Lerwick favoured over rural sustainability
I am writing to express my profound concern regarding the outcome of the council vote on the future of the Brae hockey pitch, alongside the continued questioning of the future development of a new Brae school campus.
Councillors back Lerwick hockey pitch proposal in close vote
This current rhetoric coming from the Shetland Islands Council, as well as its policies, not only demonstrates a lack of coherent understanding of rural communities. It showcases a monumental disregard for the very communities that sustain these islands.
This blatant neglect insults the very industries and people who built these islands. The budget and the reserves that the Shetland Islands Council use to continuously push its centralisation agenda did not come from Lerwick. It was funded on the back of industry in rural communities, the North Mainland and Northern Isles – oil and gas money, Shetland North money, Delting money.
The very fact that rural communities, not just Delting — where the vast majority of Shetland’s wealth is generated — have had to stand by and watch as public capital and resources are disproportionately concentrated within Lerwick is not only fundamentally unjust but is also nothing short of a betrayal. This shows, once again, a complete oversight of the foundational and continuing contributions made by Shetland’s rural communities in the name of economic stability of all of Shetland.
We are one community, under one flag, but are being led by a council leadership that favours Lerwick at the expense of rural sustainability. The people of not just rural Shetland, but all of Shetland deserve better. They deserve better than seeing their local amenities and facilities close while more and more are opened and built in Lerwick, under the guise of “financial savings”.
The gravity of these decisions cannot be overstated as they carry such severe consequences for our local communities and their populations. Individuals with additional needs are being stripped of localised, specialised facilities, while children are forced to travel miles to the nearest leisure facility. All this while we pay more and more council tax — and for what? It is for Lerwick to be given more: more facilities, more amenities and more housing.
Rural Shetland is experiencing an unnatural and artificial shrinking due to the actions and decisions made by the Shetland Islands Council.
I, however, would like to conclude on a more hopeful note. I would like to formally thank the nine councillors who stood by Delting and voted in favour of the hockey pitch in Brae. The vote may not have gone the way we had hoped, and though you may not all be children of Delting, rest assured the people of Delting will not forget your support. Your constituents are fortunate to have representatives with that level of foresight.
Danny C. Parker
Delting
