Thanks for the update Eejit; and yes, I do remember the weather (and the simmer glim etc). I have both flown and sailed those waters which give me an even more jaundiced opinion of the weather.
Point is, it's not just the oil industry that needs to be served; the community needs a suitable airport in an accessible place that can be relied on in ALL weathers. Modern helicopters can do nearly all-weather stuff when equipped for it; so can modern airports. If the money were made availabe and the CAA or whatever they're called would certify it, you could have perfectly decent DGPS approaches or even MLS when that comes; curved AWAY from the hardstuff. FAA and Sikorsky have done much work on this stuff. We can train for it easily in the sim, even our fixed wing colleagues could do it...
I hold no brief for Sumburgh itself, and remember only too well the crosswind factors (Alidair Viscounts SRA to 09 followed by stbd wingtip through the houses to land on the southerly runway. Wasn't that to "300" feet as well?) A Cat 1 ILS is hardly state of the art stuff for the haar.
So let the money men decide WHERE they want it, then build something more future-proof. God knows, the nation and the oil companies have taken enough money (and the SIC too); plough some back into something useful.