‘Push power out and across communities’
In the latest edition of Sheeks Aboot Shetland, hosts Pete Bevington and Jane Moncrieff speak to Hannah Mary Goodlad about more autonomy for Shetland
ONE WAS given the impression of a rabbit caught in the headlights reading Shetland News’ report on the SIC’s first public meeting to discuss the Scottish government’s invitation to request more autonomy for the isles, writes Pete Bevington.
More than two thirds of the way through the initial three month consultation period announced on 1 September by first minister John Swinney, our local council has finally agreed to get involved with the process…and that’s about it.
What has taken them so long and why the mistrust? After all, our new MSP Hannah Mary Goodlad was elected in a landslide on a platform of more autonomy for Shetland and will play a key role in the outcome as public finance minister.
As she explains in the latest Sheeks Aboot Shetland on The Shetland Podcast, the aim is to “push power out and across communities”.
She points to the “democratic deficit” in Scotland where five million people are represented by just 32 local councils, “some too peerie to be strategic…some too big to be representative”.
In comparison, Norway’s five million people have 327 local municipalities of varying size with responsibility for a wide range of public services along with the tax raising powers to provide them.
Goodlad points out that Shetland’s journey to autonomy started in 1962 when the Zetland County Council visited Faroe, which supported a population of 45,000 while Shetland’s had declined to just 17,000.
In the ‘70s we successfully negotiated the ZCC Act, which made Shetland the only community in the UK to meaningfully benefit from the North Sea oil bonanza. This self confidence led to a council dominated by the Shetland Movement.
Yet now our council seems feared of autonomy and is more concerned about losing the powers it already has than grasping the opportunity to gain new ones.
Help keep Shetland’s news open to everyone
Good local journalism takes time, care and people on the ground. Membership helps us keep reporting the stories that matter to Shetland — and keep them free for everyone to read. Members get a weekly newsletter created especially for them, local ads only, and can bookmark stories and join the conversation in the comments.
Already a member? Sign in.
This has been reflected by Shetland and the other Scottish islands failing to take advantage of the Islands Act introduced by the SNP in 2018 in the wake of the independence referendum. The fear was councils being given more responsibilities without the funding to provide them.
Back in 2020 the council passed a motion calling for more financial and political self determination than the Islands Act offered, so you would have thought they would already have “a shopping list” of new powers to present to the Scottish government.
Instead we have a council that has taken two months to even decide if they want to engage on the matter.
Our council leader says Shetland needs “a clear business case as to why change is needed”, our deputy leader urges caution saying this offer needs to be approached “with care”.
We do have a public sector reform manager though. He is long-serving chief legal officer Jan Riise. And we have a decision to create a sounding board of councillors working with existing public bodies through the Shetland Partnership. Same old, same old.
What a contrast to Hannah Mary Goodlad on this podcast telling us how the government is already engaged in conversations with Faroe, Norway, Sweden and the Baltic states to look at how these countries manage local affairs, alongside its conversations with Scotland’s local authorities seeking to address their concerns.
She also said this was far too important a conversation to be left solely to local authorities and urged everyone in the community to get involved. “I want this to be a dinner time conversation in Shetland,” she said.
In the council chamber last week it was only Brae councillor Andrew Hall who seemed to have any positive suggestions to make, talking about gaining more decision making powers over energy developments, crown estate funds, transport and planning, and urging the islands to look to Faroe for inspiration.
Time is marching on, decisions are being made, Shetland needs to raise its game and engage with the process proactively and not just view the government offer with the suspicion it seems to be doing at the moment.
Keep Shetland’s news open to everyone
Your membership helps us report the stories that matter to Shetland — and keep them free for everyone to read.
Already a member? Sign in.
