Boundary Commission for Scotland BCS Paper 2016/15 2018 Review of UK Parliament Constituencies Constituency considerations for Argyll and Bute, Highland and Moray council areas Action required 1. The Commission is invited to consider alternative designs of constituencies for Argyll and Bute, Highland and Moray council areas for its initial proposals, in furtherance of its 2018 Review of UK Parliament constituencies. Background 2. On 24 February 2016, the Commission began its 2018 Review of UK Parliament constituencies with a view to making its recommendations by October 2018 in tandem with the other UK parliamentary boundary commissions. 3. The review is being undertaken in compliance with the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986, as amended. The Act stipulates a UK electoral quota of 74,769.2 electors and use of the parliamentary electorate figures from the December 2015 Electoral Register. The 5% electorate limits in the Act correspond to an electorate of no less than 71,031 and no more than 78,507. 4. The Act requires the Commission to recommend the name, extent and designation of constituencies in Scotland, of which there are to be 53 in total. 2 Scottish constituencies are prescribed in the Act: Orkney and Shetland Islands constituency and Western isles constituency. 5. The Act provides some discretion in the extent of the Commission’s regard to the size, shape and accessibility of constituencies, existing constituencies and the breaking of local ties. As this review is considered to be the first following enactment of the legislation (the 6th Review was ended before completion in 2013 following enactment of the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013) the Commission need not have regard to the inconveniences attendant on changes to constituencies. 6. At its meeting of 16 May 2016, the Commission provisionally adopted a grouping of council areas as part of its approach to constituency design for the 2018 Review, which included a group comprising Argyll and Bute, Highland and Moray council areas. This paper offers some options for constituencies within that group. 7. The 2015 parliamentary electorates of the council areas in this group are as shown in Table 1 below: Council area Parliamentary Constituency Area / km2 electorate entitlement Argyll and Bute 65,944 0.88 7,163.8 Highland 172,069 2.30 26,484.4 Moray 69,405 0.93 2,257.1 total 307,418 4.11 35,905.3 Table 1: 2015 parliamentary electorates of council areas in the group. Document name 1 BCS2016_15_(Constituency_Design_Highland_AandB_Moray) Boundary Commission for Scotland BCS Paper 2016/15 8. The existing constituencies in the group and their 2015 parliamentary electorates are as shown in Table 2 below: constituency Electorate Area / km2 designation Argyll and Bute 65,944 7,163.8 county Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross 45,898 8,751.7 county Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and county 74,354 4,953.2 Strathspey Moray 69,405 2,257.1 county Ross, Skye and Lochaber 51,817 12,779.5 county Table 2: 2015 parliamentary electorates of existing constituencies in the group. 9. A map of existing constituencies and council areas in the group can be found at Appendix A. 10. The constituency names in this paper are provisional. The Commission will have the opportunity to review all constituency names and designations prior to the publication of its Initial Proposals. Options 11. All constituencies in the following options have electorates that lie within 5% of the electoral quota and have areas of less than 13,000 km2. 12. Highland Council area currently contains 3 constituencies, 2 of which are substantially below 95% of the electoral quota. Preservation of existing constituencies is therefore only an option if constituencies that comply with the rules are not reasonably possible and if Highland Council area alone was to comprise a discrete group. 13. Because of the number of electors therein, Highland Council area alone cannot provide an integer number of constituencies without invocation of the area exemption; neither can Highland with either Moray or Argyll and Bute. Thus a 4- council area group as a minimum is necessary for constituencies within 5% of the electoral quota. 14. The placement of Highland North’s boundary near to Applecross, which is the same in both options presented below, was influenced by the constituency area constraints in the legislation, by the requirement for the constituency’s electorate to be within 5% of the electoral quota and for the neighbouring constituency’s electorate to be small enough to form a constituency while having regard to local ties there and in Lochaber. 