Caithness and Sutherland council boundary changes would 'strip away representation when people need it most'
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Cutting the number of councillors in Caithness and Sutherland is "inconceivable", the Liberal Democrats' Holyrood hopeful has warned.
Molly Nolan said the controversial proposals from the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland would "strip away representation at a time when people need it most".
The proposals to redraw Highland Council wards were put to public consultation and the recommendations will go to Scottish Government ministers for a decision.
If the changes go ahead, Caithness will have seven councillors, one fewer than at present, with three representing the landward area and two each for Thurso and Wick. Sutherland will become a one-ward county, with its representation reduced from the current six councillors to four.
Highland Liberal Democrats are calling on the Scottish Government to reject the proposals. In their submission, the Lib Dems say the boundary review “fails to recognise that many rural areas in Highland Council have similar characteristics to island communities” and call for those areas to be protected in the same way.
Ms Nolan, the party's candidate for Caithness, Sutherland and Ross at this year's Holyrood elections, said: “With the pandemic crisis leaving so many rural communities on the edge, it is inconceivable to think plans are afoot to strip away representation at a time when people need it most.
“Out of the many things the pandemic has shone a light on, surely one of them must be how fragile our democracy has become. Liberal Democrats have always been clear that politics should be about empowering people, not ever more centralisation.
“When these out-of-touch proposals come to the Scottish Government, I hope ministers will do the right thing and consign them to the dustbin of history. Our communities deserve so much better.”
The Isle of Skye would also be affected, losing one councillor.
Councillor Denis Rixson, the Liberal Democrat candidate for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch, said: “In no uncertain terms, people across Skye have made clear to me that these proposals simply do not meet their needs.
“Once again, the Scottish Government in Edinburgh is faced with a test of whether it will listen to local people or not. We cannot afford for them to repeat the same mistakes.”
In January, Highland Council leader Margaret Davidson advised the boundary commission that the local authority rejected the proposals in their entirety and formally requested that the process be halted immediately.
Under the proposals, the local authority would lose two councillors overall and there are concerns that councillors would have to represent unmanageably large populations.
Councillor Davidson said: “The council is deeply unhappy with the commission’s proposals. They totally contradict the ethos of the Islands (Scotland) Act, which was to enhance the democratic process and increase representation of remote and geographically disadvantaged areas.
"Much of our mainland areas are more remote and have far fewer transport links than many of the islands who have quicker and more reliable links to Scotland’s major cities."
She said there was “simply no justification to subject our remote and fragile communities to an undemocratic and unwanted boundary review... particularly in the middle of a national pandemic".
