Saltcoats and Stevenston (ward)

Saltcoats and Stevenston is one of the nine wards used to elect members of North Ayrshire Council. Re-established in 2022, the ward elects five councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system and covers an area with a population of 21,925 people.

Saltcoats and Stevenston
North Ayrshire
Population21,925 (2021)[1]
Electorate16,951 (2022)
Major settlementsSaltcoats
Stevenston
Scottish Parliament constituencyCunninghame South
Cunninghame North
Scottish Parliament regionWest Scotland
UK Parliament constituencyNorth Ayrshire and Arran
Current ward
Created2022 (2022)
Number of councillors5
CouncillorJean McClung (SNP)
CouncillorJim Montgomerie (Labour)
CouncillorDavina McTeirnan (SNP)
CouncillorJohn Sweeney (Labour)
CouncillorCameron Inglis (Conservative)
Created fromSaltcoats
Stevenston
2007 (2007)–2017 (2017)
Number of councillors4
Replaced bySaltcoats
Stevenston
Created fromArdrossan North
Kilwinning West
Saltcoats East
Saltcoats North
South Beach
Stevenston North
Stevenston South

The ward was originally created in 2007 and elected four councillors before it was abolished in 2017. It was a Labour stronghold with the party holding half the seats. However, the re-established ward has been split between Labour and the Scottish National Party (SNP) with both parties holding two of the five seats.

Boundaries

edit

The ward was initially 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 Saltcoats and Stevenston was formed from an amalgamation of several previous first-past-the-post wards. It contained all of the former Saltcoats East and Stevenston South wards, the eastern halves of the former Saltcoats North and South Beach wards, the southern half of the former Stevenston North ward and a small part of both the Ardrossan North and Kilwinning West wards. As the name suggests, Saltcoats and Stevenston covered the adjoining towns of Saltcoats and Stevenston on the Firth of Clyde coast in the west of mainland North Ayrshire.[2] Following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements prior to the 2017 local elections, the ward was abolished in favour of two three-member wards for each town – Saltcoats and Stevenston.[3] However, this was reversed after the introduction of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 which coincided with the introduction of the Scottish Elections (Reform) Act 2020 which allowed for the creation of five-member wards. The 2019 Reviews of Electoral Arrangements proposed that Saltcoats and Stevenston be re-instated covering a slightly larger area than the original and electing five members instead of four.[4][5]

Councillors

edit
Election Councillors
2007 Willie Gibson
(SNP)
David Munn
(Labour)
Ronnie McNicol
(Ind.)
Alan Munro
(Labour)
2011
by-election
Jim Montgomerie
(Labour)
2012
2017 Abolished
2022 Jean McClung
(SNP)
Jim Montgomerie
(Labour)
Davina McTeirnan
(SNP)
John Sweeney
(Labour)
Cameron Inglis
(Conservative)

Election results

edit

2022 election

edit
Saltcoats and Stevenston - 5 seats
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
SNP Jean McClung[note 1] 29.3 1,908              
Labour Jim Montgomerie[note 1] 28.0 1,822              
Labour John Sweeney[note 2] 12.2 796 811 1,350          
Conservative Cameron Inglis 11.4 742 745 772 776 814 828 857 1,103
SNP Davina McTeirnan[note 2] 10.2 666 1,402            
Independent Ronnie McNicol[note 1] 5.6 366 394 448 486 527 605 702  
ISP David Higgins 1.7 111 120 127 206 219 235    
Independent Jimmy Miller[note 2] 1.4 95 97 119 140 182      
Electorate: 16,951   Valid: 6,506   Spoilt: 202   Quota: 1,085   Turnout: 39.6%  

Source: [6][7]

2012 election

edit
Saltcoats and Stevenston - 4 seats
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Labour Jim Montgomerie 36.2 1,926              
SNP Willie Gibson (incumbent) 23.4 1,244              
Independent Ronnie McNicol (incumbent) 13.2 703 771 789 796 816 884 993 1,210
Labour Alan Munro (incumbent) 10.1 540 1,124            
SNP Nan Wallace 9.0 481 510 642 650 667 688 729  
Conservative David Rocks 3.6 193 198 199 201 205      
Scottish Senior Citizens Jimmy Miller 3.1 163 210 216 225 239 282    
Socialist Labour Debbie Anderson 1.4 76 91 94 100        
Electorate: 15,274   Valid: 5,326   Spoilt: 138   Quota: 1,066   Turnout: 34.9%  

Source: [8]

2011 by-election

edit

A by-election arose in the Saltcoats and Stevenston ward following the resignation of the Labour Party's David Munn, and Jim Montgomorie held the seat for Labour on 25 August 2011.

Saltcoats and Stevenston by-election (25 August 2011) - 1 seat
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5
Labour Jim Montgomerie 48.7 1,914 1,927 1,936 1,963 2,039
SNP Nan Wallace 33.2 1,306 1,311 1,326 1,363 1,425
Conservative Chris Barr 7.2 284 286 297 308 331
Scottish Senior Citizens Jimmy Miller 5.4 211 217 222 240  
Independent Gerard Pollock 2.9 114 117 123    
Liberal Democrats Gordon Bain 1.4 56 57      
Socialist Labour Louise McDaid 1.1 43        
Electorate: 11,039   Valid: 2,764   Spoilt: 42   Quota: 1,965   Turnout: 25.4%  

Source: [9]

2007 election

edit
Saltcoats and Stevenston - 4 seats
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
SNP William Gibson 22.4 1,629            
Independent Ronnie McNicol 18.8 1,362 1,380 1,577        
Labour David Munn 13.0 943 951 968 978 1,045 1,344 1,531
Labour Alan Munro 12.4 902 907 953 961 1,000 1,254 1,482
SNP Nan Wallace 9.5 691 800 890 919 1,051 1,094  
Labour Sam Taylor 9.4 683 685 709 714 743    
Conservative Stewart Ferguson 7.6 554 557 594 619      
Independent Margaret Walsh 6.8 496 501          
Electorate: 15,039   Valid: 7,260   Spoilt: 189   Quota: 1,453   Turnout: 49.5%  

Source: [10]

Notes

edit
  1. ^ a b c Sitting councillor for Saltcoats.
  2. ^ a b c Sitting councillor for Stevenston.

References

edit
  1. ^ "Saltcoats and Stevenston". Scottish Government. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  2. ^ "Fourth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements; North Ayrshire Council Area" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. May 2006. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  3. ^ "Fifth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements; North Ayrshire Council Area" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. May 2016. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  4. ^ "Review of Electoral Arrangements; North Ayrshire Council Area" (PDF). Boundaries Scotland. June 2021. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  5. ^ Andy Hamilton (5 March 2022). "North Ayrshire: Changes on the way as voters get set to go to polls". Irvine Times. Retrieved 2 May 2022.
  6. ^ "Declaration of Results Report Saltcoats and Stevenston". North Ayrshire Council. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  7. ^ "Candidate Votes Per Stage Report Saltcoats and Stevenston". North Ayrshire Council. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  8. ^ "Declaration of Results Ward 04 - Saltcoats and Stevenston" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2012. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
  9. ^ "By-election Ward 4" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 26 August 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2024.
  10. ^ "Local Government Elections 2007: Declaration of result North Ayrshire Council: Saltcoats and Stevenston Electoral Ward" (PDF). North Ayrshire Council. 4 May 2007. Retrieved 21 January 2024.