15. The routes of the boundary in the Aird in both options, while differing in detail, were influenced by the need to increase the electorate of Highland North constituency enough to make the neighbouring constituency have an electorate smaller than 105% of the electoral quota, without also substantially increasing Highland North constituency’s area. 16. In Lochaber, the primary influences for the choice of boundary were the limited access to Mallaig from elsewhere in ward 12, the number of electors in Fort Document name 2 BCS2016_15_(Constituency_Design_Highland_AandB_Moray) Boundary Commission for Scotland BCS Paper 2016/15 William, Caol and Corpach and the need for the neighbouring constituency to be small enough to be within 5% of the electoral quota. In both options, the boundary between Caol and Corpach is partially supported by a primary school catchment boundary and a community council area boundary. 17. In option 2, the division of ward 21 (Badenoch and Strathspey) was necessitated by the combined electorate of Moray Council area and ward 21 being too large to form a constituency and to avoid constituencies needlessly covering more than one council area. The choice of boundary near to Kingussie was influenced by the aim of minimising disruption to local ties in Lochaber, the division of which is inevitable in this particular group. 18. In option 2, the division of wards 19 (Nairn) and 20 (Inverness South) was to enable the neighbouring Inverness and Skye constituency to have a small enough electorate to comply with the legislation while having regard to local ties. The boundary in ward 19 follows the northern boundary of East Nairnshire community council area. The boundary in ward 20 is similar to a primary school catchment boundary and a community council boundary in the area. Option 1 19. Option 1 provides for 4 constituencies exactly covering the combined extents of Argyll and Bute, Highland and Moray council areas. A map of option 1 constituencies is at Appendix B1. 20. Highland North is the largest constituency in the group by area and the smallest in terms of electorate. The southern boundary of the constituency largely reflects community council boundaries from Applecross to the outskirts of Inverness; the boundary follows physical features west of Strathconan before extending south into The Aird to include Kilmorack and Kirkhill and Bunchrew community council areas in their entirety. 21. Moray and Nairn constituency comprises the Moray Council area and Highland ward 19 (Nairn). 22. Argyll and Lochaber constituency comprises Argyll and Bute Council area together with Highland ward 22 (Fort William and Ardnamurchan) and part ward 12 (Caol and Mallaig). The boundary in Lochaber follows the Caledonian Canal between Caol and Corpach, and further west it follows community council area boundaries landward of Loch Nevis. The constituency contains Ardnamurchan, Mallaig, Caol and Fort William. 23. Inverness and Skye constituency, as well as including Inverness and Skye, contains Corpach and Spean Bridge, the reminder of The Aird, Badenoch, Strathspey and Lochalsh. 24. The electorate, area, ward composition, designation and suggested name of each constituency in option 1 is shown in Table 3 below: Document name 3 BCS2016_15_(Constituency_Design_Highland_AandB_Moray) Boundary Commission for Scotland BCS Paper 2016/15 Constituency name electorate Physical wards extent (km2) Argyll and Lochaber CC 77,574 10,313 Argyll and Bute all Highland 12(pt), 22 Highland North CC 73,147 12,985 Highland 1-5, 6(pt), 7-10, 13(pt) Inverness and Skye CC 78,220 9,995 Highland 6(pt), 11, 12(pt), 13(pt), 14-18, 20, 21 Moray and Nairn CC 78,477 2,612 Highland 19 Moray all Table 3: 2015 parliamentary electorates of option 1 constituencies. 25. In option 1, 3 wards are divided between constituencies: they are Highland ward 6 (Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh), ward 12 (Caol and Mallaig) and ward 13 (The Aird). Detailed maps of the boundary in these wards are at Appendices B2 to B5. 26. The advantages of option 1 are: Moray and Nairn constituency is formed entirely from whole wards; Highland North constituency is formed from whole community council areas; and Fewer wards are divided between constituencies than in option 2. 27. The disadvantages of option 1 are: Caol and Corpach are in separate constituencies, which are demarcated by the Caledonian Canal rather than the nearby ward boundary following the River Lochy; Ardnamurchan and Mallaig do not have direct road links to the rest of the constituency: access is via the Corran Ferry or through Corpach; and Nairn is a compact ward relative to other wards in Highland and so the resulting constituency has a far smaller area than the other constituencies in the group. Option 2 28. Option 2 provides for 4 constituencies within 5% of the electoral quota and below 13,000 km2. 29. Option 2 offers an alternative boundary between Highland North constituency and Inverness and Skye constituency in The Aird by following the western boundary of Kirkhill primary school catchment area. The westernmost landward boundaries between Applecross and Strathconan are the same as those in option 1. 30. The Inverness and Skye constituency includes the coastal part of Highland ward 19 (Nairn), Inverness, Skye, Lochalsh, Ardnamurchan, Corpach and Mallaig.