Rural areas vital

Recent events and the threat of school closures with the forced break up of young island families bring forth ever more questions for our esteemed gruel mixers.

Are all islanders and those living in rural areas of Shetland to move and centralise to the big city?

Will families be allocated their four sheets of corrugated iron and placed in the great ghetto of ‘Da Toon’?

For those in local power or floating on an ego trip with the gall to raise their hands in closure a word of caution.

Without the input from the rural areas Shetland would struggle to survive with a seriously depleted economy.

Shetlands economy is built from the rural areas. Information in the media recently from the So Much To Sea initiative tells us that Shetland’s seafood industry is worth £300 million a year to the islands and surpasses the value of the oil, gas, agriculture, tourism, and creative industries combined.

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Just where do council members and officials think this £300 million activity takes place? Do they really want to depopulate the rural areas?

Surely they must preserve the family unit and all it stands for, and in so doing the rural communities can continue to support economically and socially what is Shetland.

Robert Sandison
Tripwell
Whalsay