Not Much Change for Orkney’s Local Wards

The future electoral set up for local wards in Orkney has been laid out by Boundaries Scotland.

The proposals are 21 councillors in six wards, comprising three wards each returning 3-members and three wards each returning 4-members as follows:

Ward No.Ward NameCllrsElectorate (Dec 17)Current Variation from Electoral Parity (%)1Forecast ElectorateForecast Variation from Electoral Parity (%)2
1Kirkwall East43,66112.83,64412.6
2Kirkwall West and Orphir43,4155.23,4526.7
3Stromness and South Isles32,147-11.82,140-11.8
4West Mainland43,5218.53,4927.9
5East Mainland, South Ronaldsay and Burray32,4962.52,4892.6
6North Isles31,798-26.11,771-27.0
  2117,038 16,988

This would mean OIC having the same number of councillors as now with no boundary changes for : North Isles; Stromness and South Isles; and West Mainland.

The boundary between Kirkwall East ward and Kirkwall West and Orphir ward is to be amended by Kirkwall harbour to create a more easily identifiable ward boundary and the Kirkwall East ward boundary is to be extended southwards to better reflect local ties by placing Kirkwall airport and neighbouring local communities within a Kirkwall ward.

If you don’t know who your councillor is in Orkney you can click on this link: Multi Member Wards. It involves a lot of clicking.

The next local government elections take place on Thursday 5th of May 2022.

The elected councillors for Orkney Islands Council in 2017

Leave a Reply