Ross boundary changes need reworked, says chief
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PROPOSED changes to UK Parliamentary Highland constituencies need to be rethought, a council chief has urged.
Highland Council is advocating changes to the boundaries and the names of the four new Highland constituencies proposed by the Boundary Commission for Scotland in its review.
In giving evidence to Sheriff Principal Sir Stephen Young at Inverness, the Council’s chief executive, Alistair Dodds, said the Highlands had four of the five largest constituencies proposed in Scotland, including the largest – Caithness, Sutherland and Ross and Cromarty at 12,830 sq km.
The other proposed new constituencies are: Inverness and Skye; Argyll Bute and Lochaber; and Moray and Strathspey.
Mr Dodds indicated that the Council would be proposing four main changes to the boundaries, which he stressed were inter-dependent as they impacted on the electorate and geographical size of the constituencies and recommended changes to the titles of the constituencies to better reflect the communities represented.
He suggested that the Commission should move Applecross and Lochcarron from the proposed Inverness and Skye Constituency into the Caithness Sutherland and Ross and Cromarty Constituency.
As this addition of 518 sq km would result in the constituency being bigger than the maximum permitted geographical area, Strathconon (264.7 sq km) would need to transfer from Caithness Sutherland and Ross and Cromarty into Inverness and Skye Constituency.
At the same time, he said the Council saw little justification in including the 3,122 voters in Beauly and Kiltarlity in the Caithness Sutherland and Ross and Cromarty Constituency. The communities should be moved into the Inverness and Skye Constituency.
As this move would increase the Inverness and Skye Constituency electorate beyond the maximum permitted it would be necessary to reduce the electorate of the constituency.
This could be achieved by transferring the 4,040 electors in Caol and Corpach from Inverness and Skye into the proposed new Argyll Bute and Lochaber Constituency. This would allow the whole of Ward 21 (Badenoch and Strathspey) to remain in the Inverness and Skye Constituency.
Finally, he suggested that the 9,012 electors in Nairn would be better aligned with Moray and Strathspey instead of Inverness and Skye.
The transfer could be accommodated by moving the 9,996 electors in Badenoch and Strathspey from the proposed Inverness and Skye Constituency into Moray and Strathspey.
Should the Commission accept the changes proposed by the Council, Mr Dodds suggested that the names of the constituencies be changed to the following:
Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber;
Inverness, Skye, Lochalsh, Badenoch and Strathspey;
Moray and Nairn.
Caithness, Sutherland, Ross and Cromarty would remain unchanged.
If the Boundary Commission did not accept the changes, the Council still felt the names should be changed, as follows:-
Argyll Bute and South Lochaber;
Inverness, Nairn, Skye, Lochalsh and North Lochaber
Moray, Badenoch and Strathspey
Again, Caithness Sutherland, Ross and Cromarty would remain unchanged.
Read more about the proposed changes here. Do the proposals make sense for Ross-shire? Have your say here or email us at editor@rsjournal.co.uk
