News / SIC property sale dubbed “undemocratic”
SHETLAND Islands Council is acting on public pressure to sell off redundant assets by putting two prominent Lerwick buildings onto the property market.
However last month’s decision by the council’s executive committee has been condemned as undemocratic by one town councillor, who says the way the council is being run at the moment is unfair.
The council is planning on selling a large number of buildings over the next few years as part of its drive to save cash and become more streamlined.
The first two buildings to go up for grabs are both on St Olaf Street: the former respite care home for disabled adults at Craigielea and the 100 year old St Clements Hall.
Assets and property manager Alan Rolfe said these two buildings had come up first because they were the only ones which are already vacant with no identified use and are likely to be put up for sale in the new year.
A further list of council assets which could be put on the market will come before the executive committee on 19 December.
Mr Rolfe said “ a large number” of other council buildings would become vacant in the future as the council moves its headquarters into the new building at Lerwick’s North Ness.
The decision follows the council’s recent Have Your Say roadshow to hear suggestions for saving money, where people repeatedly told the SIC to dispose of unused buildings.
Craigielea has been empty for four years since being replaced by the Newcraigielea respite centre at Seafield, while St Clements Hall has had a variety of uses since its lease was given up by the local badminton club in 2004.
However Lerwick South councillor Gussie Angus is unhappy with the decision, saying there was still a need for council residential accommodation in the town. He is also angry with the way the decision was reached.
“There is disquiet amongst a number of councillors that the new committee structure is not all that it’s cracked up to be,” he said.
“You could have very few councillors, in some cases just three, taking very far reaching and significant decisions without the rest of the councillors having an opportunity to comment.”
SIC social services committee chairman Cecil Smith, who sits on the executive committee, said that senior councillors were aware of such concerns.
“We were concerned that maybe we were making big decisions that we thought should go back to the council,” he said.
Council leader Josie Simpson explained that selling the two properties would raise much needed cash and release the cost of maintaining them, at a time the authority is trying to cut its annual budget by around 20 per cent.
“It is to be hoped these buildings will become assets to the community, either restored by private developers or taken over by community groups,” Mr Simpson said.
“Selling vacant buildings was something that came up several times during our recent series of public meetings on possible savings. Although we were already planning to sell these buildings before the meetings took place, it is good that our decision is in line with what the public were telling us.”
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