Council leader: ‘OIC prepared to use reserve cash but careful consideration is needed’

March 27, 2020 at 10:30 am

OIC leader James Stockan spoke this morning on BBC Radio Orkney.

Orkney Islands Council is prepared to dip into its reserves to assist the local community get back on its feet following the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking on BBC Radio Orkney this morning, council leader James Stockan says careful consideration has to be taken as to how and where the money is utilised.

Asked if the council could spend it, Councillor Stockan said: “Yes I think we can. But we have to really consider how and where we make those interventions.

“The reserve fund has done so much for our community in the last 40 years and we’ve got to make sure it lasts for the next 40 years but this is a very different situation that we find ourselves in now.

“What we must make sure happens is that every pound, every contribution that comes from national government lands on our doorstep and we use that, but we’ve got to make sure that we find ways to use the reserve fund to plug the holes.

“We must make sure that it goes to a place to develop a proper recovery plan because we want Orkney to be ready for the next generation and ready for the future.

“I’m really thankful that, already, people are meeting with the business community in a response and recovery group to begin those conversations.

“We’ve got to use the reserve fund very carefully.”

Anyone struggling to pay their council tax would get “very understanding and compassionate treatment” the council leader said.

“If we give a council tax holiday and we don’t gather council tax, we’ve got to find that money from somewhere else.

“So we’ll think carefully as to what is done across the country but we will also try to ‘Orkney-fy’ some of the interventions that we make to make sure they hit exactly the right place.”

On the topic of the council not closing its ports to visiting cruise ships, Councillor Stockan said the action taken by the industry itself deemed it unnecessary for the authority to take such action.

He added: “We know that the cruise industry will not start until this pandemic is over.”