The SIC is to measure the noise level of a future motorsport event before deciding whether to allow Tingwall Airport to be used as a venue.
Following concern from the nearby Gott Cattery, councillors on Friday agreed to get officials to test the decibel level caused by Shetland Motorsport Club activities before deciding whether to approve the airport’s use in the longer term.
Environment and transport committee chairman Allan Wishart was perplexed, saying there were already aircraft taking off and landing close to the cattery every day. A busy main road also runs right past the cats’ boarding house, and he wants a comparison of the noise pollution caused by those factors.
But councillor Jonathan Wills had little time for the motorsport fraternity, saying such events were “noisy, polluting and pointless” and encouraged young drivers to cavort around Shetland “like they’re Lewis Hamilton”.
Dr Wills thought the SIC should be giving such events a wide berth when it is trying to reduce carbon emissions.
In October, the council decided that no more motorsport events would be held in Unst, whose airstrip the Shetland Motorsport Club had been using for nearly 10 years. At that time, North Isles councillors said folk in Unst saw little benefit in the events being staged there.