Council seeks views on kitchen hire charging proposals

Orkney Islands Council is seeking the public’s views on plans to charge for the use of community school kitchens around the county.

The council has said it is putting forward the proposals due to the difficult financial difficulties and it can no longer afford to provide the use of the kitchens for free.

There is currently no charge is currently made when kitchens at most local community schools are used for events such as weddings and other private functions, aside from at Kirkwall Grammar School where there is a charge of £156.

The council is proposing a charge of £99 to cover the costs of kitchen hire at smaller schools while the same amount currently being charged at KGS, £156, is being proposed for the use of Stromness Academy and Papdale Primary School.

The council has explained that the cost of utilities such as gas and electricity, and any clean-up that might be needed, is met instead from the budget for the council’s school meals service.

“In difficult financial circumstances, we can no longer afford to subsidise the use of community school kitchens,” said Hayley Green, the council’s head of head of IT and facilities. “So we are looking to introduce a charge for most commercial and some community events.

“The sort of functions we have in mind are those where you’d pay for the use of a kitchen if it was a part of commercial premises. But we are aware that this could cause difficulties for some community groups and we are asking for views on the sort of events where we should consider waiving a kitchen charge. An example of this might be an event to raise funds for the local community.”

The council has said the budget simulator exercise they carried out in 2016 demonstrated a willingness among the public for an increase in charges for services if this helped reduce the need for cuts to frontline services.

Initial discussions on the possibility of charging for the use of community school kitchens have been held with the chairs of many of Orkney’s community associations, who will be contacted again and asked for further feedback — including suggestions for the types of events that should be excluded from a kitchen hire charge.

Other groups and individuals can also provide views and ideas by sending an email to education.leisure@orkney.gov.uk  or writing to Community Learning and Development, Council Offices, School Place, Kirkwall, Orkney KW15 1NY.