New council house and housing association tenants will no longer have the right to buy their homes, it was confirmed in proposals unveiled to MSPs this week.

Chairman of Orkney Islands Council’s social services and housing committee, Councillor Roderick McLeod, sought to reassure existing council tenants that the new proposed Bill does not remove their right to buy.

“The new Bill only removes the right to buy for future council house tenants, though tenants who move house and therefore start up a new tenancy after the Bill becomes law will lose their right to buy.

“However right to buy also acted as a disincentive for local authorities to build new houses - in Orkney, for example, we started with 1,737 council houses in 1980, and through right to buy our stock has been reduced to 796.”

Groups can now apply for 50 per cent match funding for projects through the Orkney LEADER programme – ten per cent more than was previously made available.

The ten per cent increase, due to changes announced recently by the Scottish Government, should be available until the end of the Scotland Rural Development Programme in 2013.

The LEADER programme is aimed at small scale projects and is open to any constituted group including charities, development trusts and the public sector.

Anyone interested in the programme should contact Alister Brown at Orkney Islands Council, or by e-mail alister.brown@orkney.gov.uk.

A voluntary organisation in Orkney is to receive a £3,400 cash injection, minister for children and early years, Adam Ingram, announced yesterday.

Orkney Blide Trust, who offer support to people with mental health problems and their families, has been awarded the grant from the Scottish Government's voluntary sector development fund.

The money will be used to increase staff skills and professionalism through training - helping to improve the services they provide for individuals, families and communities.

The fund targets support at small and medium sized voluntary organisations which help their staff meet standards for registration with the Scottish Social Services Council.

Cancer support charity CLAN (Cancer Link Aberdeen and North) has confirmed that it is seeking alternative sites for its new purpose-built centre in Aberdeen.

Over the last ten months, CLAN said its project team has been working hard to progress the new build project.

However, it now seems that because of unforeseen legal issues relating to the identified NHS Grampian Cornhill site, CLAN may not be able to develop without major compromises, which could include a reduction in therapy rooms, bedrooms and car parking space.

CLAN is in discussion with both NHS Grampian and Aberdeen City Council about other sites which may now be available.

Stenness in the snow.

Orkney has been left to count the cost of weeks in "deep freeze" as the weather finally appeared to loosen its icy grip after one of the longest cold snaps for a generation.

Following 24 days of sub-zero temperatures, which left parts of Orkney - particularly the West Mainland - under a blanket of snow and ice, the worst casualties of the weather are now emerging.

Staff within the new acute receiving unit at Kirkwall's Balfour Hospital have been pushed to the limit, with 80 admissions in three weeks - many of which were broken bones as a result of falls due to the treacherous icy conditions.

The organisers of the CLIC Sargent Boxing Day Dip are appealing for anyone with outstanding sponsorship money to hand it in as soon as possible.

Kenny Thomson said it is hoped to reveal the total raised soon, so organisers have put a deadline on the handover of money collected.

Sponsorship money should be handed in to Kenny at the St Magnus Centre any day between 12 noon and 2pm or to Brian Flett at Bruce's Stores.

Ideally the money should be in by Friday, January 15, but by January 31 at the latest, he added.

Catherine Mackie.

Police and coastguard services are continuing their search for missing 50-year-old woman Catherine Mackie who was last seen at around 3pm on Sunday at the Pickaquoy Centre, Kirkwall.

Yesterday the coastguard and police teams searched from the cliffs at Yesnaby and moved inland.

Officers did find her cat, Skye, in the Yesnaby area. It is known that Ms Mackie did take her cat with her to many places she visited and was very attached to the animal.

As part of the enquiry, searches took place on Tuesday by local coastguards along the coastline in the Yesnaby area and the shoreline and sea was also visually scanned by Stromness Lifeboat and the area was searched from the air by the coastguard helicopter.

Kirkwall police would still like to hear from anyone who may have seen her since the last sighting, or who may know of her current whereabouts.

Orkney Health and Care has received the seal of approval from the cabinet secretary for health and wellbeing, Nicola Sturgeon.

A Scheme of Establishment, which defines the detail of the partnership between Orkney Islands Council and NHS Orkney, was submitted for ministerial approval in December, 2009, to enable the partnership to be formally set up.

Formal notification of the approval from the cabinet secretary has now been received.

The full range of social services currently provided by the council, and a number of services currently provided by NHS Orkney, will, from April, come under the joint management of a single director.

The trial of the two men who deny murdering 54-year-old Sanday resident, Robert Rose, is to begin on February 1.

At a further hearing on Tuesday, it was heard that the trial against Stephen Crummack, 50, and co-accused John Campbell, 59, would go ahead.

The trial is expected to last from three to four weeks, and will be held at the High Court in Glasgow.

Crummack previously pleaded not guilty to killing Mr Rose on Sanday on June 6 or 7, last year.

Campbell also lodged a not guilty plea through his defence QC Donald Findlay, who said on Tuesday he would be visiting Sanday for a locus inspection that was previously postponed due to bad weather.

