Council backs £5,000 grant for island games association

The council has agreed to grant £5,000 to the Shetland Island Games Association, money which will go towards the substantial costs of competing in the games.

An application for funding was submitted to the council in May and was discussed at the policy and resource’s committee last week. The committee deferred making a decision at the time so that the issue could be brought before today’s full council.

Councillors unanimously agreed that a new scheme, proposed by deputy leader Steven Coutts, should be set up to for future national and international events to which islanders travel. But Mr Coutts said there should be no award on this occasion.

Mr Coutts said that it was important for the council to be “open and transparent”. He said that officers should have “criteria” laid out for funding decisions rather than the council being seen to make “policy on the hoof”.

Central councillor Ian Scott said that he agreed with Mr Coutts’ motion, but suggested an amendment which would see the £5,000 awarded this year as a one-off.

He said that the amount was “small fry to encourage others in future games.”

Mr Scott found support from councillors Theo Smith, Davie Sandison and Ryan Thomson, who all spoke in favour of his amendment.
On the other side of the debate Alastair Cooper, Andrea Manson and Cecil Smith spoke in favour of Mr Coutts’ original motion.

In a vote the original motion was pitted against Mr Scott’s amendment and the amendment was passed 11-5.

More in Friday’s Shetland Times.

ONE COMMENT

Add Your Comment
  • James Soper

    • June 30th, 2017 21:57

    SIGA must now publish their full accounts.

    I’ve just returned from Gotland and the performances from everyone in the Shetland Team was inspiring. Unfortunately the Shetland Islands Games Association’s (SIGA) attitude to transparency is much less inspiring.

    Now the council have generously agreed to fund SIGA SIGA must agree to publishing their full accounts. If they don’t agree funding should be withheld until they do.

    It is unbecoming of an organisation charging individuals approximately £1400 each to take part, with a turnover of more than £150,000 per Games, and now in receipt of public funds to not be entirely transparent.

    REPLY

Add Your Comment

Please note, it is the policy of The Shetland Times to publish comments and letters from named individuals only. Both forename and surname are required.

Comments are moderated. Contributors must observe normal standards of decency and tolerance for the opinions of others.

The views expressed are those of contributors and not of The Shetland Times.

The Shetland Times reserves the right to decline or remove any contribution without notice or stating reason.

Comments are limited to 200 words but please email longer articles or letters to editorial@shetlandtimes.co.uk for consideration and include a daytime telephone number and your address. If emailing information in confidence please put "Not for publication" in both the subject line and at the top of the main message.

200 words left

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

logo

Get Latest News in Your Inbox

Join the The Shetland Times mailing list to get one daily email update at midday on what's happening in Shetland.