Kirkwall Airport is to get £600,000 from the Scottish Executive to help pay for a state-of-the-art instrument landing system.

The system will be installed to cut down on flight disruptions caused by bad weather. It will enable planes to land in low cloud conditions.

The cash boost comes on top of the £3 million award made to the airport's operator, Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd, towards the costs of building new terminals in Kirkwall and Stornoway.

Orkney's economic output per worker fell by 0.3 per cent last year according to latest figures.

In a report by Inverness-based financial consultant Tony Mackay, Orkney's local economic output (GDP) per worker was £28,802 in 1999 – a reduction of 0.3 per cent on 1998's figures.

The county's overall economic output last year at £218 million marked a 1.4 per cent increase though.

The conflicting figures are reflected nationally, but Mr Mackay explained that this was due to a rise in employment.

"Employment appears to have grown by 3.3 per cent – hence the reason for the decline in GDP per person," he said.

A 22-year-old pedestrian was flown to hospital in Aberdeen with a broken arm after a road accident in Kirkwall on Wednesday night.

Police say Kris Coltherd, 18 Quoybanks Place was walking back from the Territorial Army centre at Weyland when the accident occurred opposite the Laverock Road junction on Clay Loan. The accident, involving a Peugeot car, occurred at around 9.45pm.

Mr Coltherd was taken to the Balfour Hospital in Kirkwall and transferred to Aberdeen the following morning for further treatment.

His condition was described as “satisfactory” by a staff in Aberdeen.

Christmas gloom as 30 jobs may go

Fifteen local jobs will go at the end of the year with confirmation that the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) are working towards closing the Pentland Maritime Rescue Sub Centre (MRSC) on Friday, December 15.

The announcement comes in the same week as news that a total of 14 Orkney jobs could go, also at the end of the year, unless a buyer is found for the Environment and Resource Technology centre on Flotta.

The job losses, coming at that time of year, would make it a bleak Christmas for many Orkney households.

More details.

The final financial hurdle facing plans to set up a new Orkney creamery has been removed – helping to secure around 100 jobs in the county.

A £256,000 grant and loan package was approved by councillors at last Wednesday’s economic development committee which will now enable the £5.25 million project to go ahead.

The construction work on the new factory in now imminent. Tenders for the construction have been received and the announcement on the successful bidder is due today.

More details.

The Queen has made Orkney MSP and Deputy First Minister of the Scottish Parliament Mr Jim Wallace a Privy Councillor along with First Minister Henry McLeish.

Commenting on the appointment Mr Wallace said he was both pleased and honoured.

"It is a recognition of the standing of the Scottish Parliament that both the First Minister and myself have been made Privy Councillors. As the MP for Orkney and Shetland, I am particularly pleased to be following in the footsteps of my predecessor Jo Grimond.

Insulting and obscene posters about people on Rousay have been found littered throughout the island, Kirkwall police have reported.

The posters, some of which contain sexually explicit material, are directed at certain people living on Rousay, Inspector Paul Eddington explained. He said the posters were computer generated and pinned up in public places throughout the island, sometime between October 31 and November 3.

“A complaint was made by a member of the public in Rousay that a number of posters were displayed in various locations in Rousay, which were directed at certain individuals and some of which were of an obscene nature.”

A police officer from Kirkwall was due to carry out investigations.

An illustrated lecture of the works of Glasgow sculptor Peter Bevan is due to go ahead tonight, Friday, in the Pier Arts Centre in Stromness.

The lecturer at Glasgow School of Art, has participated in the 25th Iwate Town Sculpture Symposium, around 400 miles north of Tokyo, Japan, in 1998.

Four international and three Japanese sculptors lived and worked together for six weeks to design, carve and install seven large-scale stone sculptures in public places.

The Orkney Arts Society are presenting the illustrated lecture at 8pm.

Orkney Islands Council's draft transport strategy for the next three years has now been completed and will be used to launch a period of consultation this month.

The document maps out future transport strategy in the county and to raise awareness of the issues involved, the council are holding a special transport day in the Kirkwall Town Hall next Monday, November 13.

Councillors at this week's transportation committee meeting approved the draft as a basis for consultation. The plan is due to be approved in December.

Papa Westray stalwart Jim Rendall was admonished on a fraud charge at Kirkwall Sheriff Court on Tuesday.

However, the 66-year-old former postman of Backaskaill, Papay, who had admitted making the fraudulent expense claims totalling £4,280, which the court heard he had now paid back, was ordered to pay compensation of £1,000 to Orkney Housing Association – one of four organisations who lost money.

Sheriff Colin Scott Mackenzie said Rendall, who had over a number of years claimed the full fares for flights between Papay and Kirkwall, when he was only paying concessionary rates, had been admonished because of his lifetime’s service to the community of Orkney.

A project to improve facilities at Kirkwall's bus station has got under way this week.

The £5,000 project will include the creation of a disabled access to the building at Great Western Road along with the installation of new heating, improved toilet facilities and timetable notice boards.

The costs are being met by the Government's rural transport fund.

Parents are being urged to take part in a major audit of local childcare needs currently under way in Orkney.

The audit is being carried out by the Orkney Childcare Partnership, which includes OIC and health board staff, voluntary sector representatives, private sector service providers, and parents, in a bid to ensure funding for future childcare provision in the islands is properly targeted.

Questionnaires on childcare needs are being distributed to parents and the partnership is also inviting parents to come along to a special public meeting at 7pm on Wednesday, November 15 in the Pickaquoy Centre. Creche facilities will be available on the night.

A Kirkwall shop owner has won his fight to retain a surrounding fence – despite being ordered by Orkney Islands Council to take it down.

Mr Norman McLennan, who erected the fence behind the Toymaster shop on Palace Road, Kirkwall, appealed to the Scottish Executive after planning permission was refused by councillors on the grounds of objections from neighbours.

Following a site visit last month by the Scottish Executive, Mr McLennan said the appeal had been successful and planning permission granted.

A detailed study into bus services in Orkney has revealed the high price paid out to subsidise certain routes.

A report before Orkney Islands Council's transportation committee on Monrday showed that subsidies per passenger for the three services serving the Pickaquoy sports and leisure centre in Kirkwall total nearly £68.

In his report to the committee, development and planning director Mr Jeremy Baster said: "It would be wrong to have a high panic reaction to high subsidy costs per passenger, but obviously each service does need to be carefully evaluated in the light of the new information."

Rugby Club beat RAF side

Orkney achieved their double over the RAF sides in successive weekends by beating RAF Lossiemouth 42-0 in Saturday afternoon's BT National League Division 5 North fixture.

Two tries in the first half were followed by four in the second, with three conversions and two penalties making up the scoring in a game played in rather damp but calm conditions at Kirkwall Grammar School.

Farmers’ Markets could soon become a regular event in Orkney if councillors permit regular use of a Kirkwall car park as a venue.

The request for use of the Broad Street car park next to the Orkney Tourist Board office will be considered by the OIC roads and environmental services committee on Tuesday. It follows the success of a trial Farmers’ Market on the site at the end of July, organised by Rendall farming couple Tom and Liz Flett.

Although the OIC have a policy of not allowing commercial sales in any of their car parks, it has been suggested that an exception could be made for the Broad Street venue for a trial period, so that markets could take place on a programmed basis, possibly once a month.