SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT Issued on behalf of The Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland Not for Publication, Broadcast or use on Club Tapes before 0001 Hours on 26 May 2016 Recommendations for councillor numbers and wards submitted to Scottish Ministers The Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland has submitted its recommendations on councillor numbers and wards for each of Scotland's 32 council areas to Scottish Ministers. These recommendations arise from the 5th Reviews of Local Government Electoral Arrangements which began in February 2014. The recommendations provide for 351 wards and 1219 councillors across Scotland, an overall decrease of 2 wards and 4 councillors relative to existing arrangements. Under the recommendations, representation of the electorate within council areas will be more evenly shared between councillors and across Scotland there will be greater equity in electoral representation. Ronnie Hinds, Chair of the Commission, said: "Today we have submitted to Scottish Ministers our recommendations for electoral arrangements which we believe are in the interests of effective and convenient local government across Scotland. These recommendations set out the number of councillors for each council area and the boundaries of the wards they will represent. We are grateful to councils and to the public who responded to our consultations over the last two years. Their input has been invaluable in shaping our proposals and while we must take account of our obligations under the legislation and consider the interests of the whole council area, we have been able to take on board many of the views expressed. The legislation which governs our reviews places equality of representation at the heart of what we do and we have delivered a set of recommendations that significantly improves electoral parity across Scotland and so provides for fairer local democracy and more effective local government ." 1 A summary of the recommendations for each council area is contained in the appendix to this release. Full reports and background papers for each council area are available on our website: www.lgbc-scotland.gov.uk Contact for Further Information: Isabel Drummond-Murray, Secretary, Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. Tel: 0131 538 7510, Twitter: @lgbcs email: [email protected] Information on the review can also be found on the Commission’s website: www.lgbc-scotland.gov.uk *** ends *** 2 Notes for News Editors We are the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland, and have been responsible for reviewing local government boundaries and electoral arrangements in Scotland since we were established by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. We are an independent, non-political body which is responsible for reviewing and making recommendations for: the overall number of councillors in each local authority and number of councillors in each ward (each ward must elect either 3 or 4 councillors); the number of wards for local government elections and their boundaries; and the extent of council areas. We are required to conduct electoral reviews of each local authority at intervals of 8 to 12 years. The current reviews are the 5th reviews since 1974 and the first since 1998 to propose changes to councillor numbers. When reviewing electoral arrangements the Commission is required to make its decisions in the interests of effective and convenient local government, and to take account of the following factors: within each council, each councillor should represent the same number of electors as nearly as may be (known as parity, this is the over-riding factor); local ties which would be broken by making a particular boundary; the desirability of fixing boundaries that are easily identifiable; and special geographical considerations. Under the 5th Reviews: the variation from parity between councillors will reduce from 6% currently to 5%. This means that representation of the electorate within council areas will be more evenly shared between councillors. variations in the number of electors represented by councillors in different councils in Scotland will be reduced. At present, these range from an average of 694 electors per councillor in Na-h Eileanan an Iar to 6,283 in City of Edinburgh, a range of 5,589 forecast electors. This range will become 813 electors per councillor in Orkney Islands to 5,785 in City of Edinburgh, a range of 4,972 forecast electors. This means that there will be greater equity in electoral representation across Scotland. in the most sparsely populated areas of Scotland, almost 99% of the electors will be in wards which are within 15% of parity for the council, compared to less than 94% under current arrangements. in more than three quarters (77%) of the most deprived datazones in Scotland, people will benefit from enhanced electoral representation. We conducted our Fourth Reviews between 2004 and 2006. The Fourth Reviews recommended the multi-member wards for use in local government elections in Scotland in 2007 and 2012. The number of councillors on each council was last reviewed shortly after the councils’ establishment in 1996. 