The First Minister has pledged to empower communities with more devolution to Scotland’s islands.
Nicola Sturgeon said a consultation on plans for greater autonomy for island areas would be published this summer, with responses helping to inform a future Islands Bill.
She made the commitment to council leaders and officials at a meeting of the Convention of the Highlands and Islands (COHI) in Kirkwall, Orkney.
Ms Sturgeon said: “We have previously committed to looking at devolving more autonomy to our islands and decentralise decision-making to those who live and work in these unique parts of Scotland. We want to work to make our islands stronger and let them flourish.
“We are bringing through the Community Empowerment Bill, which will enable communities to be more involved in local decision-making.
“The forthcoming consultation will build on this and empower our island communities – it’s the perfect opportunity for ideas to be shared and considered before any decision is made on their future.”
Last June, former first minister Alex Salmond launched a prospectus on more powers for Scotland’s island communities in the event of Scottish independence.
Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, Ms Sturgeon said: “Our determination, our commitment, to empower our island communities was not contingent on those areas voting Yes.
“There were things that would have been possible for us to look at had the country as a whole voted Yes.
“Some of these things are not possible given that Scotland didn’t vote to be independent but we want to make sure that we take forward as many of these ideas as we can.”
She added: “We’re very serious about devolving as much power as possible down to local communities so that we put the power into the hands of people in local communities to grow their economies and to take the decisions that are right for them.
“We want to look at how we give councils in Highland and island communities more ability to take decisions that determine conditions in their own areas.”
The First Minister said this included a commitment that all income from leasing the seabed around islands would go to local communities following the devolution of powers over the Crown Estate to the Scottish Parliament.
She said a consultation will also take place across Scotland on the long-term arrangements for managing Crown Estate assets.