The Unst Response Team (URT) has appointed its team leader, Fiona Stirling.

Ms Stirling, originally from Ayrshire has lived in Shetland for the past 14 years.  She initially moved to mainland Shetland but has been resident on Yell, in the North Isles since 1996.

For the past four years, Ms. Stirling has worked in the community development department at Shetland Islands Council as community learning manager, prior to that she was the North Isles community worker.

Speaking about her new role, Ms. Stirling said: "I am really looking forward to the challenges of this new post and welcome the opportunity to work towards a way forward for Unst and the North Isles.

"I feel I have a good understanding of the needs of the community both as a resident there and from my previous job experience.  I also have a good understanding of working with partnership organisations and feel this will be invaluable in my new role as we will need to bring as many partners together as possible to work towards the best outcome for the area."

Shetland Enterprise, on behalf of the economic development agencies in Shetland, set up the special URT in September to help the community of Unst tackle the economic impact of the closure of the Saxa Vord RAF base on the island.

Formed for a three-year period, the URT will employ Fiona as the team leader, another full-time project officer and a part-time administrator. The other appointments will be made as soon as possible after Fiona takes up her post in November (2005).

Dr Ann Black, chief executive of Shetland Enterprise, said: "We are very happy that Fiona has accepted the role of team leader.  She will play a hugely important role in this team, which will be based in Unst.  We feel this dedicated resource is necessary to effectively address the challenges faced by the community.

"The team, led by Fiona, will co-ordinate the response of partnership organisations in Shetland as they all seek to address issues arising from the MoD's announcement."

The team will report directly to Dr Black and will also report quarterly to a sub-group of the Community Planning Board which has been specifically set up to co-ordinate and oversee efforts to minimise the impact of the job losses.

The key economic development objectives of the URT will be to:

• Establish a local economic development presence in Unst;
• Identify opportunities to diversify the economy of Unst that arise from the physical and human assets in the RAF base;
• Help to develop and improve the entrepreneurial culture of Unst and the North Isles;
• Harness, where possible, the skills available at the RAF base to improve the competitiveness of Unst and the North Isles;
• Develop other short and medium term proposals and actions through which the performance of the North Isles economy can be improved;
• Ensure the support of the stakeholder organisations in pursuit of the planned activities and actions;
• Help to build confidence and capacity in the North Isles.