News / Trust loses Promote Shetland contract
SHETLAND Amenity Trust has lost its valuable £400,000 a year contract to promote the islands as a desirable place to live and work in.
The organisation, which runs a significant number of heritage and tourism projects across the isles including the refurbished Sumburgh Head visitor centre, has held the Promote Shetland contract for the last eight years.
Three staff working on the contract – including its manager Andy Steven, who also is the acting manager of the trust itself – will now be made redundant.
Amenity trust chairman Brian Gregson said he was “surprised and bitterly disappointed” by the decision, which they were informed of during a meeting with Shetland Islands Council’s head of development Neil Grant on Monday.
In a brief statement released on Wednesday morning, the council said none of the bids received met “the quality standards required”.
“Tenderers and those who had earlier expressed an interest in the contract were notified of the decision. The council will consider the options available to it as soon as possible,” the statement continued.
Gregson said the amenity trust has declined the offer to run the contract for an additional three-month transition period starting on 1 August.
The current contract had already been extended by three months until 31 July to accommodate a late tendering process.
He said the organisation had been confident it had done everything it had been asked for “and more” to raise the profile of Shetland globally.
“Trustees are deeply disappointed by this decision which will undoubtedly undermine Shetland’s efforts to promote our islands as a desirable place to live, invest, work and visit. It will seriously damage tourism and other industries,” Gregson said.
“As a trust we bid for the contract and we didn’t get it. We have not been given very satisfactory reasons as to why.
“Promoting Shetland is what Shetland Amenity Trust does, and what it has been doing for 30 odd years.
“The fact that the Promote Shetland contract is not being renewed does not mean we not to continue to promote Shetland, but the specialist knowledge in marketing etc. is being lost, sadly.”
In September, Shetland Islands Council decided to maintain the £394,000 budget for another five years.
Development committee chairman Alastair Cooper said none of the bids received had met the specifications the council had been asking for.
The focus of the new contract, he said, was not so much on the tourism aspect, but on encouraging people to move to Shetland and for businesses to invest here.
He conceded that the decision not to award a contract wound create “a vacuum”, and added that he has asked for an urgent report to be prepared for next week’s committee meeting “to get some clarity on the way forward”.
Broadcaster Tom Morton, who has been involved in a number of Promote Shetland projects over the years, has written to councillors demanding an explaining for a decision that in his view would do “incalculable damage to both the council’s reputation and the status of Shetland in the eyes of the world”.
He added: “Without the vision and commitment of Andy Steven and his staff there would be no international Up Helly Aa coverage, no puffin and aurora cams, no 60 North Radio and TV, Wool Week would not be the international sensation it is, jobs in the isles would remain unfilled and many visitors would not have come here.
“I sincerely hope some aspects of the Promote Shetland portfolio will continue to operate under the amenity trust banner.
“I consider the council’s decision either cynical or inept, or a mixture of both. They have put Shetland’s future at risk for the sake of preserving a few highly paid jobs within the council itself. It’s shameful.”
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