2017 Orkney Islands Council election

2017 Orkney Islands Council election

←  2012 4 May 2017 (2017-05-04) 2022  →
All 21 seats to Orkney Islands Council 11 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	7,470 (49.7%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Steven Heddle Rachael King [1] Steve Sankey Party Independent Orkney Manifesto Group Green Leader's seat Kirkwall East West Mainland East Mainland, South Ronaldsay and Burray Last election 21 seats, 97% — — Seats won 18 2 1 Seat change 3 2 1 First preferences 6,162 894 350 First preferences (%) 83.2% 12.1% 4.7% Swing (pp) 13.6% N/A New
Results by wards by partisanship. Results by wards, showing whether the incumbent candidate was re-elected or retired
Council Leader before election Steven Heddle Independent Council Leader after election James Stockan Independent

The 2017 Orkney Islands Council election took place on 4 May 2017 to elect members of Orkney Islands Council. The election used the six wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, with each ward electing three or four Councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation, with 21 Councillors being elected.

The Scottish Greens contested 2 wards in Orkney for the first time. Another group; the Orkney Manifesto Group, ran as a registered party for the first time, gaining the largest vote share of any party in the council's history. The OMG advocates the politicisation of the Orkney Islands Council, however is unaffiliated to any national party. The group has a Liberal-Left political outlook. ^[2]

Election result

Orkney local election result 2017 ^{[3] [4]}

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Independent	18	0	3	3	85.7	83.20	6,162	-11.2
	Orkney Manifesto Group	2	2	0	2*	9.5	12.07	894	N/A
	Green	1	1	0	1	4.8	4.73	350	New

*The OMG councillors had been previously elected as Independents. 2017 was the first election they stood under the OMG slate.

Ward results

Kirkwall East

• 2007: 4xIndependent
• 2012: 4xIndependent
• 2017: 4xIndependent
• 2012–2017 change: No change

Kirkwall East - 4 seats ^[5]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Independent	Steven Heddle (incumbent)	29.13	474
	Independent	Gwenda Shearer (incumbent)	21.14	344
	Independent	John Ross Scott	17.89	291	328.8
	Independent	David Dawson	15.73	256	294.1	299.4	300.1	302.2	322.8	356.7
	Independent	Rikki Lidderdale	6.95	113	139.9	143.7	144.3	146.4	165.5	188.7
	Independent	Ingrid Windwick Jolly	4.61	75	90.0	92.6	93.0	96.4	116.4
	Independent	Mike Berston	3.69	60	75.6	78.3	78.6	80.7
	Independent	Paul Dawson	0.86	14	15.9	16.1	16.3
Electorate: 3,470  Valid: 1,627  Spoilt: 14  Quota: 326  Turnout: 1,641 (47.3%)

Kirkwall West & Orphir

• 2007: 4xIndependent
• 2012: 4xIndependent
• 2017: 3xIndependent; 1xOMG
• 2012–2017 change: 1 OMG gain from Independent

Kirkwall West & Orphir - 4 seats ^[6]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Independent	Leslie Manson (incumbent)	44.64	646
	Orkney Manifesto Group	John Richards (incumbent)	23.01	333
	Independent	Sandy Cowie	11.06	160	244.9	255.8	257.2	283.0	283.1	356.1
	Independent	Barbara Foulkes	10.37	150	256.4	267.3	269.4	290.2
	Independent	Barbara Leslie	7.53	109	152.5	158.6	161.8	177.2	177.2
	Independent	Alastair Macleod	2.70	39	83.6	88.0	93.6
	Independent	Max Thomas	0.69	10	16.6	17.8
Electorate: 3,466  Valid: 1,447  Spoilt: 19  Quota: 290  Turnout: 1,466 (42.3%)

Stromness and South Isles

• 2007: 3xIndependent
• 2012: 3xIndependent
• 2017: 3xIndependent
• 2012–2017 change: No change

Stromness and South Isles - 3 seats ^[7]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	Independent	Rob Crichton (incumbent)	unopposed	unopposed
	Independent	James Stockan (incumbent)	unopposed	unopposed
	Independent	Magnus Thomson	unopposed	unopposed

