Plans to hand the reigns to top council officers during negotiations with offshore wind developers have been approved by Orkney councillors.
During a meeting of full council on Thursday, a negotiating team that will speak to developers as part of the ScotWind seabed leasing programme was agreed.
Contracts are expected to be worth millions to the county as Orkney plays a significant role in delivering up to 10 gigawatts of wind energy over the next decade.
The council has already been contacted by developers and it expects interest to grow as news of the successful bidders for the ScotWind contracts arrives on January 17.
Developers are believed to be seeking use of facilities at the Scapa Deep Water Quay, Hatston Pier, Scapa Flow and Lyness.
Contracts expected to be worth millions to Orkney council
Councillors have also agreed to give powers to the chief executive’s office to sign off on commercial contracts. However, this would only be after consulting with the council leader, deputy leader and the chair and vice-chair of the development and infrastructure committee.
The plans came to councillors earlier this week although there were concerns over how much power was actually being handed to council officials.
Among them was councillor Steven Heddle. He asked his council colleagues if they were comfortable with the arrangements.
On the first reading of the plans, he said it would hand an “unprecedented” amount of power to the officers.
He compared it to a situation where 80,000 tonnes of stone was ordered from a quarry in Oban on behalf of the council.
However, the proposal came back to councillors with a refined set of plans at Thursday’s meeting.
They were quickly met with approval.
The council’s interim executive director of finance, regulatory, marine, and transportation services Gareth Waterson sought to reassure councillors.
Councillor’s concerns addressed
He said: “There will be a lot of activity around the pre-election period when there’s a hiatus in the democratic process.
“Members were concerned that it may give carte blanche to award contracts for things like the deepwater quay. Members were concerned that we were seeking to commit to things much greater in value than was ever intended. That was never the intent.
“We’ve sought to clarify that there’s no delegation being sought for capital project contract awards.”
The paper also states that anything that costs the council to more than £500,000 will require a special meeting of the council to be held.