Press Release
Imagining Shetland's Futures: 20 years from now
What does Shetland need to do to "get a grip"? No doubt many Shetlanders have asked themselves this at some point, but it is currently being tackled as part of the Shetland Community Planning Partnership's attempt to come up with a better future for Shetland.
Over the past couple of months nearly 700 people across Shetland have taken part in the “scenario planning” process. “Scenario Planning”, the Council’s Policy Manager Emma Perring explains “is about taking our knowledge of the present, reflecting on our experiences, and using that knowledge to gain a vision for the future.
“Local industry, the local community, public and community sector organisations have worked with us to identify the important things which can drive change for Shetland and the forces that influence our long term direction. We’ve used these to build a number of ‘alternative futures’ that describe what life would be like in Shetland in 2030. These tell a story about how the future might evolve over the next 20 years”.
Written-up by local journalist Mallachy Tallack, the four “scenarios” are:
“In a Right Slester” – there’s been poor decision making and a weak economic balance;
“Keep on Knappin” – there’s been poor local decision making, but a good economic balance exists;
“Joost da Wye o' It” – there’s been strong local decision making, but a lack of economic balance; and
“Got'n a Grip” – there’s been strong local decision making and a good economic balance.
Ms Perring, “This is a very serious task that potentially affects everyone, so we want to develop a conversation with as many people as possible to get their thoughts on the scenarios and what these different futures would mean to them. We thought a fun way to do that would be to actually produce a few press releases and cover a story based on each scenario in the local media. So, over the next month, people will see these appearing in the Shetland Times and Shetland News. We’re asking people to get in touch with their thoughts on the following questions”
- What do you think of the scenarios? What would these different futures mean to you?
- What does Shetland need to do to ensure a positive future?
- What actions need to be in place to ensure we have both strong local decision making and good economic balance?
- What does Shetland need to do to "Get a Grip"?
Responses can be sent to:
Email: communityplanning@shetland.org
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Imagining-Shetlands-Futures/120059078087041
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/ShetCommunity
Wordpress: http://shetlandcommunityplan.wordpress.com/
Letter: Town Hall (Scenario Planning), Lerwick, ZE1 0HB
Phone: (01595) 743728
The closing date for comments is 16th September 2011.
From the feedback and comments received Shetland can begin to develop a long term strategy for the next 20 years – a community plan. For more information on the work so far, and how to get involved, please go to: http://communityplanning.shetland.org