Uncertainty over £8m arts project
Isles proposals in doubt amid fears site chosen for centre poses a public danger
Published:
Plans for a multimillion pound arts centre in Shetland were in doubt last night after the Health and Safety Executive refused to back the scheme amid fears the site is unsafe.
The proposed £8million Mareel music and cinema centre could be shelved after the HSE refused to revisit the site near the Lerwick fuel storage base.
The HSE is concerned that an explosion, similar to that seen in 2005 at the Buncefield oil depot in Hertfordshire, could occur at the North Ness site.
Mareel would be one of Scotland’s most northerly arts centre and has been in the works for 16 years.
Alistair Carmichael, MP for Orkney and Shetland, said the HSE must look again at the centre plans.
He said: “It is crucial that the HSE take up our request to look again at the specific differences between the one tank in Shetland that is an issue and sites like Buncefield and Grangemouth.”
Unlike Buncefield, which held millions of gallons of various fuels the Lerwick fuel base stores a limited amount of fuel.
The operation is overseen by three people – one on a boat, one on the pier and a third by the tank.
Mr Carmichael called the contrast between Lerwick and Buncefield incomparable, adding: “The categorisation of the Lerwick fuel tank as high risk is the result of a simple paper exercise that considered the height of the tank, the speed of filling and the type of valves used.
“For a vapour cloud to form, a still day is required which is a rare occurrence given the extreme weather experienced in the UK’s most northerly islands.”
Shetland Arts, the charity leading the project, faces building inflation costs of £2,000 a day while waiting for the HSE to hear its plea.
Gwilym Gibbons, director of Shetland Arts, said “bureaucratic stubbornness is standing in the way of commonsense”.
“It is immensely frustrating that the HSE, sitting in their office hundreds of miles down south, will not reconsider this unique Shetland situation, when so much is at stake,” he said.
Construction of the new venue is due to begin in June with the doors opening in spring 2010.
The creative industries in Shetland contribute £25million to the local economy.
