Neighbourhood Services and Infrastructure

Directorate Delivery Plan 2023 - 2028

Version 3.0 | 24 October 2023

IMAGE: The cover shows photographs of Orkney infrastructure and services: waves breaking over a road on the Churchill Barriers; a communications mast; the interior of a stone building with stained-glass windows; the Orkney Islands Council crest with the words “ORKNEY ISLANDS COUNCIL”; and two staff members beside a Floodline vehicle. The title reads “Neighbourhood Services and Infrastructure” and “Directorate Delivery Plan 2023 - 2028”.

Contents

• Contents — 2
• Overview of the Directorate — 3
  • Key Drivers for the Directorate — 3
  • Our People — 3
  • Our Finances — 3
• Mission Statement, Core Principles and Staff Values — 5
• The Delivery Plan — 6
• Council Delivery Plan Projects — 7
• Priorities for Delivery — 9
• Directorate Performance Measures — 21
• Risk and Business Continuity — 25
• Appendix 1: Other Plans — 26
• Appendix 2: Organisational Structures — 28

Overview of the Directorate

Welcome to my Directorate Delivery Plan.

The fundamental purpose of Neighbourhood Services and Infrastructure is to deliver many of the services that Orkney residents use on a daily basis, from roads to waste, from Council buildings to IT services provided by the Council and the whole range of regulatory services which keep us and our community safe.

This Directorate Delivery Plan highlights a number of projects and priorities which deliver these functions as well as showing how we support the wider Council Plan 2023 to 2028 and how we will monitor and report on those actions.

We have also included information about the Directorate and the full range of services we provide. The Heads of Service in each area are part of my Directorate Management Team and together we take decisions to prioritise improving the service we deliver.

We also have a wider Directorate Management team which includes all Service and Team Managers, and we meet at least 4 times a year to review our progress, learn from each other and make sure we are doing the best we can to support all folk who live, and visit, Orkney.

I am always happy to receive feedback on our services, please contact me at hayley.green@orkney.gov.uk

IMAGE: Portrait of Hayley Green, Corporate Director for Neighbourhood Services and Infrastructure.

Our People

The total staffing across the Directorate is 271.25 full-time equivalent, with 397 employees including both permanent and temporary staff. The Organisational diagram in the appendix to the plan shows the Directorate structure in more detail.

Key Drivers for the Directorate

The Council Plan 2023-2028 is the primary driver for the Directorate during this period and we will align this delivery plan with the priorities in the Council Plan.

There are also some key drivers when looking at both the national and local context, including:

• Budget constraints
• Scottish Government net-zero targets and the Climate Emergency
• Important legislative changes being introduced by the implementation of the Planning (Scotland) Act 2019

Service Areas

The following Service Areas sit within the Neighbourhood and Infrastructure Service.

Neighbourhood Services

Lorna Richardson
Head of Service

• Roads Operations
• Fleet Management
• Quarry Operations
• Car Parks
• Waste Management and Operations
• Grounds Maintenance
• Burial Grounds
• Civil Engineering

Property, Asset Management and Facilities

Kenny MacPherson
Head of Service

• Construction Programmes
• Architecture, Surveying and Inspection
• Energy
• Heritage Property Estates Asset Management
• Industrial & Commercial Lets
• Building Cleaning
• IT Operations and Cybersecurity
• Safety and Resilience and Civil Contingencies
• Health and Safety
• Risk Management and Business Continuity

Planning and Community Protection

Roddy MacKay
Head of Service

• Development and Marine Planning
• Development Management
• Building Standards
• Environmental Health
• Trading Standards
• Climate Change

IMAGE: Portraits identify Lorna Richardson as Head of Service for Neighbourhood Services, Kenny MacPherson as Head of Service for Property, Asset Management and Facilities, and Roddy MacKay as Head of Service for Planning and Community Protection.

All staff across the Directorate are supported by both the NSI Operational Support team, and the NSI Directorate Business Support team, managed by Lindsey McAdie and Louise Cutler respectively.

Mission Statement, Core Principles and Staff Values

The Council’s mission statement is Working together for Orkney.

The Council’s core principles are:

• Protecting our environment and combatting climate change.
• Equality, fairness and inclusion, in particular for vulnerable and remote communities like the ferry-linked isles.
• Sustainable and accessible services for all.
• Community wellbeing and mental health.
• Community wealth-building for future generations.

As one of the Council’s senior leaders, I want the services which sit within my Directorate to work with our mission statement, core principles and staff values as the basis for all our decisions and actions.

The Directorate Management Team and I work hard to ensure that all of our staff have the skills and the tools they will need to progress our plans to deliver for the people of Orkney.

