Letters / I have not given up
I am sorry to see the tone of some of the correspondence about this project which has bordered on rude and intemperate. Also gloating!
I was at the Shetland Charitable Trust (nearly) meeting and the councillors did not acquit themselves well.
The vote was, we are told, crucial to the future of the trust’s involvement in the VE development, arranged seemingly to donate a legacy to the consortium at the death of the current council and so bind the next group even more tightly to the process.
That they could not achieve a quorate meeting shows the fundamental problem with the bid. Conflicts of interests and differences in the determination of individual councillors, responsibilities within the charitable trust have prevented what should be the gentle milking of a cash cow.
There is much that we do not know about the process that got us here but of one thing I am certain: VE, the council and now the minister have gone to an enormous effort to avoid a local public enquiry.
These enquiries historically favour the developer but do allow for scrutiny as a counterbalance to the huge amount of cash that is at stake, and put protesters’ concerns into perspective. Such can only be a good thing.
I think that there should be a request for a judicial review and hope that succeeds in forcing much needed scrutiny of the process so far and testing the claims of the developers.
Had the council had the integrity to listen to the round of public meetings (the only form of legitimate community involvement so far) and reflected the public concern and subsequently that of a number of other bodies, then this process would have been completed long before now.
It still may happen and then we could all accept a transparent decision one way or the other. What could be wrong with that? I for one have not given up.
Jim Unsworth
Kergord House
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