Locals urged to consider mediation with youths causing anti-social behaviour

Mediation has been floated as one possible way to ease a situation involving reports of anti-social behaviour in the Bressay ferry waiting room in Lerwick.

Relationships Scotland’s local service manager, Ingrid Webb, said this could involve speaking to those affected and offering an opportunity for young people to have their say too.

The issue was brought into focus at a meeting of Lerwick Community Council on Tuesday evening, where a trio of guests spoke on the matter.

This included Webb alongside Martin Summers (youth and employability team leader) and Billy Mycock (anti-social behaviour coordinator) from Shetland Islands Council.

It comes after reports of young people congregating in the room and engaging in behaviour including intimidation and anti-social conduct, leaving some ferry passengers feeling unsafe and waiting out in the rain.

At the start of the year, Bressay Community Council chairman Lindsay Tulloch – a former police chief in Shetland – called for a multi-agency response due to “persistence and escalation” of incidents.

Summers highlighted that the incidents represent a very small minority of young people in Shetland.

He said that while “alarming to members of the public” experiencing these incidents, it does not represent the “vast majority of our incredible young people that are contributing effectively to our community life in Shetland”.

Summers said there could be more awareness-raising of alternative places to hang out, such as the Hub on Commercial Road or OPEN’s youth cafe.

Mycock said there has been some inappropriate behaviour, but there is a “fear” from some people of it happening again.

He said it is very easy to tar people with the same brush, “but how do we reassure the public that it’s safe to use those spaces, and it’s safe to use it in an inter-generational way?”

Mycock said one idea was for anyone who still feels unsafe to go into mediation with the SIC, police or the ferries team, or anyone who monitors the space, “so we can be clear about what we can do to help them”.

Longer term, he said, the question is why it is attractive above other spaces, and can people be encouraged to spread out to other places nearby.

One point raised in the meeting was that the waiting room was popular as a congregating area because it is centrally located – “if it was in Holmsgarth we wouldn’t have this problem”.

Brian Smith also said it was dry and unsupervised, and close to the street.

Meanwhile, Webb highlighted how Relationships Scotland has trained mediators who help people have difficult conversations with each other.

She said this has already been used for issues in the Lerwick Lanes area.

Webb said her team could meet with people affected by issues at the ferry waiting room, “hear their issues, [and] drill down into their feelings”.

She said the organisation could also potentially work with the youth charity OPEN, which might be able to facilitate conversations with particular teenagers.

“Sometimes those conversations and that awareness raising and that ability to understand how others are affected, is really impactful and it can get really good results,” Webb said.

She added that issues like the ferry waiting room can sometimes be “blown out of proportion” or be felt to be a “really big problem”.

Webb said people need to be heard, with the hope of creating a “reality” of what has been happening, while giving the option for young people to have their say too.

Meanwhile, local councillor Gary Robinson said the people of Bressay are against the idea of having the room locked and accessible only to certain people, such as residents of the island.

He said the ferry is used by many non-residents, including people going to the Maryfield, the Speldiburn cafe or the Saturday parkrun.

Robinson described the access idea as a “non-starter” and would be a “logistical nightmare” to organise.