North Coast and Cumbraes (ward)

North Coast and Cumbraes
North Ayrshire
Boundary of North Coast and Cumbraes in North Ayrshire from 2017–2022.
Electorate	13,596 (2017)
Major settlements	Largs Millport
Scottish Parliament constituency	Cunninghame North
Scottish Parliament region	West Scotland
UK Parliament constituency	North Ayrshire and Arran
2007 (2007)–2022 (2022)
Number of councillors	4
Replaced by	North Coast
Created from	Kilbirnie North Largs East Largs North and Skelmorlie Largs South and Fairlie Largs West and Cumbrae

North Coast and Cumbraes was one of the nine wards used to elect members of North Ayrshire Council. Created in 2007 following the Fourth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements, the ward elected four councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system. As a result of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, the ward was abolished in 2022.

The ward was a Scottish National Party (SNP) stronghold as the part held half the seats between 2007 and 2017. Both Labour and the Conservatives also returned one councillor at each election.

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 North Coast and Cumbraes was formed from an amalgamation of several previous first-past-the-post wards. It contained the northern part of former Largs South and Fairlie ward and the western part of the former Kilbirnie North ward as well as all of the former Largs East, Largs North and Skelmorlie and Largs West and Cumbrae wards. North Coast and Cumbraes took in the northernmost part of the council area next to its border with Inverclyde, Renfrewshire and the Firth of Clyde and included the towns of Largs, Fairlie and Skelmorlie as well as the two islands of The Cumbraes. ^[1]

North Coast and Cumbraes was the only ward in the council area unaffected following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2017 Scottish local elections. ^[2]

In 2018, the Scottish Parliament passed the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 which included provisions to improve the representation of island communities on councils. As a result, an intermediate review of the boundaries in North Ayrshire was carried out. The review coincided with the introduction of the Scottish Elections (Reform) Act 2020 which allowed for the creation of five-member wards. This proposed that three wards – Dalry and West Kilbride, Kilbirnie and Beith and North Coast and Cumbraes – be replaced by two new wards named Garnock Valley and North Coast. The proposals for North Ayrshire were subsequently approved by the Scottish Parliament and the ward was abolished in 2022. ^{[3] [4]}

Councillors

Election	Councillors
2007		Alan Hill (SNP)		Bobby Rae (SNP)		Alex Gallagher (Labour)		Elisabethe Marshall (Conservative)
2012	Alex McLean (SNP)		Tom Marshall (Conservative)
2014	Grace McLean (SNP)
2017				Ian Murdoch (Ind.)

Election results

2017 election

Main article: 2017 North Ayrshire Council election

North Coast and Cumbraes - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Conservative	Tom Marshall (incumbent)	37.0	2,686
	SNP	Alan Hill (incumbent)	19.4	1,406	1,450	1,451
	Labour	Alex Gallagher (incumbent)	16.0	1,160	1,461
	SNP	Grace McLean (incumbent)	14.8	1,075	1,091	1,091	1,092	1,112
	Independent	Ian Murdoch	11.0	801	1,110	1,113	1,113	1,272	1,767
	Independent	Johnny McCloskey	1.7	124	239	241	241
Electorate: 13,596  Valid: 7,252  Spoilt: 117  Quota: 1,451  Turnout: 54.2%

Source: ^{[5] [6]}

2014 by-election

SNP councillor Alex McLean died on 1 August 2014. ^[7] A by-election was held on 30 October 2014 and was won by his widow Grace McLean, also of the SNP.

North Coast and Cumbraes by-election (30 October 2014) - 1 seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	SNP	Grace McLean	38.7	2,021	2,045	2,156	2,279	2,966
	Independent	Drew Cochrane	22.8	1,190	1,234	1,411	2,000
	Conservative	Toni Dawson	21.5	1,125	1,174	1,296
	Labour	Valerie Reid	13.2	691	711
	UKIP	Meilan Henderson	3.6	192
Electorate: 14,052  Valid: 5,219  Spoilt: 45  Quota: 2,610  Turnout: 37.5%

Source: ^[8]

2012 election

Main article: 2012 North Ayrshire Council election

North Coast and Cumbraes - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	SNP	Alan Hill (incumbent)	27.4	1,705
	Labour	Alex Gallagher (incumbent)	18.4	1,144	1,167	1,197	1,281
	Conservative	Tom Marshall	18.4	1,143	1,161	1,173	1,176	1,182	1,599
	SNP	Alex McLean [note 1]	17.5	1,090	1,441
	Independent	Ian Murdoch	16.3	1,017	1,050	1,103	1,126	1,137
	Socialist Labour	James Anderson	2.0	124	128	137
Electorate: 13,226  Valid: 6,223  Spoilt: 97  Quota: 1,245  Turnout: 47.0%

Source: ^[10]

2007 election

Main article: 2007 North Ayrshire Council election

North Coast and Cumbraes - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	SNP	Alan Hill	30.2	2,357
	Labour	Alex Gallagher	19.8	1,549	1,608
	Conservative	Elisabethe Marshall	12.9	1,007	1,037	1,040	1,084	1,179	1,779
	Conservative	Tom Marshall	9.2	719	732	734	751	785
	SNP	Bobby Rae	9.2	715	1,194	1,201	1,259	1,389	1,429	1,457	1,832
	Independent	Ian Murdoch	7.5	587	622	626	793	936	980	1,038
	Liberal Democrats	Lewis Hutton	6.3	493	548	559	617
	Independent	Gerard Langan	4.8	377	411	414
Electorate: 13,519  Valid: 7,804  Spoilt: 174  Quota: 1,561  Turnout: 59.0%

Source: ^[11]

Notes

1. North Coast and Cumbraes SNP councillor Alex McLean died on 1 August 2014. ^[9] A by-election was held on 30 October 2014 and was won by his widow Grace McLean, also of the SNP.

References

1. "Fourth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements; North Ayrshire Council Area" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. May 2006. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
2. "Fifth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements; North Ayrshire Council Area" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. May 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
3. "Review of Electoral Arrangements; North Ayrshire Council Area" (PDF). Boundaries Scotland. June 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2023.
4. Hamilton, Andy (5 March 2022). "North Ayrshire: Changes on the way as voters get set to go to polls". Irvine Times. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
5. "Declaration of Results Report North Coast and Cumbraes" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
6. "Candidate Votes Per Stage Report North Coast and Cumbraes" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 5 May 2017. Retrieved 16 May 2023.
7. Councillor Alex McLean, North Ayrshire Council, 6 August 2014 (archived version, 2014)
8. "Declaration of Results Ward 08 - North Coast and Cumbraes" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 20 October 2014. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
9. Councillor Alex McLean, North Ayrshire Council, 6 August 2014 (archived version, 2014)
10. "Declaration of Results Ward 08 - North Coast and Cumbraes" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
11. "Local Government Elections 2007: Declaration of result North Ayrshire Council: North Coast and Cumbraes Electoral Ward" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 21 January 2024.