OIC bats back at Stromness Hotel planning claims

Orkney Islands Council (OIC) has “set the record straight” in response to criticism of its planning service by a the owner of The Stromness Hotel.

Na’ím Paymán, who bought the 42-bed hotel in 2021 told The Orcadian on Sunday that his decision to put the premises on the market was the result of uncertainty over proposed refurbishments.

Mr Paymán claimed to have been trying for a year-and-a-half to obtain pre-planning advice from the council-run service without gaining a response. Read the his comments in full here.

This Monday, OIC has batted back at these claims, confirming that its planning service has provided assistance and advice to owner of the Stromness Hotel on multiple occasions since November 2021, including as recently as last week.

Responding to Mr Paymán’s comments, which came has he confirmed the hotel is now on the market at a guide price of £1.25 million, a council spokeswoman said: “While discussions between householders, developers or businesses and our planning service are quite rightly confidential we’re happy to set the record straight on these comments — particularly around the significant effort put in over a number of years by our team to provide planning advice to the current owners of the Stromness Hotel, which is a large and prominent listed building .

“In relation to the owner’s proposals for specific substantial alterations the planning service met with the applicant’s agent in May 2024, received drawings in August 2024, and provided brief written advice in September 2024. 

“We also visited the hotel in April 2025, in relation to the alterations proposed, and requested additional information which was received in December 2025 to allow the outstanding advice to be completed. An update on this was provided to the owner on Wednesday last week.

“During that time – on other matters outwith the proposed alterations – our planning service provided written advice in November 2021, had contact regarding other works in August 2022, and provided further written pre-application advice in September 2023 and August 2024.

“Five applications for listed building and other consents have also been considered and approved – two in November 2024, and one each in August 2025, November 2025, and December 2025.”

In Orkney, pre-application advice is provided free-of-charge, unlike some other local authorities. If alterations are business-critical, they can be tested through a formal application process, with applications for listed building consent also coming free-of-charge.