 10 or 20 years, borders on social terrorism.
Vic Thomas
Clousta
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