Latest News

Orkney Islands Council has been advised by the Scottish Government today (21 December) that they have approved planning permission for two six-turbine Council owned wind farms at Quanterness, just outside Kirkwall and at Wee Fea in Hoy.

Looking to learn something new this winter? The Council’s Winter programme of community learning classes starts in January, so make a note in your diary!

A number of local athletes have been selected to benefit from funding to enable them to keep on track with their chosen sports.

The latest round of grants will see 13 sporting competitors receive the award between January and March, 2022.

The dedicated grant supported by sportScotland to help sportspeople in Orkney with the costs of attending competitive and training opportunities received a £3k boost from Stagecoach.

Orkney is due to lead the way on a ground-breaking Scotland-wide recycling scheme next year.

It’s never too early to start making a difference to the communities we live in, but also further afield.

With this in mind, an exciting new group – Dounby RotaKids – supported by Dounby School and the Rotary Club of Orkney is now underway and recently they undertook the first RotaKids project of its kind in Orkney.

No new positive lateral flow tests have been reported and no outstanding PCR test results have been reported.

Class teachers continue to provide work online using the Seesaw tool and, in addition, pupils from the closed P4 class have been sent a pack of activities. So far, no parents of children in the P4 class have taken up the offer of childcare that was made by the school for the remainder of term.

Orkney Islands Council is launching a free training and support programme aimed at encouraging up to ten individuals to become new professional childminders, in a bid to help address childcare shortages in the county.

The closing date for 16 jobs with the Council's Early Learning and Childcare team has been extended to early January - if you love seeing peedie people learn new things and are interested in child development, read on!

Local people are being urged to help protect front line services by heeding Scottish Government advice aimed at curbing COVID-19 transmission in the community, including minimising social contacts.

Orkney Health and Care has issued a rallying call to relatives of users of the Care at Home Service appealing for their help to keep some of Orkney’s most vulnerable folk safe over the festive period.

There is a national shortage of care workers, agency staff who have been bolstering the local teams are heading home for Christmas and New Year and now, additional precautions regarding the new COVID-19 variant Omicron are likely to impact on Home Care staffing levels further.