The Council’s staff values are:

• People: We put our colleagues and our communities at the heart of everything we do.
• Unity: We are one council and achieve more when we support, encourage and value each other.
• Trust: We trust, respect and empower each other and act with honesty and integrity.
• Ownership: We take personal and shared responsibility, are transparent and are accountable for our actions and our impact.
• Creativity: We embrace innovative solutions with a drive to improve ways of working.

IMAGE: An illustration accompanies the mission statement and principles, showing people working together around plans, along with symbols representing equality, recycling, communities and connected places. The visible wording is “Working together for Orkney”.

The Delivery Plan

The Directorate Delivery Plan shapes the work of the Neighbourhood Services and Infrastructure Directorate during the period of the current Council Plan and Council Delivery Plan, from 2023 to 2028.

The plan describes how we will support and contribute to the priorities and actions set out in the Council Plan and Delivery Plan, based on the priorities of elected members and performance against targets in previous years, and how we will meet any new external drivers such as changes to legislation.

The aims and outcomes for the Directorate are based on the priority themes set out in the Council Plan and Delivery Plan – Growing our economy, Strengthening our communities and Developing our infrastructure.

These aims and outcomes will be supported by a number of priorities under an overall theme – Transforming our council – to provide the foundations for staff to deliver outstanding customer service and performance.

I will regularly review the aims and outcomes in the Council Plan and the Delivery Plan, and report to elected members every six months, in my report on our progress against this Directorate Delivery Plan.

It is important to note that the aims and actions set out in the Directorate Delivery Plan are a starting point based on current priorities, and that the Plan must be flexible enough to adapt to changing priorities. I will therefore regularly review this plan and make changes as they are needed.

IMAGE: A diagram shows “Working together for Orkney” as the foundation for three themes: “Growing our economy”, “Strengthening our communities” and “Developing our infrastructure”. These sit above “Transforming our council — Foundation to enable delivery”.

Council Delivery Plan Projects

My Directorate is responsible for, or directly provides many of the facilities and services which are used on a daily, or regular, basis by Orkney residents and Orkney visitors.

Our Priorities for Delivery are set out on pages 9 - 15, and support the following delivery projects highlighted in the Council’s Delivery Plan:

Net-zero and de-carbonisation (E1)

Lead(s): Head of Property, Asset Management and Facilities, Head of Neighbourhood Services and Head of Planning and Community Protection

These projects support the Council’s ambitions around Climate Change and towards Net Zero. OIC declared a Climate Emergency in 2019. This work stream is critical to support progress towards net zero and the decarbonisation of OIC operations through:

• Decarbonisation of vehicle fleet.
• Decarbonisation of Council buildings and properties with reference to the Scottish Government Local Heat and Energy Efficiency Strategy.
• Develop and approve the Council Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan.
• Start and complete the evaluation of baseline data relating to the Council’s carbon emissions in order to provide an accurate and consistent approach to the reporting and management of total corporate emissions.
• Work with the Scottish Government and other stakeholders to ensure that the benefits of the Carbon Neutral Islands project are shared across all other Orkney islands.

Staff working locations, operational property and estates assets review and development (T5)

Lead(s): Head of Property, Asset Management and Facilities

OIC deliver their services across a number of buildings. It is important that these facilities are fit for purpose, both for the public and for our staff. This action is a long-term priority and has a number of stages, as highlighted below.

• Review the Council property estate, disposing of unwanted assets and transforming required assets so they are fit for purpose. This will include School Place and Hatston depot and garage.
• Diversify spread of Council working locations across rural and isles communities.

Improve Isles transport links (I1)

Head of Neighbourhood Services

Effective transport connectivity across all areas of Orkney is critical for all residents, both for day to day living and also for business. The Council Delivery Plan highlights the need for integrated, effective, sustainable and reliable inter-islands connectivity through the development and maintenance of transport infrastructure and links. This modernisation will be considered through the lens of ‘net zero’.

Within the Neighbourhood Services and Infrastructure Directorate this will be supported by actions to look at the Churchill Barriers:

• The barriers – carry out reconstruction of pavement surface on Barrier No 1.

Integrated waste facility (10)

Head of Neighbourhood Services

Orcadians take a fierce pride in their clean and beautiful environment, and care passionately about how they can best reduce, reuse and recycle their waste. Constraints within the current waste facilities seriously hinder our ability to both meet the public’s expectations, and our statutory responsibilities. To move this forward, Neighbourhood Services and Infrastructure need to move this forward through:

• Construction of a new waste and recycling facility to improve the range of recyclable materials that can be collected, enable compliance with regulatory requirements and support development of circular economy.
• Associated improved collection methods will widen coverage of recycling collections across the whole of Orkney.

