More councillors reported to Standards Commission
THE COMMISSION for Ethical Standards in Public Life in Scotland has confirmed that they have received yet another complaint against a number of councillors relating to the controversial Viking Energy wind farm project.
The complaint, made by Billy Fox, chairman of the anti-Viking campaign group Sustainable Shetland, is understood to be against the nine councillors who voted to back the massive wind farm at a meeting of the full council on 14 December last year.
A separate complaint is said to have been made against councillor Allan Wishart who as Viking Energy Project co-ordinator issued a press release before the meeting allegedly criticising the council’s head of planning for his recommendation not to approve the proposal.
The council met on the 14 December to make its recommendation to the government’s Energy Consents Unit.
After several hours of presentations and a short discussion the wind farm project was supported by nine votes to three with one abstention.
Seven elected members refused to participate in the debate after declaring a conflict of interest due to councillors’ role as trustees of Shetland Charitable Trust, a 45 per cent shareholder in the project.
Immediately after the meeting Sustainable Shetland announced they would report those who had voted in favour of the project to the Standards Commission, because they had “acted as developer and not as planner”.
On Friday, Mr Fox confirmed that, “as chairman of Sustainable Shetland”, he had now submitted the complaint.
“This has been done with the greatest of regrets, but we feel we really have no other option,” he said, adding that this was the first complaint the group had ever made to the Standards Commission.
The nine councillors are: Convener Sandy Cluness, political leader Josie Simpson, Gussie Angus, Laura Baisley, Jim Budge, Addie Doull, Betty Fullerton, Robert Henderson and Rick Nickerson.
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A spokeswoman for the Standards Commission said: “I can confirm that we have received a complaint against several Shetland Islands Councillors. The complaint relates to the proposed Viking Energy wind farm. I cannot confirm who the complainant is.”
In May this year, 14 members of Shetland Islands Council were reported to the Standards Commission by an anonymous complainer relating to the same meeting and also to a planning board meeting in February this year when an application for the converter station, which is part of the wind farm project, was approved.
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