OIC wins community involvement accolade at UK wide awards

Orkney Islands Council was announced winner of the Community Involvement category at the 25th anniversary LGC Awards 2021.

There were a record breaking 700-plus entries for this year’s awards which recognises the achievements of officers and politicians in local government – and OIC was the only Scottish local authority to win one of the 21 categories.

The LGC Awards attracts entries from council teams across the UK and is judged by other councils’ senior officers, with the aim being to promote new innovation that can inspire other councils to improve their own services.

Last Thursday’s (4 November) ceremony was the 25th time the Local Government Chronicle event has been held - actress, television presenter and comedian Sally Phillips was LGC’s presenter as winners were announced.

The Council was shortlisted for the award in July this year.

Providing feedback on the OIC’s entry, the judges said: “After excelling during the rigorous judging process, Orkney Islands Council emerged as the winner of Community Involvement. Working in, with and for communities during COVID and beyond made an immediate difference on a daily basis despite the unrivalled geographical challenges they faced. Innovative, creative, willing to lead, supporting each other and creating a legacy which will continue to change lives on the (Orkney) mainland and Islands forever. All this while being the smallest council in Scotland. Very well done. An example of local government at its very best!”

Orkney Islands Council’s Interim Chief Executive, John Mundell, said: “This particular achievement at local government’s most prestigious awards in the UK is testament to the empathy and determination of our officers, as judged by our peers, to work with our communities during this pandemic to protect, inform and reassure.

“It also reflects a willingness and selflessness of many in our community – through community councils, development trusts and others – to step up to the plate and work with us on the pandemic response on behalf of their communities, while still juggling their own personal pressures.

“We could not have done it without their involvement and for that we are extremely grateful, and we hope they will feel this award is as much theirs as it is ‘the Council’s’

“We could not have expected this level of support and understanding from our community representatives had it not been for the existing trust and mutual respect built up through years of hard work by all in our Democratic Services and Community Council teams - and I commend each and every one of our staff for that track record.”

Democratic Services Manager, Maureen Spence, accepted the award on behalf of the Council: “I am sure I speak for many in the community and within the council when I say that the onset of the pandemic was extremely challenging, especially for our isles communities where difficulties are further amplified by their added remoteness and fragility – but we worked together to find solutions and that’s all down to the dedication and level-headedness of our community representatives and also officers right throughout the council who worked hard to advise us and keep the resilience meetings up to speed, with honest and detailed updates on the challenges the Council were facing too.”

OIC Leader James Stockan also attended the award – he said: “The pandemic really has brought home the importance of community and of working together for the common good. I am proud of everyone involved in this award which was picked up against very stiff competition. This is Orkney – and local government – at its very best.”

LGC editor Nick Golding said: “The dedication of councils to supporting their local populations has never been in doubt but they have stepped up to a new level over the course of the pandemic as they innovated to keep residents safe and well.

“To win an LGC Award is the ultimate symbol of the brilliance of council teams – we should be grateful for their work, particularly in difficult times.”

Pictured above from left to right are one of the judges Sheila Oxtoby, Chief Executive of Great Yarmouth Council; OIC Leader James Stockan; OIC Head of Executive Support Karen Greaves; OIC Democratic Services Manager, Maureen Spence; OIC Interim Chief Executive John Mundell, Awards presenter, television presenter and comedian Sally Phillips.

View the complete list of winners on the LGC website.

Read the Council's entry below: 

The Best of Orkney - Creating COVID solutions through Community

Community was centre of coronavirus response:

• Community leaders were key to emergency response and information sharing
• Open, honest dialogue with community leaders enabled them to become trusted sources of information within communities.
• Well-informed community leaders helped curb misinformation
• Community resilience meetings became a valued forum for sharing problems and solutions between communities

Orkney is made up of several communities each with their own distinct strengths and challenges.

So when in the early stage of the pandemic it became apparent that this was to be more than just a three week lockdown, the need for a robust Community Resilience response was recognised, to ensure communities could weather the storm – especially the fragile island communities for whom issues are amplified by remoteness and limited access to services.

The Council quickly realised the most effective way to deliver its emergency response was to tap into community leaders for their support.

Luckily, through years of dedication and hard work of the Council’s Democratic Services team and volunteers who serve on Community Councils, Orkney Islands Council had in place very good relationships with knowledgeable and well-connected individuals throughout Orkney.

