New group will seek Orkney Opinions

Orkney Islands Council is getting in touch with people across the county to invite them to become part of a new public consultation group.

Orkney Opinions will give a group of residents the opportunity to comment and provide feedback on a range of topics.

Invitation letters are being sent to people whose names were selected at random from the Open Register of Electors. They contain a questionnaire people receiving the letters are asked to fill in if they are interested in taking part.

Members of the group will be asked to complete around four surveys over a 12-month period.

Gillian Morrison, the Council’s Executive Director of Corporate Services, said: “Consultation is essential in planning local services. We conduct full-scale public consultation exercises when a significant new policy or plan is in preparation and use other means to seek public feedback, such as Facebook chats.

“But we feel there will be many benefits if we engage regularly with a group of interested Orkney residents, who can be consulted when a range of views is sought on a given topic.

“It’s an opportunity to let the Council know what they feel about local services and suggest how improvements can be made. I hope many of the people we’ve written to will be happy to become part of Orkney Opinions. We’re asking those who’d like to join to complete a short questionnaire and return it to us.”

Orkney Opinions will initially be run for a year as a pilot exercise. The aim is to have a membership that is representative of the local area. Group members can choose to receive surveys in either paper or electronic form.