NEARLY £300,000 in grant money has been approved by councillors for three local projects through the recently established Crown Estate Fund.
At a meeting of the full council on Wednesday elected members approved a grant of up to £100,000 to the local authorityâs childrenâs services department to establish a youth voice forum.
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This would allow Shetlandâs young people to discuss issues affecting them with councillors and other public organisations, and âensure young peopleâs rights and participation are embedded on a local levelâ.
The idea was warmly welcomed by councillors, but Shetland Central members Moraig Lyall and Ian Scott expressed some reservation over plans to remunerate participants.
A NUMBER of SIC councillors have expressed frustration with the way the local planning authority is responding â or not, as the case may be â to community concerns over the Viking Energy construction project.
In a series of e-mails seen by
Shetland News, councillors regularly attending meetings of the Tingwall, Whiteness and Weisdale community council (TWWCC) expressed disappointment over how the groupâs concerns were handled – with one saying they sometimes feel âvery embarrassedâ attending these meetings and being told that the views of the community are ânever listened toâ.
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An objection by TWWCC to Viking Energyâs application to change working hours on the site to include limited time on Sundays was only responded to after the decision to grant the change had been made, a situation that was described as âunacceptableâ and a âfailure at a basic levelâ.
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NO BREACHES of Viking Energy planning conditions have been detected which would âreasonably merit the wholesale suspension of construction workâ, councillors have been told.
In addition, the environmental measures currently in place do not justify suspension of the work either, according to Shetland Islands Councilâs development director Neil Grant.
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But some calls were made in the chamber for greater independent scrutiny of the construction work.
It comes after campaign group Save Shetland petitioned the council earlier this year to request that construction work be halted amid concerns over the impact on the environment, and for more stringent independent monitoring to take place.
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SIX major economic projects in Shetland are set to receive government funding worth more than £33 million over the next ten years as part of the islands growth deal was formally signed on Wednesday morning, ahead of a meeting of the full council.
Among the key projects in line for government investment are:
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the Dales Voe ultra deep water port;
the mussel farming research project Shell-volution;
the Shetland Space innovation campus;
the Shetland Campus redevelopment;
the Knab redevelopment.
Last summer, the UK and Scottish Governments pledged to invest £50 million each in support of projects in all three Scottish island authorities, Shetland, Orkney and the Western Isles, in an concerted attempt to stimulate economic growth and stem depopulation.