Orkney Islands Council

Orkney Islands Council is to purchase a group of uninhabited islands because they offer a “significant development opportunity”. It is anticipated that the council will become the owners of Faray, Holm of Faray and Red Holm early in 2019.

Orkney Islands Council is seeking views for its draft 'Empty Homes Strategy 2018-2023', which aims to sets out the ways in which the council can help Orkney's empty home owners to bring their properties back into use. Orkney currently has 303 potential homes currently classed as empty, representing

Accounts Commission deputy chair, Ronnie Hinds An independent report assessing how Orkney Islands Council is fulfilling its statutory duty to demonstrate ‘Best Value’ has determined that the local authority has made significant progress in recent years but needs to build on this for the future.

Orkney Islands Council has become the first Scottish island authority to appoint an empty homes officer. The officer will work with North Ronaldsay Trust to bring empty homes back into use with the hope the project could be a model for other communities.

Up to £1.4 million is available for Orkney residents to help make their homes more energy efficient. The local authority has secured the HEEPS: ABS funding from the Scottish Government to assist home owners, private sector tenants and landlords to improve their properties' energy efficiency.

Residents are being invited to submit their views on how to address fuel poverty on the Orkney Islands. A consultation is underway on Orkney Islands Council's Fuel Poverty Strategy 2017 to 2022, which has been developed in tandem with the Sustainable Energy Strategy also recently published for consu

Eleven more local authorities in Scotland have set their respective budgets for the upcoming year, four of which have opted for a voluntary freeze in Council Tax. Aberdeen City Council set its 2017/18 budget and outlined plans for the next phase of its transformation programme.

Orkney Islands Council’s Housing Service is seeking public views on its Advice and Information Strategy which underpins how the council and a range of partner agencies provide housing advice to service users. The strategy looks at the accessibility of written information, the standard of this info

A new strategy has been unveiled on how to develop rural housing and energy on the Orkney Islands. The 'Housing in the Countryside' supplementary guidance and the 'Energy' supplementary guidance were published for public consultation last week.

Housing minister Kevin Stewart with officers and elected members of Orkney Islands Council outside one of the recently completed homes in Kirkwall Minister for local government and housing Kevin Stewart MSP visited Orkney this month to see how work is progressing on a new housing development.

The prospect of strike action by Orkney Islands Council (OIC) staff has increased after GMB Scotland members overwhelmingly rejected plans to cut terms and conditions for frontline service staff. After a three week consultative ballot process, over 98 per cent of ballot papers returned opposed OIC�

Staff working for Orkney Islands Council are to be balloted over whether to take industrial action amid new pay proposals. The local authority revealed a number of payment options which aim to helping address an anticipated £9.5 million shortfall in its budget over the next three years.

Plans to offer a home in Orkney to Syrian refugees took a further step forward last week as councillors recommended that two properties currently held for student accommodation be used to house the two families that could be resettled here. A number of housing options were put forward at a meeting o

Groups interested in financial assistance with community projects in Orkney are invited to attend a drop-in session with Orkney Islands Council’s LEADER team. The LEADER programme is aimed at small scale, community driven and innovative projects that support both the local economy and Orkney commu

Housing minister Margaret Burgess The Scottish Rural Fuel Poverty Task Force is meeting for the first time in Inverness today, exploring the issues facing people from rural communities who are in fuel poverty.