3 We have scheduled these reviews so that our recommendations are capable of being implemented in time for the local government elections in 2017. Full information about the Commission and its work is available on the Commission’s website: www.lgbc-scotland.gov.uk . A general introduction to the Commission and its work appears in our Information Paper "The Commission: a general guide" which is available from the Publications section of the website http://www.lgbc-scotland.gov.uk/publications/ . Information on this review is available from the Reviews in Progress section of the website: http://www.lgbc-scotland.gov.uk/reviews/5th_electoral/. 4 Aberdeen City Council area We recommend that in the interests of effective and convenient local government the future electoral arrangements for Aberdeen City Council area should provide for a council of 45 councillors in 13 wards, comprising 6 wards each returning 4 members and 7 wards each returning 3 members as follows: ward ward name councillors electorate actual forecast forecast no. Sept 13 variation electorate variation from from parity parity Dyce/Bucksburn/ 1 4 14,689 -3% 16,603 4% Danestone 2 Bridge of Don 4 14,607 -3% 15,985 1% Kingswells/Sheddocksley/ 3 3 11,131 -2% 11,503 -3% Summerhill 4 Northfield/Mastrick North 3 12,376 9% 12,289 3% Hilton/Woodside/ 5 3 11,753 4% 11,666 -2% Stockethill Tillydrone/Seaton/Old 6 3 12,036 6% 11,915 0% Aberdeen 7 Midstocket/Rosemount 3 11,857 5% 11,925 0% 8 George St/Harbour 4 15,610 3% 16,300 3% 9 Lower Deeside 3 11,551 2% 12,233 3% Hazlehead/Queens Cross/ 10 4 14,034 -7% 16,004 1% Countesswells Airyhall/Broomhill/ 11 3 12,355 9% 12,341 4% Garthdee 12 Torry/Ferryhill 4 15,671 4% 15,656 -1% 13 Kincorth/Nigg/Cove 4 12,350 -18% 14,364 -10% Totals 45 170,020 6% 178,784 3% 5 Aberdeenshire Council area We recommend that in the interests of effective and convenient local government the future electoral arrangements for Aberdeenshire Council area should provide for a council of 70 councillors in 19 wards, comprising 13 wards each returning 4 members and 6 wards each returning 3 members as follows: ward ward name councillors electorate actual forecast forecast no. Sept 13 variation electorate variation from from parity parity 1 Banff and District 3 8,850 5% 8,869 2% 2 Troup 3 7,876 -6% 7,876 -10% 3 Fraserburgh and District 4 11,748 5% 11,870 2% 4 Central Buchan 4 10,548 -6% 10,917 -6% Peterhead North and 5 Rattray 4 11,408 2% 12,027 3% Peterhead South and 6 Cruden 3 8,996 7% 9,100 4% 7 Turriff and District 4 10,579 -5% 10,659 -8% 8 Mid Formartine 4 11,083 -1% 11,398 -2% 9 Ellon and District 4 11,517 3% 12,010 3% 10 West Garioch 3 8,689 4% 8,829 1% 11 Inverurie and District 4 10,659 -5% 11,682 0% 12 East Garioch 4 9,806 -12% 11,026 -5% 13 Westhill and District 4 11,343 1% 11,509 -1% Huntly, Strathbogie and 14 Howe of Alford 4 11,700 5% 11,865 2% Aboyne, Upper Deeside 15 and Donside 3 8,824 5% 9,061 4% 16 Banchory and Mid Deeside 3 8,568 2% 9,074 4% 17 North Kincardine 4 11,248 1% 12,765 10% 6 Stonehaven and Lower 18 Deeside 4 11,009 -2% 11,369 -2% 19 Mearns 4 11,397 2% 11,867 2% Totals 70 195,848 4% 203,773 4% 7 Angus Council area We recommend that in the interests of effective and convenient local government the future electoral arrangements for Angus Council area should provide for a Council of 28 councillors in 8 wards, comprising 4 wards each returning 4 members and 4 wards each returning 3 members as follows: ward ward name councill electorate actual forecast forecast no. ors Sept 13 variation electorate variation from from parity parity 1 Kirriemuir and Dean 3 8,626 -8% 8,550 -9% 2 Brechin and Edzell 3 8,759 -6% 9,095 -3% 3 Forfar and District 4 11,528 -7% 11,511 -8% 4 Monifieth and Sidlaw 4 13,012 4% 12,813 2% 5 Carnoustie and District 3 10,447 12% 10,418 11% Arbroath West, Letham 6 4 13,379 7% 13,373 7% and Friockheim 7 Arbroath East and Lunan 3 9,658 3% 9,898 5% 8 Montrose and District 4 11,819 -5% 11,928 -5% Totals 28 87,228 7% 87,586 6% 8 Argyll and Bute Council area We recommend that in the interests of effective and convenient local government the future electoral arrangements for Argyll and Bute Council area should provide for a council of 33 councillors in 10 wards, comprising 3 wards each returning 4 members and 7 wards each returning 3 members as follows: ward ward name councillors electorate actual forecast forecast no.