Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 for Community Councillors
Introduction
This short course will support Island Community Councillors to understand the key parts of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 (hereafter ‘the Act’) and its relevance to the work of Island Community Councils.
The course is not intended to equip Island Community Councillors with detailed knowledge of all aspects of the Act, rather it aims to ensure the most relevant parts are understood and Community Councillors know how the Act can support their efforts to affect policy change.
This course will therefore focus on Parts 1–3 of the Act, which cover the most important content for Community Councillors to be able to affect decision-making:
Definitions of an ‘island’ and ‘island community’.
The National Islands Plan.
Island Community Impact Assessments (ICIAs).
The Act includes provisions that will not be covered in detail in this course, such as:
the accurate representation of Shetland on maps
changes to the representation of councillors in island wards at local government elections
the establishment of a licensing scheme in respect of marine development.
If you want to know more about these parts of the Act, you can find details within the legislation itself.
Next, go to Section 1 Origins and ambitions.