The Orkney Islands Council ( gd, Comhairle Eileanan Arcaibh), is the local authority for

Orkney Orkney (; sco, Orkney; on, Orkneyjar; nrn, Orknøjar), also known as the Orkney Islands, is an archipelago in the Northern Isles of Scotland, situated off the north coast of the island of Great Britain. Orkney is 10 miles (16 km) north ...

, Scotland. It was established in 1975 by the

Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (c. 65) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered local government in Scotland on 16 May 1975. The Act followed and largely implemented the report of the Royal Commission on Local Gove ...

and was largely unaffected by the Scottish local government changes of the mid-1990s. It provides services in the areas of Environmental Health, Roads, Social Work, Community Development, Organisational Development, Economic Development, Building Standards, Trading Standards, Housing, Waste, Education, Burial Grounds, Port and Harbours and others. The council is allowed to collect

Council Tax Council Tax is a local taxation system used in England, Scotland and Wales. It is a tax on domestic property, which was introduced in 1993 by the Local Government Finance Act 1992, replacing the short-lived Community Charge, which in turn re ...

. The council is also the harbour authority for Orkney and its Marine Services division manages the operation of the islands' 29 piers and harbours.

Elections

2012

Between 2012 and 2017 the council consisted of 21 members, all of whom were

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

; they did not stand as representatives of a political party. These members are elected in the following wards: *East Mainland, South Ronaldsay and Burray (3 members) *Kirkwall East (4 members) *Kirkwall West and Orphir (4 members) *North Isles (3 members) *Stromness and South Isles (3 members) *West Mainland (4 members).

2017

After the 2017 election there were 18 independents, 2

Orkney Manifesto Group The Orkney Manifesto Group (OMG) was a minor political party in Orkney, Scotland. The group advocated for politicisation of Orkney Islands Council, believing that party-based representation would offer more robust democratic governance than the c ...

(OMG) councillors and 1

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

councillor. Of these, 18 councillors were actually ''elected''; the remaining 3 were declared on the election day "as the result of the uncontested election in the Stromness and South Isles ward, where the number of candidates was equal to or less than the number of seats available". There were no official changes to the political composition of the council during the 2017-2022 term. However, independent councillor John Ross Scott (Kirkwall East) did announce he had joined the Greens in 2021, which did not change his affiliation on the council. One by-election was held and resulted in an independent hold. The 2017 election elected these members: Candidates elected to form the new Council alongside Rob Crichton, James Stockan and Magnus Thomson in the uncontested Stromness and South Isles ward are: Kirkwall East ward - David Dawson, Steven Heddle, John Ross Scott, Gwenda Shearer. Kirkwall West and Orphir - Sandy Cowie, Barbara Foulkes, Leslie Manson, John Richards. West Mainland - Harvey Johnston, Rachael King, Owen Tierney, Duncan Allan Tullock. East Mainland - South Ronaldsay and Burray - Norman Craigie, Andrew Drever, Steve Sankey. North Isles - Stephen Clackson, Graham Sinclair, Kevin Woodbridge.

2022

After the 2022 election there were 19 independents, and 2

councillors.

Composition

Leaders

Political Leaders

Convenors

References

{{Authority control Organisations based in Orkney Local authorities of Scotland Politics of Orkney Kirkwall