Orkney Islands Council

The Orkney Islands Council (Comhairle Eileanan Arcaibh), is the local authority for Orkney, Scotland. It was established in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 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.

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

Premises
The council is based at the Council Offices on School Place in Kirkwall. The building comprises the former Kirkwall Grammar School and the neighbouring former Paterson Church, with modern extensions linking the older buildings. The former Grammar School was built c. 1890 and converted to become the council's offices in 1978. The Paterson Church, or East Church, was built in 1847 and converted and incorporated into the council offices in the early 2000s.

2012
Between 2012 and 2017 the council consisted of 21 members, all of whom were independent; 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 (OMG) councillors and 1 Green 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 Green councillors.

In January 2024, council leader James Stockan announced he would stand down as councillor after leading the authority for six years.

In February 2024, Heather Woodbridge was announced as the new leader for the council. She is the first woman to lead the Orkney Islands Council, and at 29 years old is the youngest local authority leader in Scotland

Composition

 * East Mainland, South Ronaldsay and Burray
 * Kirkwall East
 * Kirkwall West and Orphir
 * North Isles
 * Stromness and South Isles
 * West Mainland