Community council supports installation of new floodlights at neighbourhood centre

LERWICK Community Council has offered a grant of just over £500 to help the Sandveien Neighbourhood Centre replace floodlights at the back of the building so the area can be used by youth workers to engage with children and young people outside while indoor restrictions continue.

The neighbourhood centre had asked for the community council to fund the full £1,302 cost of the project but some councillors voiced reservations after noting the organisation’s healthy bank balance.

According to its latest accounts, which were presented to a meeting of the community council on Monday, the neighbourhood centre has already received grants worth more than £30,000 in 2020.

However, community councillors agreed that the proposed project was beneficial and would create some much needed additional social space for young people in Shetland’s dark winter nights.

The offer of a grant of £516 was proposed by community councillor Karen Fraser and unanimously agreed.

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The floodlights would be accessed from the outside and controlled on a timer before being switched off by 10.30pm. The community council stipulated that the lights would have to be energy efficient.

Meanwhile, the community council itself has received a grant of £500 from Voluntary Action Shetland to distribute to those in hardship in the form of 25 vouchers at a value of £20 each.