Delight as planned boundary changes in Argyll are scrapped
CHANGES to council ward boundaries in Argyll and Bute have been rejected by the Scottish Government, following a ‘united campaign’ of local opposition.
The Boundary Commission for Scotland’s fifth electoral review recommended changing electoral ward boundaries in each of Scotland’s 30 local authorities, and reducing the number of Argyll and Bute councillors by three to 33, in time for local government elections in May 2017.
It also proposed transferring Luing, Seil, Kilninver and Kilmelford, Avich and Kilchrenan Community Councils, and the east Lochaweside section of Glenorchy and Innishail, from the Oban North and Lorn ward to the Mid-Argyll ward, centred on Lochgilphead.
Many councillors and community councillors opposed the plans for breaking local links, with Argyll and Bute MSP Michael Russell also urging Holyrood ministers to reject the ‘tinkering’ changes ‘ driven by irrelevant number-based formulae’ with ‘no financial savings.’
On Wednesday last week, parliamentary business minister Joe FitzPatrick decided to accept the changes in 25 out of 30 council areas, but rejected those in five. He said: ‘In a small number of cases – Argyll and Bute, Dundee City and Scottish Borders – we have listened to local representations and left boundaries as they currently stand, to ensure that strong historic ties in particular areas and communities are maintained.
‘Significant concerns were raised about aspects of the commission’s proposals for those areas, in particular that they would not reflect local communities. While the commission did try to address these in its final recommendations, it was clear from the responses to those recommendations that many of those concerns remained. We therefore decided that the better course would be to keep the status quo for those areas.
‘In the case of the three island councils, we are committed to introducing an Islands Bill in this first parliamentary year enabling the creation of one- or two-member island wards. We do not propose to pre- empt the bill by changing ward boundaries in Orkney, Shetland or Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, so we are therefore not implementing any changes in those areas.
‘However, we will be asking the commission to look at electoral arrangements for the islands areas once the bill has been enacted, with the aim of having any changes arising from the Islands Bill in place for the local elections in 2022.’