In a wide-ranging interview with senior reporter Myles Hodnett, Alistair Buchan sets out how the council has developed in the years since he was appointed chief executive, says the council would be more able to set priorities along with public with less central control - and defends the elected members to the hilt

Orkney Islands Council chief executive Alistair Buchan. "For a council of our size, we punch well above our weight on the national stage," he says.

Something of a quiet revolution has been taking place within Orkney Islands Council, with the authority’s municipal wheels now rolling in an upwards direction from the low point of a decade ago when they appeared to be very much stuck in one controversy after another.

The council’s involvement in the short-sea ferry crossing fiasco – which ended in failure and the loss of millions of pounds – and the shambles surrounding the South Ronaldsay child care case where children were wrongly taken from their parents, took place on the back of each other more than ten years ago.

The council have moved on in leaps and bounds since then, according to OIC chief executive Alistair Buchan, who has been working behind the scenes to steer the council towards firmer ground.

The 37-year-old took over the top job at the council more than four years ago and feels that much has been done to improve standards of service.

“Major improvements have been made compared to the state of the council ten years ago,” he said. “After we hit some of the lows of the late 1980s and early 1990s there was a real willingness to change and I think we have made the most of those opportunities.

The changes include developments that don’t always make the headline news. Yes, there has been a restructure of chief officials leading to the creation of new posts and departments. But there have also been other changes going on in the background – improvements to information technology, finance and public relations developments, for instance, as well as better relationships between officials and councillors.

On the latter point, Mr Buchan commented: “To the public that should be straightforward matter but we work in a very complex legal environment where roles are not always clear.

“We have achieved a relationship based on mutual respect and professionalism.”

On the financial side, three-year budgeting has now been introduced, although one constant gripe is that the council never gets enough money to fund services properly.

“If we are going to be serious about running positive services and being a credible organisation then we have got to resource it properly and it is as simple as that,” he points out. “There are still areas within the council where we struggle.

“We are three years into a five-year rolling programme of reviewing all our services and that is throwing up opportunities for improvement.

“What I am about first and foremost is ensuring that we have a positive, dynamic organisation that empowers all the people working within it to give it their best and act as a team in the interests of the community.”

Looking at the past year, the council’s not exactly had a smooth ride though.

Factions between east and west bubbled to the surface when the council pushed ahead at rapid speed with plans to build a ro-ro ferry terminal at Hatston on the outskirts of Kirkwall. Work is well under way and the final cost to the public purse is estimated at £15.5 million.

The terminal will serve the new ferry from Aberdeen which has traditionally berthed in Stromness.

Mr Buchan says the controversy that surrounded the scheme resulted in missed opportunities though.

“The division in the community created by the harbour works for the new external ferry services were disappointing,” he said. “I felt that a very good news story, in terms of excellent services Orkney will receive, was overshadowed by the controversy surrounding it.”

As a result, one of Mr Buchan’s aims is to improve the council’s communications role. The post of OIC communications officer is currently vacant and Mr Buchan said this was being carefully looked at.

“I do feel that one of the areas we can improve within the council is our communications, both the internal and external. It is very difficult for a diverse organisation such as ours to manage our communication flow effectively.

“So the objective is to up our game on the communications and the same goes for internal communications as well. The council staff are the most valuable resource and we need to be managing our communications with our staff.”

There’s been divisions within local government as a whole in Scotland over the past year with three councils deciding to leave the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. One was Glasgow City, the largest Scottish authority, who paid the biggest membership fee.

“At this stage, that has done local government no favours whatsoever,” said Mr Buchan. “This council has been actively involved in the attempts being made to promote a formula to get the councils that have left to come back in.”

Back in Orkney, Mr Buchan is pleased to see some big projects coming to fruition over the coming year. He said the council had a massive capital spend of around £24 million this year.

“I feel that has come exactly at the right time for the Orkney economy. We are looking forward to the new Orkney Library, West Mainland Care Home and One Stop Shop.

“Perhaps the biggest single issue is developing the use of IT to improve services within the council, together with our public sector partners in Orkney.”

This, he said, would reduce bureaucracy and speed up response times. A bid to improve property management is also being made, bringing everything together as a single asset with a five year rolling programme of reviews, maintenance, disposal.

“I wish we could make speedier progress in terms of the bread and butter services though,” he said. “For example, the standard of public conveniences, footpaths and housing estates.

“The problem is that so much of the finance we receive (more than 93 per cent comes from central government) comes with strings attached. We find it difficult to channel money into things the public in Orkney rightly expect.

“It would be my personal wish to see a greater emphasis on improving basic amenities within the community.”

The council does benefit financially from having a multi-million pound reserve fund which is used to hand out cash grants to schemes to benefit the local economy.

Questions were recently asked about one such grant though for a new Orkney Creamery, after the management announced job cuts as the new factory opened.