Orkney Islands Council is sending some of its salt supplies south to help Scottish local authorities in the grip of a national salt shortage.

A ship arranged by the Scottish Government arrived in the county on Tuesday to pick up 1,700 tonnes of salt and transport it to Inverness where distribution to councils will be managed by the Scottish Government Resilience Room.

Director of Development and Environment Services Brian Thomson said: “The shipment south of our salt will leave 2,100 tonnes as of today in the county, which we are confident is enough to maintain our priority roads for a number of weeks, depending on the severity of the weather.”

Northern Constabulary officers in Orkney are continuing with enquiries into the disappearance of 50-year-old Catherine Mackie, from her home address in Kirkwall.

She is described as 5ft 7in, brown, short bobbed hair, thin build, dark eyes, fair complexion and was possibly wearing outdoor clothing.

Four projects in Orkney have attracted a total of £3.09m in funding from the latest round of the European Regional Development Fund.

£1.104m has been awarded to Orkney Islands Council towards a theatre at Kirkwall Grammar School.

The Council also picked up £1.19m towards its programme to prepare the Golden Wharf and West Pier facility at Lyness for use as a marine renewables device development and launch area.

£587,500 has been granted to upgrade heating and insulation in existing council houses.

Orkney College has been given £215,000 towards funding for specialist staff and equipment to support commercial and applied research in marine archaeology and spatial surveying technologies.

A Stromness resident who threatened to kill two men has been fined £200.

Ian James Ratter, of 61 Dundas Street, appeared from custody at Kirkwall Sheriff Court on Monday afternoon and admitted uttering threats to a man on January 9.

Ratter, 33, also pleaded guilty to brandishing a bottle and threatening to strike the man with it.

He further admitted striking the chair on which the complainer was sitting with the bottle and uttering threats towards two men, stating that he was going to kill them.

Procurator fiscal, Sue Foard, said the incident occurred "probably directly as a result of the amount of alcohol the accused had consumed".

A large scale search was made on Sunday night, after Shetland Coastguard received reports of a flare near Copinsay.

Following the report, which came in at around 9.10pm, Kirkwall's Lifeboat and Coastguard team were called to search the area around Copinsay, along with Sumburgh's rescue helicopter.

The mv Hascosay, which was east of Copinsay and heading for Kirkwall, was also asked to keep a look out.

After searching until midnight, the mission was called off after nothing was sighted.

Shetland Coastguard said the light was most likely a Chinese lantern, and renewed pleas for the public to contact them before setting them off.

Funding from the Rural Priorities scheme within the Scotland Rural Development Programme, has been granted for the conversion of an Orkney croft into tourist chalets near Scapa Flow and the creation of a youth centre in Sanday.

Buxa Farm Chalets will use a £70,000 grant to renovate a derelict croft house into four star, low carbon footprint, self catering tourist accommodation.

The Sanday Development Trust will use a £187,443 grant to renovate two cottages into a Youth Drop-in Centre. The Trust will own the buildings and will employ a part-time development worker to assist with running the facility.

Updates on school closures can now be found on Orkney Islands Council's new Twitter web page, through a link on the Council's homepage www.orkney.gov.uk.

You do not need to join Twitter to see council's updates, or 'tweets' - simply click the Twitter logo on the Council's homepage in the 'What's New' section.

Twitter enables council officers to give web-based updates on school closures at any time of day and from anywhere with an internet connection.

OIC hopes to eventually extend its Twitter page to provide updates on other Council services.

Orkney islands Council is encouraging people who have community alarms to contact their keyholders.

Director of Community Social Services, Duncan MacAulay said: “People with alarms should contact their keyholders and let them know how they are getting on, and use their alarm to ask for help if they need it, to sort out problems like running out of food or to arrange help getting about, or to get help after slips and falls.

“With the icy weather continuing, it’s a good time for keyholders and all of us to check on each other, especially our elderly or vulnerable neighbours, friends and relatives.”

The first point of contact for people worried about themselves or their neighbours is to call Community Social Services on 873535. People needing assistance out of hours, or over the weekend, should contact the out of hours duty team via the Balfour Hospital switchboard on 888000.

Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael is to question the Government this week on their plans for the future of local radio.

Commenting ahead of his debate, he said: “There is widespread concern across the country from small independent radio stations that the advancement of the digital era, and the Government’s current Digital Economy Bill, will leave many stations facing an uneven playing field, and that the Government are not doing enough to protect these services which are so useful for local communities and people. 

“Over 100 local stations are likely to be consigned to an uncertain future on analogue once the digital switchover has occurred.”

Mr Carmichael’s debate will be held on Tuesday, from 2.30pm to 3pm.

From Monday, January 11, until March 19, all services to Shapinsay will be operated from the linkspan at Kirkwall Pier. This is to allow for essential maintenance to be carried out to the hard ramp in Kirkwall.

Passengers are asked to ensure they are available for boarding at least five minutes before departure and vehicles 15 minutes before.

Orkney Ferries regret that they will be unable to delay any sailings during this time, due to other vessel operations on the linkspan.

Passengers are advised that no vehicles can be left on Kirkwall Pier.