Latest News

Orkney Islands Council, through Orkney Health and Care, is responsible for ensuring that children and young people in Orkney, have a safe, stable and caring environment when they cannot remain with their birth families for any reason. We’re currently looking for more people to consider whether foster caring could be for them.

Orkney Islands Council, through Orkney Health and Care, is responsible for ensuring that children and young people in Orkney, have a safe, stable and caring environment when they cannot remain with their birth families for any reason. We’re currently looking for more people to consider whether foster caring could be for them - but what steps do they need to go through to become a foster carer?

A summary of road delays and closures due to road and building/utility works and events for the week starting Monday 04/05/2026. An interactive map showing roadworks carried out by the Council is available at www.orkney.gov.uk/roads. Road works and closures by other bodies are published on the Scottish Road Works Commissioner website.

Notice is hereby given that Orkney Islands Council has made an order in terms of section 62 of the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 to ensure the safety of the public and road users while the Kirkwall City Pipe Band hold parades in Kirkwall

Poet Laureate Simon Armitage will visit Orkney later this spring as part of his nationwide Laureate’s Library Tour, with Orkney Library & Archive being the final stop for the 2026 schedule.

Our Food Team is urging parents to check their cupboards for jars of 190g HiPP Organic Vegetable Lasagne for children due to product recall.

A summary of road delays and closures due to road and building/utility works and events for the week starting Monday 27/04/2026.

Orkney Islands Council Leader Heather Woodbridge has written to broadband providers seeking firm assurances that residents and businesses affected by a prolonged outage in Orkney’s Outer North Isles will be fully compensated, and that stronger measures are put in place to prevent such an incident from happening again.

Proposals to redevelop St Rognvald House care home in Kirkwall in order to provide accommodation for agency workers in Orkney has taken a step forward today.

Orkney Islands Council is urging local residents and businesses to take part in an important national consultation on flood risk management. As a partner in flood risk management with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), the Council is keen to ensure that Orkney's voice is well represented.