Community / Council ‘wasting time’ with ‘nattering’ about the north, Morton says
The new ‘Nort Natters’ project aims to hear from folk who live, work and study in the North Mainland
A NEW project to “shape a future vision” for the North Mainland of Shetland has been described by one local councillor as a “waste of time”.
Instead Labour member Tom Morton said he felt Shetland Islands Council should be “acting to protect the various diverse communities that make up the soundly and proudly made places of The North Mainland”.
Earlier today (Tuesday) the council unveiled plans for ‘Nort Natters’.
This will take the form of a series of activities, including meetings, informal conversations and an online survey, to hear from those who live, work or study in the North Mainland.
It is being led by the council alongside a range of partners across health and care, emergency services, enterprise, housing, and community and voluntary organisations.
It is part of a place-based approach, looking at how people experience the place where they live.
The council said the ambition is to work in a joined-up, more efficient way with the community so that investment and resources will achieve the greatest overall benefit.
Council leader and Shetland North member Emma Macdonald said: “We want to find out more about life in the area and to know what changes would make a positive difference for people, their families and local businesses.
“We’re keen to hear from a wide range of people, including individuals and organisations, and I’d urge everyone to get involved, either in person at some of the events or online.”
But fellow ward member Morton questioned the value of the project.
“We’re wasting time, in my opinion, and cash, grant funded or not, with ‘Nort Natters’,” he said.
“Nattering (not, in my experience, a word much used when spikkin Nort) in the midst of an immediate cost of living, security and energy crisis, when we could be acting to protect the various diverse communities that make up the soundly and proudly made places of The North Mainland.”
Morton said some groups and individuals, like the Northmavine Community Development Company (NCDC), are already doing so.
He also said the project was originally focused on Brae, a “valued” village containing key facilities in areas such as education, medical and retail.
But he said there are “serious risks in planning for one village to become the sole provider of these things”, potentially to the detriment of the Northmavine, for instance.
Morton also said it has been put to him that the process is “part of a box-ticking exercise aimed essentially at achieving funding for a new school in Brae”.
“We need a new school, but everyone knows that, and the arguments for it are already being carefully, urgently and cogently made by a council team as part of the necessary process of achieving funding,” he added.
More details about Nort Natters, including event dates and other ways to get involved, will be published soon.
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