Could the council put conditions on the grants in the future to stop this happening?

“I am not sure what the legal position is on that, but as a matter of policy I do not think the council would wish to do that anyway,” answered Mr Buchan. He said management decisions were left to a private company and the council’s role was as an enabler.

“I feel for the staff at the creamery, although I understand that substantial progress has been made in terms of the difficult situation there,” he said.

“I think the new facilities will certainly safeguard many jobs within the industry.

“There is a real issue about public sector involvement within the private sector and the extent in which the council can interfere with operational and management decisions.”

As to the future, one of Mr Buchan’s greatest concerns relates to local government reorganisation. At the worst scenario, there have been visions of Orkney being run from Inverness in the future by a single Highlands and Islands council

“The spectre of local government reorganisation has been raised nationally and that is a real worry,” he said.

“The creation of the islands councils in 1975 was a close run thing and I have no doubt that there will be those that feel we could and should be rationalised. There is talk of 12 or 15 councils in Scotland – very much at the speculative stage – and under the 15 council scenario the islands would be included.”

With 12 councils though, Orkney Islands Council would cease to exist.

Mr Buchan continued: “There are those that would see that as an option. There’s also the continual erosion of council services. We saw water and sewage services go in 1995/96 and I feel that a council is more than the sum of the services it delivers. It does play a central role in the life of the community, in representing the community.

“I have a real fear of further erosion of local democracy. Any major restructuring of Scottish local government is potentially disastrous for this community.

“When it happens piecemeal, people do not notice too much, but you do not know what you have until you’ve lost it. There is no doubt that as a result of the transfer of water and sewerage services, jobs were lost to the community.”

Mr Buchan is a firm believer in local democracy – he wouldn’t be in his current job if he were not – and he defends to the hilt any criticism of the role of local councillors.

“I believe that for many years Orkney has been exceptionally well served by its political leadership. I think good government is people elected by the public and professional officers – with the politicians in the lead role. We have worked hard in Orkney to make sure that relationship works.

“I know the in-fighting that goes on in many other organisations south of Orkney and because of how we are structured and because of the independent nature of the council, there is a real focus on services.

“At a local level I believe we are doing all we can to make the office of local councillor accessible to a wider range of people. For example, increasing members’ allowances two or three years ago because they were underpaid compared to councillors anywhere else.

“Delegating a lot of the routine decisions has taken some of the load off councillors. I think in the future we will be looking towards policies which may help a wider cross section of people to consider standing for elections.”

There have been calls to reduce the number of councillors further and pay them a professional wage in a bid to get more people to stand.

“That is a political matter,” said Mr Buchan. “However, not everything is bad about the system we have got at the moment in this country. There is a lot to be said for councillors not being professional. They come from all walks of life. Their role is to bring in a wider view of the community and the man on the street.”

He continued: “I think the structure we have got at the moment is about right for Orkney. Some of the members have a very difficult job, particularly from the isles, in doing what communities expect from them in the times available to them. Some of the transport problems are horrendous. To fulfil the Orkney-wide role and the ward role and all the external bodies and partnerships we are involved in, it is difficult to see how we can manage that with a smaller number than the 21 we have at present.

“In my experience in Orkney, councillors are people who become councillors to do their best for the community and no other reason and I feel that sometimes the pressures placed on them and the flak they have to take ignores that.

“At the end of the day, these people are out there trying to do their best for others. Fair enough, the community is paying them a wee bit more to do that, but by no stretch of the imagination are councillors being paid professional salaries.

“It is absolutely appalling the way they have been treated by the Scottish Executive in terms of reviewing their allowances and expenses. Sometimes it takes years before uprating for inflation is applied and I am quite sure that is not going on in the quangos.

“Over the years I have known councillors who have put their heart and soul into this community and some who have given their health for it and that applies to many of the staff as well. I think it is about time that the importance of local democracy and local community was recognised.”

When it comes to election time though, low turnout seems to reflect a lack of interest in politics as a whole

“Not everybody has to be interested in politics,” said Mr Buchan. “However, I think it should be a worry for us all, what is going on in terms of turn-off in terms of politics. The council relies on public confidence. In order to operate effectively, people need to understand and have confidence in the council.

“We need to explain to people why we do some of the things we do.

“The alienation of the public from politics at all levels should be a major source of concern to everyone in this country. I worry sometimes that we have consultation fatigue. There are too many nebulous initiatives that turn people off and if we can focus more on some of the things that matter – bread and butter services – people might be a bit more interested.

“If there was a bit more autonomy for local councils without as much central control from national government, I am convinced that we could have a more meaningful dialogue with the public in setting local priorities that really matter to people in a place like Orkney.”

He summed up: “For a council of our size, we punch well above our weight on the national stage.”