The Community Council replied to a consultation to the Local Government Boundary Commission where our current area and representation would change. We asked that the area be kept the same as at the moment we are included with all the Loch Ness Communities and the new proposal would see us as part of the city .Highland Councillors made the same comments but the Boundaries Commission haven’t taken this on board for no other reason than making numbers fit areas.
We have sent a letter to all the MSP’s who represent our area asking them to make representation in the Parliament.
I copied the letter below and will update once I get replies
Letter to be sent by email to regional MSP’s as follows:
Kate Forbes
Donald Cameron
Rhoda Grant
Jamie Halcro Johnston
Edward Mountain
Emma Roddick
Douglas Ross
3rd July 2021
Dear Sir/ Madam
Review of Electoral Arrangements The Highland Council Area
Final Proposals (Report Number E21003)
We are writing to you in connection with the above report published in June 2021 by
Boundaries Scotland and which we understand is shortly to be considered by
Scottish Ministers.
The area served by Dores and Essich Community Council sits within the Aird and
Loch Ness Ward of Highland Council (Ward 12) and is one of the areas proposed to
be changed as part of the Review. The proposal which affects us is the formation
of a new ward ‘Inverness South West’ (Ward 15).
Our Community Council reviewed the draft report and responded online via the
consultation portal with the following comments:
The concept of regulating electoral parity is acknowledged but regard needs
to be given to the the nature of the area being served: Councillors in rural
areas will have to deal with different logistical issues (remoteness, distance,
weather influence) to those in urban/ semi-urban areas. Mixing urban and
rural areas may assist with optimising electoral parity from a statistical
perspective but, in practice, may result in rural areas being under-
represented compared to the current position.
Dores and Essich Community does not support the proposed division of the
current Aird and Loch Ness ward along a seemingly arbitrary line on the
centre of Loch Ness. There is currently synergy of demographics, issues and
interests on each side of the Loch and (other than balancing out the electoral
numbers) there appears to be no logic to splitting the ward in this way. The
proposal to include the current Ness-side ward with our area to form the
proposed new Ward 15 is a matter for concern, in that the interests of urban
Inverness and our rural/ semi rural area are unlikely to be aligned and the
‘pull’ of population numbers on councillors’ time is likely to work to our
disadvantage. Our Community Council area already includes part of the
Ness-side ward and, in our experience, attendance at our Community
Council meetings and involvement in its business by elected representatives
for the Ness-side ward has been minimal. In summary, we would prefer the
status quo to prevail.
In its report to Scottish Ministers (at p.36) Boundaries Scotland made the following
comment:
- In Aird and Loch Ness, while a number of respondents preferred the
status quo there were no compelling arguments that persuaded us that we
should revert to the existing boundaries with the consequential impacts for
ward design in other parts of the council area.
We know that our Community Council was not alone in expressing its disapproval
of the proposed changes and it is telling to see that, despite the representations
made, the justification for proceeding with them is to avoid ‘consequential impacts
on ward design’ elsewhere. We have to say that, for us, this is not a ‘numbers
game’ but is about ensuring that something that works well is not discarded. Other
respondents have expressed eloquently the success with which the current
arrangements work for representation of the communities around Loch Ness and so
we would urge you to reject this particular change and instead maintain the status
quo.
Yours faithfully
Dores and Essich Community Council