Capital Programme (11)

Head of Property, Asset Management and Facilities

As Council services, and the needs of our service users, evolve, there is a need for all Directorates to consider the need for new or improved physical assets. The management of these medium to longer term projects is complex and as a result a Capital Investment Strategy is being developed to provide the strategic context to inform prioritisation of the future Capital Programme.

• Review and prioritisation of the capital programme. This will result in the list of capital projects, including new build and building refurbishment projects, being considered and prioritised for delivery. The programme covers a diverse range of projects, for example the construction of new buildings, the refurbishment of leisure facilities and the development of critical infrastructure across Orkney, including the ferry linked isles.

Priorities for Delivery

We have prioritised some outcomes for delivery, based on either their strategic importance or our recent underperformance. Information about those outcomes is shown below.

I will report to elected members on these measures as part of my Directorate Delivery Plan Progress Report.

Directorate Performance Measures

We will support the aims set out in the Council Plan and Delivery Plan, to create a diverse and thriving local economy, support communities and deliver what is important to them, develop projects to improve our infrastructure, and attract and retain an effective and engaged workforce.

My Directorate is responsible for, or directly contributes to, the following performance measures.

These include measures related to the Council Plan, those recorded and reported on as statutory requirements, such as the Local Government Benchmarking Framework (LGBF) while others are measures we compile and report on voluntarily as they are useful for telling us how well we are delivering services.

I will regularly monitor these performance measures with my Directorate Management Team to ensure we are continuing to deliver our core services.

Risk and Business Continuity

The Council identifies and records threats to its core services and planned developments and improvements through the use of a Corporate Risk Register which sets out the high-level risks identified and what measures will be put in place to mitigate or manage those risks.

My directorate will maintain a Directorate Risk Register which identifies and records specific threats to our core services, and what measures will be put in place to mitigate or manage them.

I will present an updated Risk Register to elected members annually as a part of my Directorate Delivery Plan Progress Report.

My directorate will maintain a Workforce Plan to define our workforce requirements based on our key activities and the Council’s wider priorities. The Workforce Plan will set out the outcomes we intend to achieve, and what actions we will take to ensure we achieve these outcomes.

My directorate will maintain individual Service Area Recovery Plans which support the Council’s Business Continuity Plan and provide contingency arrangements to allow us to plan for incidents and emergencies, and ensure we can continue to deliver services in these circumstances.

My Directorate Management Team and I will keep Service Area Recovery Plans under frequent review and ensure they are kept up-to-date.

Appendix 1: Other Plans

Heads of Service and Service Managers compile a number of plans setting out the work for individual service areas. These plans support the objectives and priorities in the Council Plan and this Directorate Delivery Plan, and inform the work detailed in individual team-level plans.

The latest versions of each plan can be accessed on the Council’s website.

• Orkney Community Plan 2023 – 2030 (Local Outcomes Improvement Plan)
• Orkney Child Poverty Strategy 2022 – 2026
• Orkney Armed Forces Community Covenant
• Digital Strategy Delivery Plan
• Records Management Plan
• People Plan

Planning and Community Protection

• Building Standards Annual Verification Performance Report
• Building Standards Customer Charter
• Planning Performance Framework
• Planning Enforcement Charter
• Environmental Health Service Plan
• General Enforcement Policy (Environmental Health, Trading Standards, Licensing)
• Food Service Plan
• Health and Safety Service Intervention Plan
• Joint Health Protection Plan
• Port Health Incident Plan
• Intensive Excess Deaths Plan
• Animal Welfare Plan
• Orkney Outdoor Access Strategy
• Orkney Core Paths Plan
• Orkney Local Biodiversity Action Plan
• Happy Valley Management Plan

Neighbourhood Services

• Plant and Vehicle Replacement Programme
• Roads Asset Management Plan
• Winter Service Plan – Roads
• Roads Revenue Maintenance Programme
• Road Asset Replacement Programme
• Roads Management and Maintenance Plan
• Verge Maintenance Plan
• Road Safety Strategy and Action Plan (in conjunction with the Safety and Resilience service).
• Quarries Business Plan
• Local Flood Risk Management Plan
• Burial Grounds Management Plan
• Burial Grounds Code of Practice

Property, Asset Management and Facilities

• Carbon Management Plan
• Maintenance Strategy
• Information Technology Strategy
• Property Asset Management Plan
• Information Technology Capital Replacement Programme
• Corporate Asset Maintenance and Improvement Programmes
• Fire Safety Policy
• Capital Programme
• Risk Management Policy and Strategy
• Health and Safety Policy

Appendix 2: Organisational Structures

Organisational Structure

IMAGE: The organisational structure diagram is headed “Neighbourhood Services & Infrastructure Remits”. Hayley Green is shown as “Corporate Director Neighbourhood Services & Infrastructure”. Reporting to her are Lorna Richardson, “Head of Neighbourhood Services”; Roddy Mackay, “Head of Planning & Community Protection”; and Kenny MacPherson, “Head of Property, Asset Management & Facilities”. The diagram lists the following remits.

