Pete Bevington

26 June, 2008

“As far as I am concerned you can go ahead and build Mareel.” With those words Shetland Islands Council convener Sandy Cluness gave the green light to the £9.3 million cinema and music venue Mareel in Lerwick Town Hall on Wednesday (25 June).

A crowd of around 50 supporters cheered with delight. Some wept, while the colour drained from the faces of several of the nine councillors who had voted against the cultural centre.

Within hours of the decision they were already plotting their next move to bring the North Ness development to its knees.

Few projects have had such a rocky ride through the council chamber since the early 1980s when a similar venture was approved on the then convener’s casting vote – the Clickimin Centre.

Yesterday’s debate could not have been more nail biting. Councillor after councillor weighed in with their point of view, some rubbishing the Shetland Arts business plan, some insisting the council had other priorities and some warning of future trouble ahead if the council voted for Mareel.

When Laura Baisley said she was backing the project because she was “inspired” by its supporters and “depressed” by its detractors, there was only one councillor whose views were unclear.

Addie Doull said not a word throughout the debate until the roll call vote. He was the second councillor to be called and when he said “Motion”, the decision was in the bag.

His vote made it nine/nine, and it was just up to Sandy Cluness to deliver the coup de grace.

Six weeks ago Allison “Flea” Duncan staged his much publicised attempt to “place a bomb” under the Mareel, though he had plenty of powerful backers in Gussie Angus and Betty Fullerton who want more spent on social care and education, and Allan Wishart who wants ferries, tunnels and breakwaters.

By a resounding 15:7 vote they won a six week stay of execution while finance chief Graham Johnston, education and social care executive director Hazel Sutherland and interim head of economic development Neil Grant picked over the Shetland Arts business plan looking for holes.

They reported back saying the plan was “robust” and “well researched”, but “light” on its spending estimates and “challenging” on its audience targets. Mr Johnston told Shetland News he could find no “killer blow” to the Mareel plan.

Mr Wishart expressed surprise at the review team’s findings bearing in mind its dependence (£400,000 a year) on café/bar takings, its failure to account for building maintenance or the increase in energy costs.

“I have to say I want Mareel,” he said. “But I also want a new Anderson High School, two fixed links, a new ferry and terminals for Whalsay, a Fetlar breakwater and probably a new primary school in Lerwick. I think it’s a case of getting our priorities right at this stage.”

He warned of the constant drain on depleting council and charitable trust reserves. “I think we have to be prudent,” he said, adding that the council was already supporting others in the “catering industry” who are losing £150,000 a year. He was, it appears, referring to the publicly funded Islesburgh, Clickimin and museum complexes. “This proposal, if it goes ahead, will make it lose more.”

Florence Grains countered for the old guard who have backed Mareel from the beginning, quoting the success of the museum as an indication of what the new cinema and venue could achieve.

She also warned the lottery fund would not be happy with the council if it backed down after they had committed more than £2 million to the project. “If we turn around and say we are not going to go ahead with it after all, we can say goodbye to any funds in the future.”

Gussie Angus retorted saying he too wanted to see Mareel happen, before picking apart the plans piece by piece and calling the figures “hopelessly optimistic”, especially its forecast of 39 full time equivalent jobs.

He also warned: “I understand that the local licensed trade has entered a state aid complaint against this proposal and have also, as I understand it, complained to the Office of Fair Trading.”

Betty Fullerton waded in with similar arguments, saying this item had generated more calls from constituents than any other. “Ninety eight per cent told me we can’t afford this and if you vote for this you are off your head. I am not off my head.”

Rick Nickerson is the council’s cultural spokesman and Mareel’s main promoter in the council chamber. He praised the officer’s review and said he had received just three calls opposing it.

“I do believe this will provide a catalyst for the most promising economic development we have seen in Shetland. We are looking at a very important new industry,” he said, referring to the Shetland music and film projects he believes the centre will engender.

He also said the SIC had failed to spend £9 million in its capital programme in the last four years and that the current council had committed itself to back Mareel as recently as last October and would be turning away £5 million in external funding if it backed off now.

It was an issue of trust and the council was in danger of losing credibility with outside funders, policy makers and third party trusts who would embark on projects only to fear having “the rug pulled out at the last minute”.

Bill Manson gave an impassioned speech for the islands’ youngsters. “We have very few things that young folk can do once they get to the age when parents would want to slip them that don’t involve being in a pub. I think the young folk of Shetland need this facility and will use it regularly and often.”

He added that if Mareel fell at this hurdle it would never rise again. “If we don’t do this today it won’t reappear in the capital programme,” he said.

Allison Duncan said the money was needed for a care home for dementia related people. “Elderly people must be top priority,” he insisted.

Gary Robinson wanted to spend the money on improving the Aith road and the Happyhansel school, in Walls.

Jonathan Wills used the opportunity to condemn Shetland Arts for being overstaffed. “We have more arts administrators per head of population than any other community on earth and remarkably little goes to actual artists. That needs to change.”

Frank Robertson pointed to Faroe where Nordic House promotes the islands’ culture. “We don’t have that in Shetland. We should support our arts and our culture just as we support our leisure and recreation activities.”

Summing up, Sandy Cluness recalled being on the committee that decided to build the Clickimin Centre more than 20 years ago. “I can assure you we had a lot less money then than we do now,” he said.

“Of course we have the money to do this. It’s in the capital programme. Every council since 1996 has agreed this is a worthwhile project. We have amassed £500 million and the money is available for this particular project. This is the only one we can build now and if you fail to build this now the people of Shetland will live to regret it.”

After Addie Doull revealed his intentions in the roll call vote and Mareel went through, Gussie Angus tried to cap the funding so that not a penny more than had been agreed would be spent by the council. His move fell once again by the convener’s casting vote.

But the detractors have not given up yet and councillor Gary Robinson has already announced his intention to have the entire subject revisited at the SIC’s development committee when councillors will be asked to invest £965,000 from the Shetland Development Trust into Mareel.

He said he believes that had councillors Cecil Smith, Andrew Hughson, Jim Henry and Alistair Cooper been present yesterday the vote would have gone another way, and he intends to make sure it does.

“I think Sandy has won a battle, but the war isn’t over yet,” he said.