Nicola Sinclair welcomes rejection of proposals to cut councillor numbers in Caithness
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Wick and East Caithness councillor Nicola Sinclair has welcomed today's vote at Highland Council to reject the proposals for a highly controversial shake-up of wards by the Boundary Commission.
The proposals included a further cut to councillor numbers in Caithness – an overall drop from 10 to seven in five years.
Councillor Sinclair, who is chair of the Caithness Area Committee, pointed out that it would further marginalise the voice of the far north in the Inverness chamber.
She stated that local councillors would shortly launch a public campaign against these cuts.
During a speech at a full council meeting today she said: "I’m heartened to see the council take such a strong stance on the proposals being brought by the Boundary Commission and fully endorse the decision to outright reject their recommendations.
"Looking first at my own area, it’s worth noting that this is the second reduction in councillor numbers in Caithness, which went from 10 members to eight in 2017 and is now proposed to reduce further to seven.
"Like many other areas in Highland, Caithness has a vast geography and a declining population. This projected population decline is being used to justify a reduction in elected representatives, yet the projections for our population are based entirely on a do nothing scenario.
"It’s actually imperative that we do something, and the eight of us are working together not to manage decline but to actively reverse it. It’s a huge task and we need a full complement of councillors to address it."
She stated that the local councillors were working towards socio-economic regeneration and tackling issues that directly affect the lives of their constituents – issues like local health services, education and childcare, food and fuel poverty and crime.
"It’s critical that we make progress on those issues and it needs all hands to the deck," said councillor Sinclair.
"We’re lucky to have an incredibly proactive and energetic voluntary sector and we’ve seen that close-up during Covid – that sector requires members to attend their meetings and support their endeavours and we are already under enormous pressure in terms of workload."
As vice-chair of the Health Social Care and Wellbeing Committee she commented on the pressures on fragile communities and stressed that she believed very firmly in the responsibility to be the voice for marginalised groups.
Councillor Sinclair continued: "Looking beyond Caithness, the proposals represent an astonishing attack on remote and rural democracy, which ironically is the very issue it sought to address via the Islands Bill.
"Where is the parity for Skye and Rasaay when the islands will have one member to 800 and Highland has one to 2800? The entire landmass of the Islands only just fills the landmass of Sutherland!
"Scotland in my view already needs to strengthen local government – it’s striking to note that Norway, with a similar population, has 428 municipalities and 19 county authorities.
Under the Norwegian system, Caithness, Sutherland and Skye and Raasay would have 27 councillors each. I am not proposing we should have 27 members but we should certainly fight tooth and nail against any further marginalising of the Highland democratic voice.
"The proposals reveal that the Boundary Commission methodology is fundamentally flawed and I fully endorse this council’s call on the Scottish Government to review its principles as a matter of urgency."
