The “warm, genuine, kind and respectful” support by staff shown to people using the Council’s Care at Home Services and overall leadership have been praised in an inspection report published this week.

The Council is urging folk in Westray to submit comments in relation to options for future recycling services in the island - by the closing date of 28 August.

Orkney Islands Council is now seeking public views on the introduction of new speed limits in and around Finstown.

The consultation period - lasting for four weeks - is the final stage of the statutory consultation process required for introducing new limits. 

Following a petition received from the local community in 2021, the Council - after significant debate - recommended the introduction of new speed limits in and around the village - which has required a Traffic Regulation Order (TRO) to be put in place.

Sunnybrae Housing Support Service continues to benefit from a “culture of continuous improvement” – however staff recruitment and retention remains an issue.

That’s according to Inspectors from the Care Inspectorate who carried out an unannounced visit to the service at Eunson Kloss in Kirkwall during July 2023. Improvements have been made since the May inspection with the leadership having moved from “weak” to “adequate”.

Applications are open for the next free numeracy course in Orkney to be delivered by The Learning Link through Multiply – a new programme aimed at transforming the lives of adults by improving numeracy skills.

 The Numeracy National 4 course is being held on Monday 28 August at The Learning Link, 2 St Rognvald Street, Kirkwall, from 12.30pm-2.30pm and a separate evening class from 7.30pm- 9.30pm. You only need to attend one. Anyone interested in being part of this accredited course can reserve their place by calling (01856) 879200.

A training scheme to help reduce the number of collisions involving motorcyclists is being held in Orkney during September.

The “Rider Refinement North” one day course is run by Police Scotland, along with road safety partners, and will take place in the county on Sunday 17 September.

The course, which is the only one of its kind in Scotland, aims to support motorcyclists to ride responsibly and reduce the number of collisions – saving lives on our roads.

Previous courses received positive feedback from riders who changed their riding style and improved their skills as a result.

A recent rallying call to action by the Council for local folk to step up to form a Community Council in South Ronaldsay and Burray has seen ten willing candidates put their name forward - meaning a ballot will now take place, with ballot papers due to hit households this week.

With the return to schools across Orkney this week, Orkney Islands Council and the Police are reminding drivers to take extra care when in the vicinity of schools.

“We recently made the decision to switch from two petrol cars to an electric vehicle, which we use for longer trips, along with upgrading our bikes which has enabled us as a family to cycle for a lot of our day-to-day journeys.

The synthetic pitches at Kirkwall Grammar School, Picky and Stromness have reopened after being given a new lease of life.