As chief government of Britain’s smallest native authority, Ian Clark, who has died aged 85, went face to face with Huge Oil within the Seventies to safe laws to guard the Shetland Islands, which stays unparalleled to at the present time.
An evangelical Christian with an method to negotiation that was in contrast unfavourably by one rueful Shell government to that of Colonel Gaddafi, Clark unexpectedly discovered himself within the frontline of defence when Shetland was confronted with the North Sea oil increase.
With a inhabitants of simply 17,500, the islands confronted a right away orgy of property hypothesis and a race amongst oil majors to develop and run their very own terminals. Clark noticed the upcoming threat of unplanned chaos, which might outcome within the native financial system and wealthy Shetland tradition being overwhelmed.
Backed by some extremely astute councillors, he determined that Shetland would wish to amass particular powers from parliament to offer the native authority management over developments and impose a levy on each barrel of oil coming ashore. To the fury of the oil business, Clark was decided to push the extent of those powers to the restrict and successfully veto onshore developments till they have been secured.
Whereas non-public laws promoted by native authorities was commonplace, the powers sought by Shetland over the oil business have been distinctive. Critically, these included obligatory buy of all related land and permitting the council to behave as port authority and thereby focus oil coming ashore at a single, multi-user terminal at Sullom Voe.
This introduced Clark into direct battle with oil corporations and speculators, backed by Edinburgh and London finance, who have been already shopping for up land at extremely inflated costs in key coastal places. The method additionally lower throughout native vested pursuits, and a bitter battle ensued with Clark and his allies steadfastly pursuing the legislative path to securing powers.
In March 1973, the methods and means committee of the Home of Commons determined that the Shetland invoice raised problems with such significance that it must undergo a full parliamentary course of. This put it into the fingers of Jo Grimond, a former Liberal occasion chief who represented the constituency.
Grimond opened the second studying debate by saying that the invoice “might properly level the best way to raised strategies of controlling developments consequent upon oil discoveries in different elements of Britain”. So far as Shetland was involved, “the affect of oil on a quite distinctive island group is not going to go on for ever and could also be over after 50 years … We should not sacrifice the long-term way forward for the group.”
By this time, Edward Heath’s Conservative authorities was determined for infrastructure to be in place that might permit the primary North Sea oil, from the Brent discipline, to circulate. Whereas it didn’t like Clark’s method or the precedent that vital revenues would go direct to an area authority, it did nothing to cease the invoice from turning into legislation within the spring of 1974, thus clearing the best way for the development of the Sullom Voe terminal.
Emphasis through the invoice’s passage was extra on planning powers than revenues. Shell had severely understated the Brent reserves and solely as the reality emerged in regards to the volumes of oil that might circulate by means of Sullom Voe did the extent of Shetland’s ongoing monetary advantages turn out to be obvious.
The act had given Shetland powers to take a position in addition to spend. To at the present time, the funds maintain round half a billion kilos, whereas huge sums have been dedicated to infrastructure and facilities over the previous half century.
Grimond’s hope that Shetland would act as a mannequin for the remainder of Britain was not fulfilled. The incoming Labour authorities noticed the points of interest of the Shetland mannequin, and when the British Nationwide Oil Company was arrange in 1975 Clark left Shetland to turn out to be a full-time director with duty for organising the headquarters in Glasgow, from the place BNOC set about taking stakes in North Sea developments and investing abroad.
Nonetheless, considered one of Margaret Thatcher’s first declared intentions after turning into Tory chief was to privatise BNOC and, fatefully, to deprive the UK of a state oil firm. The method of dismantling it started with the part-privatisation in 1982 of the exploration and manufacturing wing, which was renamed Britoil and of which Clark grew to become joint managing director. He retained this put up till the whole thing was bought to BP in 1988.
Clark was educated at Dalziel highschool in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, the son of Alexander and Annie (nee Watson). He educated in accountancy earlier than coming into native authorities and was recruited to Shetland within the mid-60s as treasurer for what was then Zetland county council. With native authorities reorganisation within the early 70s, he grew to become chief government of Shetland Islands council.
After the demise of Britoil, Clark was a lot in demand for board positions with Scottish corporations. Transferring to dwell in Campbeltown, Argyll, in later life, he additionally had time to develop his lifelong curiosity in theology and in 2010 gained a PhD from the College of Wales Trinity Saint David. He was a lay preacher and contributed to non secular, in addition to skilled, periodicals. In 1979 he had been awarded an honorary doctorate by Glasgow College.
Clark is survived by his spouse Jean, whom he married in 1961, his son, David, and daughter, Susan.
