Council spending another £300k as Islands Deal looms

Afurther £300,000 is being spent by Orkney Islands Council in preparation for a multimillion-pound injection expected to be provided by the Islands Deal.

The 10-year package, underwritten by the Scottish and UK governments, covers Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles and will be spent creating jobs and investing in infrastructure, transport and tourism.

The funding programme aims to create up to 1,300 jobs in the islands, tackle depopulation and unlock additional private-sector investment – estimated to be worth around £235 million.

Now, in preparation for that, Orkney Islands Council is spending £300,000 from its renewables, regeneration and redevelopment fund to complete outline and full business cases.

The new spend brings the total committed to just over £700,000.

Lorna Richardson, strategic policy and projects manager for the local authority, said the investment will pay handsome dividends for Orkney.

The outlay, is about 2% of the £30m in government funding and a much smaller fraction of the estimated £335m total when match funding is included over the course of the deal.

Mrs Richardson said: “The per capita quantum of this deal is far in excess of that provided to other areas in Scotland and is a clear indication of both the strength of the projects proposed and the significant impact that they are expected to have on both local and national economic strategic objectives.”

Ministers signed the deal earlier this year, with Scottish Office minister Iain Stewart praising it.

He said at the time: “We have signed a transformational deal which will bring jobs, investment and innovation to communities across all three island areas.

“These exciting plans show the path to a fairer, more sustainable, more prosperous future as we build back better from the pandemic.”

In a first-person piece for The Press and Journal, Mr Stewart said the deal would help the islands to thrive.