Abbey (Dumfries and Galloway ward)

Abbey
Dumfries and Galloway
Boundary of Abbey in Dumfries and Galloway from 2017.
Population	10,471 (2021) [1]
Electorate	8,592 (2022)
Major settlements	Dalbeattie
Scottish Parliament constituency	Galloway and West Dumfries
Scottish Parliament region	South Scotland
UK Parliament constituency	Dumfries and Galloway
Current ward
Created	2007 (2007)
Number of councillors	3
Councillor	Kim Lowe (SNP)
Councillor	Davie Stitt (Labour)
Councillor	Ian Blake (Conservative)
Created from	Castle Douglas Urr Criffel Dalbeattie Craignair Dalbeattie Milton Maxwelltown Troqueer

Abbey is one of the twelve electoral wards of Dumfries and Galloway Council. Created in 2007, the ward was a four-member ward until boundary changes in 2017. It now elects three councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system and covers an area with a population of 10,471 people.

The area has produced strong results for the Conservative who held half the seats between 2007 and 2011 and Labour who held half the seats from 2011 to 2017.

Boundaries

The ward was created following the Fourth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2007 Scottish local elections. As a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, local elections in Scotland would use the single transferable vote electoral system from 2007 onwards so Abbey was formed from an amalgamation of several previous first-past-the-post wards. It contained all of the former Dalbeattie Craignair and Troqueer wards, the majority of the former Criffel, Dalbeattie Milton wards and part of the former Castle Douglas Urr, Maxwelltown wards. Abbey took in a central area in the south of the council area that was within the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire and runs along the Solway Firth and Irish Sea coast. It included the town of Dalbeattie as well as the villages of Cargenbridge, New Abbey, Beeswing, Kirkgunzeon, Southerness, Sandyhills, Rockcliffe and Palnackie. ^[2] Following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2017 Scottish local elections, the ward's western boundary was brought east and an area around the mouth of the Urr Water was transferred to the newly-created Castle Douglas and Crocketford ward. An area north of Dalbeattie around Kirgunzeon and Beeswing was also transferred to the Castle Douglas and Crocketford ward as Abbey was reduced from a four-member ward to a three-member ward. ^[3]

Councillors

Election	Councillors
2007		Ian Blake (Conservative)		Rob Davidson (SNP)		Davie Stitt (Labour)		Bruce Hodgson (Conservative)
2008 by-election	Michael John Thomson (Conservative)
2011 by-election			Tom McAughtrie (Labour)
2012
2017
2022			Kim Lowe (SNP)

Election results

2022 election

Main article: 2022 Dumfries and Galloway Council election

Abbey - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3
	SNP	Kim Lowe	31.1	1,267
	Labour	Davie Stitt (incumbent)	25.9	1,053
	Conservative	Ian Blake (incumbent)	24.6	1,005	1,014	1,020
	Conservative	Robin Wishart	12.0	489	493	496
	Liberal Democrats	Matthew Pumphrey	6.3	256	375	390
Electorate: 8,592  Valid: 4,070  Spoilt: 76  Quota: 1,018  Turnout: 48.3%

Source: ^{[4] [5]}

2017 election

2017 Dumfries and Galloway Council election ^[6]

Abbey - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Conservative	Ian Blake (incumbent)	39.38	1,664
	Labour	Davie Stitt (incumbent)	21.92	926	1,084.31
	SNP	Rob Davidson (incumbent)	16.21	685	698.13	703.77	738.18	932.12	988.26	1,159.28
	No description	Tom McAughtrie (incumbent)	10.60	448	517.31	521.99	532.31	540.35	645.66
	SNP	Kim Lowe	4.90	207	209.92	211.17	235.76
	Independent	Belle Doyle	4.14	175	268.75	271.41	314.93	324.82
	Scottish Green	Clare Phillips	2.84	120	151.74	155.6
Electorate: 8,284  Valid: 4,225  Spoilt: 59  Quota: 1,057  Turnout: 51.0

