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Sutherland is set to lose one councillor if final proposals by the Boundary Commission are accepted by the Scottish Government


By Scott Maclennan

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Opponents to cutting the number of councillors say that Sutherland is simply too big to properly represent with less members.
Opponents to cutting the number of councillors say that Sutherland is simply too big to properly represent with less members.

The Boundary Commission has submitted its final proposals to overhaul the make-up Highland Council wards for a decision by the Scottish Government.

Sutherland now looks set to lose one councillor instead of the initially suggested two if the highly contentious plans are agreed.

The plan to make the entire county a single ward has also been ditched in favour of basically the same current ward structure.

The only change to that is that Edderton will become part of Tain and Easter Ross.

The commission said in its final recommendations that the North, West and Central Sutherland ward should now be represented by just two members.

The reasons for the change, it stated, are electoral parity – the number of electors – represented by the correct number of councillors.

If implemented, it means that North, West and Central Sutherland would have a 10 per cent imbalance, meaning it would be over represented.

However, in the report led by Commissioner Ronnie Hinds it was recognised that public opinion was against a reduction in councillor numbers.

It stated: “The majority of responses received: opposed the review; opposed a reduction in councillor numbers in Caithness, Sutherland, Skye and Wester Ross; opposed the proposed ward boundaries in Caithness, Sutherland, Wester Ross and Loch Ness, and, expressed a belief that Inverness was gaining more representation at the expense of rural areas.

“There was also some support for the proposals particularly where there was no change to the existing electoral arrangements.”

"We could not justify the wide variation from electoral parity of a three-member North, West and Central Sutherland ward.

"In Sutherland we believed that forecast variation from electoral parity in the proposed North, West and Central Sutherland ward was unacceptably high with a three-member ward so proposed a two-member ward.

“We considered improving electoral parity between the North, West and Central Sutherland ward and East Sutherland ward but could not achieve this without breaking local community ties.”

It is expected that the Scottish Government will release a final decision in the coming months.

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