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Highlands and Islands list MSP Peter Peacock has called on Shetlanders to grasp the opportunities offered to them by the Viking Energy project.

Speaking in the Scottish parliament earlier this week, the Labour MSP said that should the development not go ahead in partnership with the community, it was almost certain that a purely private project would take its place.

Referring to the hotly debated project as an "enormous opportunity" he said Shetlanders might not get a second chance and urged a compromise "to seek accommodations with objectors and to address legitimate concerns."

He added that the proposal to build a 540MW wind farm in the isles was of "national significance" that would help the county to "becoming more carbon neutral and would provide a long-term revenue stream to the islands".

He added: "It is a good thing that there is local debate in order to air concerns and to allow people to ask important questions.

"Having legitimate questions and concerns, however, does not mean that one always has to oppose the principle of a development. Equally, supporting such a development in principle does not mean that there is no need to compromise in the proposals, to seek accommodations with objectors and to address legitimate concerns.

"Shetland has an enormous opportunity that I hope it can take. If it does not do that in partnership with Viking Energy, as is the current proposal, I predict confidently that proposals will be forthcoming of a purely private nature and the community might not have the same opportunity to access long-term revenue streams.

"I hope that the community can find a way forward to help itself, to help us as a nation to meet our targets, to be as bold as it was in the 1970s in grasping that opportunity and in seeking to address as many of the legitimate concerns as possible."

Source: Shetland News

You can read the full transcript of Peter's speech here.

 

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