West Mainland

• 2007: 4xIndependent
• 2012: 4xIndependent
• 2017: 3xIndependent, 1xOMG
• 2012–2017 change: 1 OMG gain from Independent

West Mainland - 4 seats ^[8]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Orkney Manifesto Group	Rachael King (incumbent)	30.61	561
	Independent	Harvey Johnston (incumbent)	29.24	536
	Independent	Owen Tierney (incumbent)	20.19	370
	Independent	Duncan Allan Tullock	10.42	191	245.3	327.6	328.8	344.5	369.9
	Independent	Jo Jones	3.82	70	106.3	130.9	131.3	143.0	170.6
	Green	Helen Woodsford-Dean	3.60	66	95.4	104.5	104.8	114.8
	Independent	Sean Michael Lewis	2.13	39	51.4	60.0	60.2
Electorate: 3,538  Valid: 1,833  Spoilt: 14  Quota: 367  Turnout: 1,847 (52.2%)

East Mainland, South Ronaldsay and Burray

• 2007: 3xIndependent
• 2012: 3xIndependent
• 2017: 2xIndependent, 1xGreen
• 2012–2017 change: 1 Green gain from Independent

East Mainland, South Ronaldsay & Burray - 3 seats ^[9]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Independent	Andrew Drever (incumbent)	35.74	509
	Green	Steve Sankey	19.94	284	301.9	383.4
	Independent	Norman Rae Craigie	16.71	238	281.9	354.2	362.6
	Independent	John Stanley Groundwater	14.12	201	229.4
	Independent	Jim Foubister (incumbent)	13.48	192	231.4	265.4	269.6
Electorate: 2,725  Valid: 1,424  Spoilt: 12  Quota: 357  Turnout: 1,436 (52.7%)

North Isles

• 2007: 3xIndependent
• 2012: 3xIndependent
• 2017: 3xIndependent
• 2012–2017 change: No change

North Isles - 3 seats ^[10]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Independent	Graham Sinclair (incumbent)	26.98	290
	Independent	Kevin Woodbridge†	23.81	256	261.4	274.5
	Independent	Stephen Clackson (incumbent)	18.33	197	200.6	207.9	209.0	219.4	231.5	247.1	321.9
	Independent	Stuart Roy McIvor	10.98	118	120.5	124.6	125.6	132.7	143.2	168.2
	Independent	Ralph Stevenson	6.51	70	72.9	77.2	78.1	92.4	121.7
	Independent	Simon Tarry	6.51	70	72.8	72.9	73.5	78.6
	Independent	George Arthur Mowat-Brown	3.35	39	39.5	40.6	41.1
	Independent	Billy Muir	3.26	35	36.1
Electorate: 1,840  Valid: 1,075  Spoilt: 5  Quota: 269  Turnout: 1,080 (58.7%)

Changes since 2017 Election

• † North Isles Independent Cllr Kevin Woodbridge died on 19 April 2020 after a short illness. ^[11] A by-election was held on 1 October 2020 and was won by Kevin Woodbridge's daughter, Heather Woodbridge. ^[12]

By-elections since 2017

North Isles By-election (1 October 2020)

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	Independent	Heather Woodbridge	69.9	638
	Labour	Coilla Drake	17.3	158
	Independent	Claire Stevens	8.2	75
	Independent	Daniel Adams	4.6	42
Turnout: 732 (31.0%)

Footnotes

1. Kirkwall councillor to stand down at end of OIC term
2. "Orkney Manifesto Group | POLICY STATEMENTS".
3. "Results by Ward".
4. "SLGE2017 Summary Results Data - Electoral Management Board". Archived from the original on 5 July 2019. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
5. "Ward 1 - Kirkwall East".
6. "Ward 2 - Kirkwall West and Orphir".
7. "Ward 3 - Stromness and South Isles".
8. "Ward 4 - West Mainland".
9. "Ward 5 - East Mainland, South Ronaldsay and Burray".
10. "Ward 6 - North Isles".
11. "Tributes paid to North Isles councillor Kevin Woodbridge". 20 April 2020.
12. "Heather Woodbridge wins North Isles council seat". The Orcadian. Retrieved 15 January 2022.