2022 Orkney Islands Council election

Elections to the Orkney Islands Council were held on 5 May 2022on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. As with other Scottish council elections, it was held using single transferable vote (STV) – a form of proportional representation – in which multiple candidates are elected in each ward and voters rank candidates in order of preference.

2022 Orkney Islands Council election

5 May 2022 (2022-05-05)
21 seats to Orkney Islands Council 11 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Ind Grn Leader James Stockan Steve Sankey Party Independent Scottish Green Leader's seat Stromness and South Isles East Mainland, South Ronaldsay and Burray (stood down) Last election 18 seats, 83.5% 1 seat, 4.5% Seats before 18 1 Seats won 19 2 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 7,337 1,256 Percentage 85.4% 14.6% Swing 1.9% 9.9%
Leader before election James Stockan Independent Leader after election James Stockan Independent

The elections were the first held since the passage of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 which allowed wards in Scottish councils containing islands to be reduced to single- and dual-member wards. Changes were made to the boundaries in the Orkney Islands but the six wards created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 remained.

As with previous elections in the area, independent councillors retained a large majority of the seats on the council and retained control of the administration. The Greens – who won their first representation on the council in 2017 – increased their number of seats to two.

Background

Previous election

Main article: 2017 Orkney Islands Council election

At the previous election in 2017, independent councillors retained control of the council after taking all but three seats. The Orkney Manifesto Group won their first representation on the council at a full election as they took two seats while the Greens won their first seat in the region.

2017 Orkney Islands Council election result

	Party	Seats	Vote share
	Independents	18	83.2%
	Orkney Manifesto Group	2	12.1%
	Green	1	4.7%

Source:

Composition

There were no official changes to the political composition of the council in the preceding term. However, independent councillor John Ross Scott did announce he had joined the Greens in 2021, which did not change his affiliation on the council. One by-election was held and resulted in an independent hold.

	Party	2017 result	Dissolution
	Independents	18	18
	Orkney Manifesto Group	2	2
	Green	1	1

Retiring councillors

Ward	Party		Retiring councillor
Kirkwall West and Orphir		Orkney Manifesto Group	John Richards
West Mainland		Independent	Harvey Johnston
East Mainland, South Ronaldsay and Burray		Independent	Norman Rae Craigie
			Andrew Drever
		Green	Steve Sankey
North Isles		Independent	Graham Sinclair

Boundary changes

Following the passing of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, a review of the boundaries was undertaken in North Ayrshire, Argyll and Bute, Highland, Orkney Islands, Shetland Islands and the Western Isles. The Act allowed single- or two-member wards to be created to provide better representation of island communities. As a result, the boundaries of the existing wards were changed but the number of councillors remained the same. North Isles, Stromness and South Isles and West Mainland were unchanged. The boundaries in and around Kirkwall were amended to better reflect local ties. Kirkwall Airport and neighbouring communities were placed in Kirkwall wards instead of East Mainland, South Ronaldsay and Burray while the boundary between Kirkwall East and Kirkwall West and Orphir was amended by the harbour to make a more identifiable boundary.

Election result

2022 Orkney local election result

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Independent	19	2	1	1	90.5	85.4	7,337	2.2
	Scottish Green	2	2	1	1	9.5	14.6	1,256	9.9

Ward summary

Results of the 2022 Orkney Islands Council election
by ward

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	Ind		Green
Kirkwall East	71.9	3	28.1	1	4
Kirkwall West and Orphir	86.3	3	13.7	1	4
Stromness and South Isles	86.3	3	13.7	0	3
West Mainland	88.2	4	11.8	0	4
East Mainland, South Ronaldsay and Burray	85.5	3	14.5	0	3
North Isles	100	3			3
Total	85.4	19	14.6	2	21

Ward results

Kirkwall East

Kirkwall East - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2
	Scottish Green	John Ross Scott (incumbent)	28.10%	476
	Independent	Steven Heddle (incumbent)	25.27%	428
	Independent	Gwenda Shearer (incumbent)	24.38%	413
	Independent	David Dawson (incumbent)	16.82%	285	340.5
	Independent	Graham MacDonald	5.43%	92	134.0
Electorate: 3,700   Valid: 1,694   Spoilt: 6   Quota: 339   Turnout: 45.9%

