Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

New flag-flying protocol to be debated by Orkney councillors

Orkney flag

Next week will see Orkney councillors view a report on the local authority’s flag-flying protocol.

The review is asking councillors to back a set of recommendations which say when an organisation which isn’t already part of the council’s flag-flying protocol asks the council to fly a flag at council buildings, a decision would be made by the chief executive’s office in consultation with the council leader, depute leader, and convener.

The organisation and flag would have to meet a set of criteria before being considered.

These include:

  • being non-political
  • having no commercial element
  • there is no significant cost to the council
  • and flying a flag doesn’t clash with another event already featured in the council’s flag-flying protocol

The review of the protocol began all the way back in June 2021 and followed to fly the rainbow flag to mark Orkney Pride, on June 26, 2021.

In 2021, this clashed with flying the Armed Forces Day flag, which is flown on the last week of June. A debate was held as to what should be done.

They decided to fly the Armed Force Day flag at the council offices and the pride flag at Kirkwall Town Hall.

Thirteen flags would feature in Orkney council’s new protocol

Now, a reviewed protocol will be debated by councillors at a meeting of the Policy and Resources committee on Tuesday next week.

The council has, in the past, received other requests to fly flags not part of its previous nine-year-old protocol.

Aside from Orkney Pride, this includes International Workers Memorial Day, Historic County Flag Day, and Merchant Navy Day.

The newly reviewed protocol includes 13 flags, including all those mentioned above, as well as the Commonwealth flag on Commonwealth day, the Orkney flag on St Magnus Day, and the Norwegian Flag on Norwegian Constitution Day.

The Union Jack would be flown on King Charles’s birthday and official birthday and on Remembrance Sunday. The saltire would be flown on St Andrew’s Day.

For Orkney Pride, the progress pride flag would be flown at the Kirkwall Town Hall.

Some are to be flown at both the council offices and at the town hall. Others will be flown at one or the other.

The report also notes that the Orkney flag is to be flown at the council offices when full council sits.

Conversation