Councillors Approve £8.25m Towards Covid Recovery Projects - and Allocate Strategic Reserve Funds

Orkney Islands Council's Elected Members have today (23 December) approved funding towards a suite of projects aimed at supporting Orkney's recovery from the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The £8.25m fund will be used to address a number of the Council's recovery objectives and pressure points - helping to alleviate service delivery constraints, improve future efficiency, cut carbon emissions and stimulate economic recovery.

Projects to benefit from the £8.240m Covid recovery pot include £500,000 towards an island and rural housing fund, £500,000 towards footpath, core path and cycleway improvements, £500,000 towards the replacement of playpark equipment and £500,000 towards road surface water maintenance work.

£300,000 will be set aside to support Orkney's wide variety of festivals, musical events and cultural organisations - who have been severely impacted by the effects of the pandemic.

Two larger projects could see a new salt barn for Cursiter Quarry, with £1m allocated towards a Kirkwall Town Centre Regeneration project, similar to the Stromness Pierhead Project that was undertaken a number of years ago.

Other areas to receive funding include schools’ furniture and fittings, update of IT equipment and software in schools and Council facilities, a ground source heat pump at Orkney Library and the replacement of Council plant and vehicles.

The £200,000 Local Works and Services Fund - which elected members can use to resolve smaller issues in their ward - will also be topped up with an additional £240,000. Projects that have benefited from this fund in the past include the removal of scrap cars, a contribution to the performance area at the Stromness Town House, car parking at the Meadows and a number of other worthwhile projects

The same meeting also saw Councillors, notionally allocate funding from the Council's Strategic Reserve Fund to specific Council services and partner organisations.

Year on year, the Council accesses the Strategic Reserve Fund to supplement services as the Council continues to tackle the twin budget challenge of increasing demand for services and a reduction in budget allocations from Government.

The upcoming 2022/23 budget would see £8.263m of the Strategic Reserve Fund allocated towards the General Fund - an increase of £793,000 from last year.

In previous years this allocation hasn't been attached to specific Council services - rather just to fund the general Council budget.

In order that the public can more readily see the benefits of the Strategic Reserve Fund - members have instead recommended notional financial contributions towards specific service functions or areas of expenditure.

If ratified at Full Council the allocations from the Strategic Reserves Fund show the Council's Education, Leisure and Housing service core budget is supplemented by an indicative £3.7m towards it services, Orkney Health and Care  £1.9m, Development and Infrastructure Services £1.1m and the Chief Executives Service £1.4m.

This will in turn show the benefit that many of the Council’s partnership organisations including the Pickaquoy Centre and third sector partners receive from the Strategic Reserve Fund.

The historic purpose of the Strategic Reserve Fund is to support projects which provide benefits to the Orkney community as a whole - such as the development of recreation projects and harbour infrastructure, whilst supporting economic development activity in general across Orkney.

The Strategic Reserve Fund is also required to support the long-term objectives of managing the implications associated with declining oil related revenues on Orkney's economy - and to contribute to the decommissioning costs of the Flotta terminal at the end of its life.

Council Leader, James Stockan, said: “There’s a deep-seated view amongst the Orkney public that this Council never spends money from the Strategic Reserve Fund – that simply isn’t the case.

“Local authorities should not be continuing to build up their reserves, whilst the public and partner organisations look to the Council for support on those projects and services that make Orkney such a tremendous place to live.

“The multiple Strategic Reserve Fund allocations we have laid out today will continue to support a great deal of good work in Orkney and we’ll be looking to keep the public better informed on the intrinsic community value of this fund in the New Year.

"The recommendations made by Members will help to address some of the key issues that the public come to us with time and time again - those issues that on the face of it may seem small, but make a tremendous difference to daily life in Orkney. The funding proposals will help support our communities through these extraordinarily difficult times and Members wholeheartedly backed the full range projects that came forward. We look forward to seeing the outcomes of today's decision over time."

Further details on the allocations are available here available here.