These ready-made communication channels were quickly ramped up via the Community Council Chairs, helping the Council to gather rapid feedback from communities on the specific challenges they were facing – food and fuel shortages on isles communities and difficulty obtaining feed for livestock were early headline problems. Equally important was the role Community Councils could play as a conduit for trusted information about the pandemic. Council officers knew that frank and honest updates about challenges the Council were facing was the best way to maintain trust in the community.

The natural progression was to form Community Resilience Groups (CRGs) - members of each of the twenty Orkney Community Councils met on a regular basis, via Teams - weekly for the first 6 months, gradually reducing to monthly meetings. Attendees were able to relay information about what was going on in their communities. Meetings were split into Islands and Mainland (Orkney) groups, as issues faced by the island communities varied slightly from Mainland residents.

Many communities had a community social media presence and email distribution lists - where this was not already established Community Councils set up communication channels to ensure important information from the CRGs was being shared locally and concerns then fed back to the Council’s Democratic Services team.

Feedback from the community was very positive - to the extent that even when the lockdown eased the CRGs asked if Democratic Services would continue holding the monthly meetings as they found the communication and sharing of issues and solutions between communities so valuable.

What our community engagement achieved

From the outset, it was clear many people – those in the outer isles in particular – were facing hardships due to strict rules on movement, and reduced ferry and flight timetabling.

Food poverty solutions – freezers and fivers

It was not possible for isles residents to visit the major supermarkets on the Orkney mainland. Local shops were available on the isles, but can’t compete with supermarket pricing due to economies of scale. This gave rise to two key issues:

1. residents were struggling with the higher prices of the small, independent island shops.
2. the shops themselves were struggling to meet the demand of suddenly having to supply island populations with their entire grocery needs.

In response to concerns relayed through the Community Resilience Groups, Orkney Islands Council established and funded a Food Voucher scheme for isles residents. Fridges and freezers from the isles’ schools – closed for the lockdown – were relocated to isles shops to help them store the increased volume of food they needed to stock for residents. All island shop-keepers agreed to accept the voucher scheme in support of their communities, and several tranches were made. Not only did the scheme support isles residents with grocery costs, the vouchers also supported local shops who were facing considerable Covid-19 changes to their operations while still providing a vital service to their communities.

Comfort in a crisis

The well established communications channels meant individual cases of hardship or care issues which were identified by the community were quickly reported to the Covid Hub or social care teams. There were instances where folk in the isles who were not on any service ‘radar’ had found themselves in very difficult situations as a result of the pandemic – through Community Councils our staff were able to enlist trusted members of the community quickly to make contact and link residents with support and avert crisis.

Social isolation solutions – normality in a box

Restrictions and lack of capacity on travel also meant many isles residents were isolated from their families living in other areas of Orkney, and from facilities and services on mainland Orkney. It was important the Council find ways of making their lives as “normal” as possible and to iron out anything that may become an issue if not resolved quickly.

Special arrangements were made to have boxes of library books delivered from mainland Orkney to vulnerable and shielding isles residents. Boxes were picked up at the pier by isles Link officers who then arranged distribution to individuals. (Link officers are Council employees in the isles who clerk community councils and undertake community development).

Aims, main drivers, timescales and community satisfaction

The aims of the project were of course to provide support to our communities, but also to ensure there were effective mechanisms to communicate and escalate any issues or problems to a higher level without delay.

It was also important to provide structure when everything was strange and unsettling, so that communities felt they were being listened to and supported.

We feel that the aims were achieved, and more.

By sharing problems and issues, and discussing solutions, there came a sense of togetherness, and trust that everyone was doing their absolute best.

Many measures introduced during the pandemic are likely to be continued into the coming months, at the community’s request.

How community engagement contributes to the council’s wider objectives and strategy.

Community Engagement is at the heart of the Council’s wider objectives and strategy, particularly in respect of community empowerment. This was very much heightened during the early stages of the pandemic – it was vital communities could feed back on how service delivery was working or could be improved/adapted.

Sustainability of approach

The only expense has been officer time, but arguably the strengthened relationships which have been brought about by the CRG meetings mean increased trust, familiarity with the roles and remits of various parties, and smoother, quicker decision making in future.

Participation and positive outcomes for communities

The engagement which was enabled through the Community Resilience Group meetings allowed service users and other interested parties, through their Community Council, the opportunity to be involved in planning, prioritising and monitoring of services. It was also possible to bring in other third sector organisations to assist with matters of concern, including SEPA, Police Scotland and NHS Orkney. It’s hoped this increased interest in grass roots politics in Orkney will continue and contribute positively to the community empowerment agenda.