Irvine Valley (ward)

Irvine Valley
East Ayrshire
Boundary of Irvine Valley in East Ayrshire from 2007–2017.
Population	12,129 (2021) [1]
Electorate	9,797 (2022)
Major settlements	Darvel Galston Newmilns
Scottish Parliament constituency	Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley
Scottish Parliament region	South Scotland
UK Parliament constituency	Kilmarnock and Loudon
Current ward
Created	2007 (2007)
Number of councillors	3
Councillor	Beverley Michele Clark (SNP)
Councillor	Kevin McGregor (Labour)
Councillor	Sally Cogley (Rubbish)
Created from	Crookedholm, Moscow, Galston West and Hurlford North Darvel Galston East Hurlford Kilmaurs and Stewarton South Mauchline Newmilns North Kilmarnock, Fenwick and Waterside Stewarton East and Dunlop

Irvine Valley is one of the nine electoral wards of East Ayrshire Council. Created in 2007, the ward elects three councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system. Originally a four-member ward, Irvine Valley was reduced in size following a boundary review and has elected three councillors since the 2017 East Ayrshire Council election.

As a four-member ward, the area favoured the Scottish National Party (SNP) but since the boundary changes in 2017, the ward has been split between the SNP, Labour and The Rubbish Party.

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 Irvine Valley was formed from an amalgamation of several previous first-past-the-post wards.

It contained part of the former Stewarton East and Dunlop, Kilmaurs and Stewarton South, North Kilmarnock, Fenwick and Waterside, Crookedholm, Moscow, Galston West and Hurlford North, Galston East, Mauchline and Hurlford wards as well as all of the former Darvel and Newmilns wards and initially elected four members. Irvine Valley lies in the northeast of the council area and took in the towns of Newmilns, Darvel, Galston, Fenwick, Moscow and Waterside.

The original ward boundaries stretched from the council area's boundary with South Ayrshire in the west to its boundaries with East Renfrewshire and South Lanarkshire in the east. ^[2] Following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2017 Scottish local elections, the ward was reduced in size to elect three members. The towns of Fenwick, Moscow and Waterside to the east of the A77 became part of the Annick ward while the area surrounding the A76 up to the council's boundary with South Ayrshire became part of the Ballochmyle ward. ^[3]

Councillors

Election	Councillors
2007		Alan Brown (SNP)		Stuart Finlayson (Labour)		Stephanie Young (Conservative)		Bobby McDill (SNP)
2012	George Mair (Labour)		John McFadzean (Conservative)
2015 by-election		Elena Whitham (SNP)
2017				Sally Cogley (Rubbish)
2022	Beverley Michele Clark (SNP)	Kevin McGregor (Labour)

Election results

2022 election

Main article: 2022 East Ayrshire Council election

Irvine Valley – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	SNP	Beverley Michele Clark	30.8	1,309
	Labour	Kevin McGregor	22.6	962	974	1,153
	Rubbish	Sally Cogley (incumbent)	18.5	787	801	982	1,017	1,547
	Conservative	Susan McFadzean	17.3	737	739	763	782
	SNP	Lee-Anne Margaret To	10.8	461	667
Electorate: 9,797  Valid: 4,256  Spoilt: 46  Quota: 1,065  Turnout: 43.9%

Source: ^{[4] [5]}

2017 election

Main article: 2017 East Ayrshire Council election

Irvine Valley - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	SNP	Elena Whitham (incumbent)	24.4	1,128	1,131	1,132	1,179
	Conservative	Susan McFadzean	19.9	920	921	922	964	964	989
	Rubbish	Sally Cogley	16.9	784	788	792	888	889	1,036	1,403
	Labour	George Mair (incumbent)	16.8	775	778	780	879	880	991	1,233
	SNP	Margaret Young	11.9	551	551	551	587	605
	Independent	Ian King	9.5	438	438	444
	Independent	David Gartland	0.3	16	16
	Scottish Libertarian	Stevie Brannagan	0.3	14
Electorate: 9,677  Valid: 4,626  Spoilt: 71  Quota: 1,157  Turnout: 48.5%

Source: ^[6]

2015 by-election

Irvine Valley by-election (1 October 2015) – 1 seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2
	SNP	Elena Whitham	49.8	1,797	1,832
	Conservative	Susan McFadzean	24.5	865	884
	Labour	Alex Walsh	23.8	860	884
	Scottish Green	Jen Broadhurst	2.4	88
Electorate: 11,570  Valid: 3,610  Spoilt: 42  Quota: 1,805  Turnout: 31.2%

Source: ^[7]

2012 election

Main article: 2012 East Ayrshire Council election

Irvine Valley – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Labour	George Mair	29.7	1,423
	SNP	Alan Brown (incumbent) [note 1]	26.1	1,252
	Conservative	John McFadzean	17.9	857	896	940	942	1,188
	SNP	Bobby McDill (incumbent)	17.7	847	961
	Independent	May Anderson	7.1	339	451	541	547
Electorate: 11,401  Valid: 4,718  Spoilt: 72  Quota: 944  Turnout: 41.4%

Source: ^{[9] [10]}

2007 election

Main article: 2007 East Ayrshire Council election

Irvine Valley - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2
	SNP	Alan Brown	23.7	1,497
	Labour	Stuart Finlayson	22.4	1,416
	Conservative	Stephanie Young	20.5	1,293
	SNP	Bobby McDill	19.8	1,251	1,421
	Labour	Isabella MacRae	9.2	580	592
	Independent	May Anderson	4.3	274	286
Electorate: 11,324  Valid: 6,311  Spoilt: 135  Quota: 1,263  Turnout: 55.7%

Source: ^[11]

Notes

1. Irvine Valley councillor Alan Brown was elected as MP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun on 7 May 2015. ^[8] He resigned his council seat on 17 July 2015 and a by-election was held on 1 October 2015.

References

1. "Irvine Valley". Scottish Government. Retrieved 9 March 2023.
2. "Fourth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements; East Ayrshire Council Area" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. May 2006. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
3. "Fifth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements; East Ayrshire Council Area" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. May 2016. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
4. "Declaration of Results Report Ward 6 Irvine Valley" (PDF). East Ayrshire Council. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
5. "Detailed Results Ward 6 Irvine Valley" (PDF). East Ayrshire Council. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
6. "Detailed Results Report Ward 6 - Irvine Valley" (PDF). East Ayrshire Council. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 4 May 2022.
7. "Detailed Results Report Ward 6 – Irvine Valley" (PDF). East Ayrshire Council. 1 October 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
8. By-Election In The Irvine Valley
9. "Declaration of Results Report Ward 6 Irvine Valley" (PDF). East Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
10. "Detailed Results Ward 6 Irvine Valley" (PDF). East Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
11. Teale, Andrew. "Local Elections Archive Project - 2007 - East Ayrshire" . Retrieved 3 November 2022.