2012 election

2012 Dumfries and Galloway Council election ^[7]

Abbey - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2
	Labour	Tom McAughtrie (incumbent)	22.95	903
	Conservative	Ian Blake (incumbent)	21.75	856
	SNP	Rob Davidson (incumbent)	20.69	814
	Labour	Davie Stitt (incumbent)	19.9	783	870.2
	Conservative	Charles Milroy	10.29	405	411.1
	UKIP	Bill Wright	4.42	174	178.6
Electorate: 9,019  Valid: 3,935  Spoilt: 65  Quota: 788  Turnout: 4,000 (43.63%)

2011 by-election

Abbey by-election June 16, 2011 - 1 Seat ^[8]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2
	Conservative	Kath Lord	39.46	1,236	1,391
	Labour	Tom McAughtrie	38.19	1,196	1,448
	SNP	Yowann Byghan	21.65	678
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing
Electorate: 9,249  Valid: 3,132  Spoilt: 22  Quota: 1,566  Turnout: 3,154

2008 by-election

Abbey by-election May 1, 2008 - 1 Seat ^[9]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Conservative	Michael John Thomson	40.08	1,713	1,749	1,804	2,006
	Labour	Tom McAughtrie	33.18	1,393	1,418	1,471	1,712
	SNP	John Richard McNaught	17.98	755	785	833
	Independent	Graham William Sutherland McLeod	4.12	173	216
	Liberal Democrats	Keith Joseph Mycock	3.91	164
	Conservative hold		Swing
Electorate: 9,381  Valid: 4,224  Spoilt: 26  Quota: 2,100  Turnout: 4,250

2007 election

2007 Dumfries and Galloway Council election ^[10]

Abbey

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Conservative	Ian Blake	19.7	1,081	1,091	1,126
	SNP	Rob Davidson	17.8	976	996	1,010	1,010.90	1,056.97	1,097.97	1,153.02
	Conservative	Bruce Hodgson	14.2	778	825	834	851.27	883.96	924.15	990.59	995.94	1,052.65
	Labour	Tom McAughtrie	14.1	777	794	797	797.39	812.44	856.44	874.46	881.32
	Labour	Davie Stitt	14.0	770	777	806	807.08	843.22	881.22	943.36	953.57	1,479.11
	Liberal Democrats	Josephine Robertson	4.9	267	280	290	290.37	316.42
	Independent	John White	4.3	239	266	304	304.90	372.27	418.34
	Independent	Stuart Martin Clement	3.8	211	226	269	270.85
	Independent	Ian Stewart McMickan	3.7	203	211
	Independent	Michael John Thomson	3.5	194
Electorate: 9,347  Valid: 5,496  Spoilt: 85  Quota: 1,100  Turnout: 59.7%

References

1. "Abbey". Scottish Government. Retrieved 19 March 2025.
2. "Fourth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements; Dumfries and Galloway Council Area" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. May 2006. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
3. "Fifth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements; Dumfries and Galloway Council Area" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. May 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
4. "Declaration of Results Report Ward 5 - Abbey" (PDF). Dumfries and Galloway Council. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2025.
5. "Candidate Votes Per Stage Report Ward 5 - Abbey" (PDF). Dumfries and Galloway Council. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 23 February 2025.
6. "Council elections - May 2017". Dumfries and Galloway Council. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
7. Teale, Andrew. "Local Elections Archive Project - 2012 - Dumfries and Galloway". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 20 April 2025.
8. "Dumfries and Galloway Council : Abbey Ward By-Election". Dumgal.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 24 November 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
9. "Abbey (Dumfries & Galloway) 1 st May 2008". Alba.org.uk. Archived from the original on 29 August 2008. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
10. "Unavailable". www.gallowaygazette.co.uk. Retrieved 31 May 2021.^{[ dead link ]}