Lorna Richardson — Head of Neighbourhood Services

• Roads Operations
• Fleet Management
• Quarry Operations
• Car Parks
• Waste Management & Operations
• Grounds Maintenance
• Burial Grounds
• Civil Engineering

Roddy Mackay — Head of Planning & Community Protection

• Development & Marine Planning
• Development Management
• Building Standards
• Environmental Health
• Trading Standards
• Climate Change

Kenny MacPherson — Head of Property, Asset Management & Facilities

• ICT Infrastructure and Support
• Health and Safety
• Risk Management and Business Continuity
• Civil Contingencies
• Estates & Asset Management
• Industrial and Commercial Lets
• ICT
• Building Cleaning
• Capital Projects
• Building Inspectors & Surveyors
• Architects

The diagram also shows “Team Manager Directorate Business Support” reporting to an “Administrative team”.

IMAGE: Organisational chart for Neighbourhood Services. At the top is “Lorna Richardson — Head of Neighbourhood Services”. Service managers are “David Cluster — Service Manager Engineering Services”, “Michael Foubister — Service Manager Fleet”, “Kenneth Roy — Service Manager Roads and Grounds”, and “Alan Dundas — Service Manager Environmental Services”. The chart also shows “Lindsey McAdie — Team Manager Operational Support”, “Warehouse Manager”, and the following teams and roles: “Magnus Hay — Lead Engineer (Roads & Infrastructure)”, “Peter Woodward — Lead Engineer (Flood Risk Management)”, “VACANT — Lead Engineer (Harbours & Structures)”, “VACANT — Team Manager Roads Support”, “Team Leader QMS”, “Jonathan Walters — Team Manager Quarry”, “Darren Bisby — Team Manager Roads & Grounds Operations”, “Anna Gibb — Team Manager Environmental Services”, “VACANT — Team Manager Environmental Services”, “Roads & Infrastructure Engineering Team”, “Flood Risk Management Civil Engineer”, “Harbours & Structures Engineering Team”, “Administrative Team”, “Stores Team”, “Fleet Team”, “Roads Support Team”, “Quarry Team”, “Technicians and Technical Assistant”, “Burial Grounds Officer”, “Shared Services team R&O Ops and ES Ops”, “Waste & Recycling Officer”, and “Environmental Facilities Team”.

IMAGE: Organisational chart for Planning and Community Protection. At the top is “Roddy Mackay — Head of Planning & Community Protection”. Service managers are “Steven Poke — Service Manager Building Standards”, “Susan Shearer — Service Manager Development & Marine Planning”, “Jamie Macvie — Service Manager Development Management”, “Nick Long — Service Manager Environmental Health”, and “Gary Foubister — Service Manager Trading Standards”. Other labels are “Team Manager Marine Planning”, “Team Manager Development Planning”, “Building Standards team”, “Marine Planning team”, “Development Planning team”, “Climate Change Strategy Officer”, “Rural and Environmental Planners”, “Archaeologist”, “Temporary Sustainable Development Project Officer”, “Development Management team”, “Commerical team”, “Housing & Environmental Protection team”, “Trading Standards team”, and “Animal Welfare Officer”.

IMAGE: Organisational chart for Property, Asset Management and Facilities. At the top is “Kenny MacPherson — Head of Property, Asset Management & Facilities”. Service managers are “Caroline Petrie — Service Manager Building Cleaning”, “Glen Thomson — Service Manager Property & Capital Projects”, “Graeme Christie — Service Manager Estates & Property Asset Management”, “Thomas Aldred — Interim Service Manager ICT”, and “Donna-Claire Hunter — Service Manager Safety & Resilience”. Other labels are “Team Manager Strategic Projects”, “Team Manager Architecture”, “Team Manager Projects”, “Team Manager Energy”, “Team Manager Maintenance & Heritage”, “Information Security & Assurance Officer”, “Team Manager Network & Operations”, “Team Manager ICT Infrastructure (Servers)”, “Database Administrator”, “Team Manager ICT Systems”, “IT Programme Manager”, “GIS and Data Officer”, “Building Cleaning team”, “Architecture team”, “Projects team”, “Energy team”, “Surveying & Inspection team”, “Heritage team”, “Estates and Property Asset Management team”, “Network & Operations team”, “Infrastructure & Security team”, “Systems team”, and “Safety & Resilience team”.