Stenness school debaters in favour of a new World Heritage Site visitor centre
As part of their Stenness Past Present & Future project, pupils in the upper primary class at the Stenness school held a debate with the motion “Should a new visitor centre be built in the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site buffer zone?”
The debate was chaired by Ness of Brodgar Trust education officer Katy Firth, who has been working with the class all year. The pupils spent time preparing their arguments in opposing teams before going head-to-head to voice their reasons for supporting or opposing the motion.
Great points were made by both sides. Those in favour of the new centre cited reasons such as providing a place to learn and investigate heritage; good for income generation through tourism and with new biodiversity net-gain rules there might be benefits for wildlife with new habitat created.
The opposition argued that there would be increased traffic and that the construction would be noisy. They were also concerned about archaeology being damaged in the construction period. After all the points had been made, and each team had chance to make their rebuttals, the class voted.
The final vote was 6:4 in favour of a new visitor centre.
The pupils have now written up “balanced arguments” which will be sent to decision makers so their views can be taken into consideration when plans are being made for the new Orkney World Heritage Gateway project.
Some pupil quotes:
“Since there has been much discussion about this new visitor it has made me think Stenness is a special place, for the wildlife and the archaeology”
“It would create more jobs for the people of Orkney because it would need builders to construct it, cleaners to tidy it, historians to teach about and guides to give tours, so it would help local people to get work and have less unemployed people in Orkney.”
“How much money will it cost and who will pay for it? Will the Stenness people pay, or the council pay for of all it?”
“Looking at this from both sides, I think a visitor centre is a great idea, because you can go inside and find out facts, inside if it is raining as well as outside. I think it is a good idea because it will be helpful for people who can’t do the tours outside for the Ring of Brodgar.”
“Firstly, when its being built the machinery could damage the archaeology under the ground.”
