Time for a fresh dawn
In this Viewpoint contribution, Danny Parker of Delting comments on the power imbalance between local and central governments, and what needs to happen next
Hearing about the £550,000 pounds the Shetland Islands Council is set to receive from the annual rent from the Viking wind farm is bittersweet. It is bittersweet because, of course, any income to local government is welcome. It helps to balance an ever unbalanced budget, which in turn helps to create more service stability here at home.
The Shetland Islands Council in this respect is not completely at fault; they are, however, a victim. They are a victim of a system that has become far too large and far too centralised.
What I am talking about is the system in which business rates are paid and distributed here in Scotland.
In Scotland, business rates are paid to the Scottish Government and then put into a central fund that is redistributed across the rest of Scotland. That system is inherently unfair and in many ways predatory and a blatant example of government overreach.
Annually, the Scottish Government collects approximately £3 million in business rates from the Viking wind farm. That money is then redistributed across Scotland, and very little ever sees Shetland. That is Shetland money, there is no question about it – collected from Shetland industry, on Shetland soil.
That £3m could serve people here in Shetland, helping us to build affordable housing, keep our schools warm and our roads safe. Instead, the money is taken by a central government which then gives it to areas that already have it better than us.
People on the mainland do not face the same extreme fuel poverty and skyrocketing energy costs, way above the national average (like many do on these islands). They do not have to look at the further industrialisation of their homeland in the name of “progress”, only to see none of the benefits.
Now, I am not under the illusion that everything across this nation is perfect, but it is not broken beyond repair either, like many in today’s polarised politics will have you believe. It could, however, be better.
It is my belief that it is only fair for as much money as possible to remain in the communities that generate it. It is only fair that business rates, for example, stay in the communities they come from.
The wind farm and turbines as a whole, I know, are a controversial issue here in Shetland. I have heard concerns from people across the islands, particularly about the possibility of further wind farms in the future.
To see how it should work, we only have to look across the Atlantic to our cousins in the United States to see how local government has influence over these matters. In many states, including Nebraska, local governments have much more power, such as over zoning laws. There, the local authorities can dictate where construction projects can proceed, including that of wind farm development.
There, a ban on wind turbine construction within five miles of residential property lines acts essentially as a veto. In very few states are these decisions overruled by state government. Here in Scotland, any council objection is simply overruled by the Scottish Government, through Section 36 of the Electricity Act 1989, even if local opposition is significant.
Climate change is a reality, I am not denying that, but unchecked industrialisation in areas that simply do not want it is not right.
That is not to say I do not have sympathies for the Scottish Government; they, too, suffer greatly from another form of overreach at the hands of Westminster. Scotland should, of course, have full say over areas such as energy and taxation.
We have a council that can be overruled by Holyrood, and a Holyrood that can be overruled by Westminster.
In another world, perhaps we could have a union where Scotland largely has control over domestic policy, leaving Westminster to focus on international policy. We could have a Scottish government that exists by right, not just because Westminster allows it. In another union, we could perhaps have three distinct levels of government (federal, state and local), each protected from unnecessary interference and overreach. In another union, we could share a fairer and more coherent path.
Currently, we are not in that union, and there is an imbalance of power that is quite literally risking the union. Only this week did the first ministers of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland meet. All are in power within their respective governments, and all leaders of nationalist parties which ultimately seek separation.
They are only gaining that political ground because the current system is indefensible. Separation, however, is not the answer. The solution to a dysfunctional, centralised system is not to shatter it into pieces but to decentralise it completely.
The question we must ask is: are we going to sit by and watch an ageing, rigid system collapse under its own weight? Is it time to abandon the house entirely, as the nationalists want? Or is it time to completely rebuild it on a newer, stronger, federal foundation? A foundation where power rests permanently with local communities.
Some may try to tell us that this unfair, top-heavy system is just the way things are. They may say that the era of local self-reliance is over. But what they fail to see, and in fact overlook, is that every challenge is merely an invitation for a new approach or, in other words, a new beginning. The strength of these islands we call home has never come from distant government chambers. The strength of Shetland has always come from the character, the resilience and the quiet determination of the people.
We do not need to shatter our nation to fix it. We simply need to look at what is working, discard what is not, and have the courage to trust local communities to manage their own affairs. It is time for a fresh dawn on these islands – one where the wealth we created stays here to warm our schools, fix our roads and secure our future.
In the months and years ahead, that is the conversation we must have. It is a vision of a fairer, prouder and more decentralised future.
