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Boundary Commission proposals to alter Caithness Highland Council wards is 'roundly rejected'





Cllr Struan Mackie posted some of the responses to his petition to the Boundary Commission.
Cllr Struan Mackie posted some of the responses to his petition to the Boundary Commission.

A last-ditch effort to stop proposals to change Caithness Highland Council wards appears to have persuaded the Boundary Commission to drop the plans.

The commission had proposed ditching one member and creating three wards, one each for Wick and Thurso and a third for rural Caithness.

They had also originally planned to lose two councillors in Sutherland, with the area being treated as a single ward.

However, the final proposals see Caithness retaining its current structure, while North, West and Central Sutherland will be represented by two members instead of three, thereby losing one councillor.

Highland Council decided not to lodge detailed objections to the original plans and instead called for the whole process to restart, while Thurso and Northwest Caithness councillor Struan Mackie launched a petition against the changes.

He gathered more than 1000 signatures opposing what he said would unnaturally create a division between town and country that does not exist, while at the same time the area would lose one councillor.

“With over 1000 signatories to my online petition and countless individual and community representations made throughout the consultation period, it was clear that the Boundary Commission’s proposals for the Highland Council were widely and loudly rejected,” he said.

“The new proposals published this week are clearly a mixed bag and whilst some communities in Highland may breath a sign of relief, others will be deeply disappointed with the outcome.

“It appears that in Caithness, our current ward boundaries with four elected councillors on each side will be maintained, which will be welcomed by the community.

“We were very clear that a reduction in local representation would have been catastrophic for our area and would have been to the detriment of the communities that we serve, and the various groups, boards and statutory functions that elected members must attend on behalf of the area.

“But not all Highland Council areas were spared from the Boundary Commission’s axe and I am deeply disappointed for residents in North, West and Central Sutherland.

“Despite the huge geographical size of the Sutherland wards and the fragile communities that dominate the council wards, reducing representation at Highland Council is deeply unfair.”

Caithness, Sutherland and Ross MSP Maree Todd said: “It’s better than we hoped but it’s still not great. North, West and Central Sutherland, an area which already has many challenges, suffers a loss of one councillor. How can that possibly improve their situation?

“Wester Ross suffers an arbitrary shift. We’re being asked to accept that new lines drawn on a map by a distant bureaucrat will serve us better.

“I’m not sure how a boundary review prompted by the Islands Act, which obviously intended to empower island communities, resulted in arbitrary changes and democratic degradation for the rural mainland.”

However, the commission recognised that public opinion was against a reduction in councillor numbers.

Commissioner Ronnie Hinds said: “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.”

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


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