The Scottish Government has said ministers look forward to working with Orkney council to develop alternative governance arrangements, following today’s vote.
This morning saw 15 of Orkney’s 21 councillors back a motion from the council leader James Stockan.
The motion said the local authority should look at the options for alternative governance arrangements – potentially opening the door to a variety of new scenarios.
Among these are Orkney becoming a crown dependency or even a self-governing territory .
This comes following frustrations from Orkney council on a number of issues.
Not least of these is the perceived unfairness in the settlement it receives from the government.
Another issue is a lack of Road Equivalent Tariff on the Pentland Firth ferry routes.
Scottish Government ‘committed to building a stronger relationship’
And more recently, there has been a lack of progress on securing a new internal ferry fleet for the islands.
The Scottish Government’s local government empowerment Minister Joe FitzPatrick responded this afternoon.
He said: “We are committed to building a stronger relationship with local government with mutual trust at its core.
“The joint Local Governance Review with Cosla was established to consider how power and resources should be shared between national and local government and with communities.
“Scottish ministers look forward to working closely with Orkney Islands Council and other local partners to develop alternative governance arrangements on the Orkney islands which can demonstrate strong potential to improve outcomes for local people.
Mr FitzPatrick also said, along with Cosla, they have launched the Verity House Agreement.
This, he said, takes into account the idea that councils know best how to serve the people in their communities.
He added: “This is just the start of the process. We look forward to working further with Cosla and councils in the interests of the people of Scotland.”
Orkney MSP says islanders ‘feel angry’
Orkney’s own member of Scottish Parliament, Liam McArthur, also responded to today’s news from the council chamber.
Mr McArthur recognised the ill-feeling that has developed in Orkney.
He also said it shouldn’t take a constitutional change to resolve the issues the area is having.
Mr McArthur said: “People in Orkney certainly feel angry at the Scottish Government’s failure to engage meaningfully on how to replace Orkney’s ageing ferry fleet or bring Orkney Island Council’s funding more in line with other island authorities.
“However, they may also be concerned at the time and resource that could be taken up exploring different constitutional models, particularly when council resources are already under real pressure due to Scottish Government cuts.
“Procuring new ferries, introducing RET and delivering a fairer local authority settlement shouldn’t require a constitutional leap in the dark.
“It just requires the first minister to honour the commitments he made in the Islands Act he took through parliament.
“He needs to take seriously the ferries task force his government was responsible for establishing six months ago.”