Kirkwall West and Orphir

Kirkwall West and Orphir - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Independent	Leslie Manson (incumbent)	20.7%	320
	Independent	Ivan Taylor	16.3%	252	254.7	254.7	284.8	345.8
	Independent	Sandy Cowie (incumbent)	16.2%	250	252.6	254.6	290.7	357.0
	Scottish Green	Kristopher Leask	13.7%	211	211.7	213.7	233.8	258.0	267.6	274.5	347.3
	Independent	Leslie Sinclair	11.3%	175	176.0	184.0	199.1	217.4	232.0	244.1
	Independent	Beverly Clubley	10.3%	159	159.8	160.8
	Independent	Barbara Foulkes (incumbent)	10.0%	155	157.8	161.8	189.1
	Independent	Cameron Whittle	1.4%	21	21
Electorate: 3,630   Valid: 1,543   Spoilt: 10   Quota: 309   Turnout: 1,553 (42.8%)

Stromness and South Isles

Stromness and South Isles - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Independent	James Stockan (incumbent)	30.7%	353
	Independent	Graham Bevan	24.4%	281	305.5
	Independent	Lindsay Hall	15.2%	175	180.3	182.8	205.0	262.2	354.8
	Scottish Green	Maia Brodie	13.7%	157	160.5	162.1	169.3
	Independent	Rob Crichton (incumbent)	10%	115	135.8	144.3	174.2	220.9
	Independent	Magnus Thomson (incumbent)	6%	69	75.6	77.9
Electorate: 2,233   Valid: 1,150   Spoilt: 7   Quota: 288   Turnout: 1,157 (51.8%)

West Mainland

West Mainland - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Independent	Owen Tierney (incumbent)	30.2%	554
	Independent	Rachael Anne King (incumbent)	26.0%	477
	Independent	Jean Stevenson	15.5%	284	352.5	401.6
	Independent	Duncan Tullock (incumbent)	12.9%	237	313.6	338.3	354.7	383.7
	Scottish Green	Helen Woodsford-Dean	11.8%	217	226.1	242.9	248.2	276.6
	Independent	Sean Lewis	3.5%	64	71.1	78.7	83.1
Electorate: 3,663   Valid: 1,833   Spoilt: 18   Quota: 367   Turnout: 1,851 (50.9%)

East Mainland, South Ronaldsay and Burray

East Mainland, South Ronaldsay and Burray - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Independent	Raymie Peace	47.8%	642
	Independent	Gillian Skuse	20.7%	278	380.6
	Scottish Green	Eric Page	14.5%	195	216.4	223.6	252.0
	Independent	Julie Rickards	8.8%	118	165.5	185.1
	Independent	James Moar	8.3%	111	205.5	214.3	284.3	378.2
Electorate: 2,664   Valid: 1,344   Spoilt: 7   Quota: 337   Turnout: 1,351 (50.7%)

North Isles

North Isles - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2
	Independent	Heather Woodbridge (Incumbent)	43.1%	443
	Independent	Stephen Clackson (incumbent)	24.9%	256	314.9
	Independent	Mellissa Thomson	19.8%	204	268.3
	Independent	Paul Rendall	7.4%	76	113.6
	Independent	Sebastian Hadfield-Hyde	4.9%	50	55.4
Electorate: 1,853   Valid: 1,029   Spoilt: 10   Quota: 258   Turnout: 1,039 (56.1%)

Changes since 2022 Election

Council Leader James Stockan announced his intention to resign from the council in January 2024. A by-election was held to fill his seat on 28 March 2024 and was won by Janette Park.

By-elections since 2022

Stromness and South Isles By-election (28 March 2024)

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	Independent	Janette Park	85.7	757
	Independent	Magnus Thomson	14.2	125
Quota: 442   Turnout: 883 (39.8%)