Aird and Loch Ness (ward)

Aird and Loch Ness is one of the 21 wards used to elect members of the Highland Council. It includes Loch Ness, the town of Beauly, and the village of Fort Augustus. It elects four Councillors.

Location of the ward ^[1]

Councillors

Election
2007	Margaret Davidson (Ind.)		Helen Carmichael (Ind.)		Drew Hendry (SNP)	Hamish Wood (Liberal Democrats)
2012					Drew Hendry (SNP)
Oct 2015		Jean Davis (Liberal Democrats)
2017		Emma Knox (SNP)			George Cruickshank (Conservative)
Mar 2021				David Fraser (Ind.)
2022	Helen Crawford (Conservative)			David Fraser (Ind.)	Chris Ballance (Green)

Election results

2022 election

Aird and Loch Ness - 4 seats
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	SNP	Emma Knox (incumbent)	26.2	1,364
	Independent	David Fraser (incumbent)	22.7	1,182
	Conservative	Helen Crawford	21.1	1,099
	Scottish Green	Chris Ballance	10.2	528	706	727	730	783	924	1,165
	Independent	Aarron Duncan-MacLeod	8.3	430	471	535	556	596	774
	Liberal Democrats	Holly Kingham	6.6	342	369	385	398	523
	Labour	Michael Perera	4.9	253	276	286	291
Electorate: 10,213 Valid: 5,198 Spoilt: 57 Quota: 1,040 Turnout: 51.5%

Source:^[2]^[3]

2021 by-election

A by-election was originally scheduled to take place on 5 November 2020 to elect one councillor after the death of George Cruickshank. However, it was postponed to 11 March 2021.^[4]

Aird and Loch Ness By-election (11 March 2021) - 1 seat^[5]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6
	Independent	David Fraser	28.3%	997	1010	1076	1194	1663	2109
	SNP	Gordon Shanks	28.2%	994	1010	1129	1198	1211
	Conservative	Gavin Berkenheger	23.4%	824	835	847	929
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Robertson	8.5%	300	335	397
	Scottish Green	Ryan MacKintosh	7.7%	272	297
	Labour	Bill Moore	3.8%	133
Electorate: 10,147 Valid: 3,520 Spoilt: 44 Quota: 1,761 Turnout: 3,564 (35.1%)

2017 election

Aird and Loch Ness - 4 seats^[6]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6
	Independent	Margaret Davidson (incumbent)	27.8%	1,405
	Conservative	George Cruickshank	19.7%	998	1,045.3
	SNP	Emma Knox	14.2%	719	734.1	734.3	842.07	1,270.6
	Independent	Helen Carmichael (incumbent)	12.4%	625	837.02	848.6	947.6	960.7	1,049.4
	Liberal Democrats	Dr. Jean Davis (incumbent)	10.2%	515	558.6	568.1	654.5	671.2	714.9
	SNP	Matt Friess	8.08%	409	424.9	425.3	491.8
	Scottish Green	Chris Ballance	7.7%	388	411.8	413.5
Electorate: between 9,735 and 9,752 Valid: 5,059 Spoilt: 66 Quota: 1,012 Turnout: 5,125 (52.6%)

2015 by-election

A by-election was triggered by the resignation of Drew Hendry in July 2015, following his election as an MP.^[7]

Aird and Loch Ness By-election (8 October 2015) - 1 Seat^[8]
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4
	Liberal Democrats	Jean Mary Elizabeth Davis	33.5%	1,029	1,099	1,208	1,511
	SNP	Emma Ann Knox	32.5%	1,000	1,097	1,144	1,167
	Conservative	George Cruickshank	15.2%	467	480	544
	Independent	Zofia Fraser	9.5%	293	330
	Scottish Green	Vikki Tania Trelfer	9.3%	287
Electorate: 9,584 Valid: 3,076 Spoilt: 24 Quota: 1,538 Turnout: 3,100 (32.35%)

2012 Election

Aird and Loch Ness - 4 seats
Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
Party		Candidate	FPv%	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Independent	Margaret Davidson (incumbent)	36.94%	1,194
	SNP	Drew Hendry (incumbent)	20.77%	840
	Independent	Helen Carmichael (incumbent)	16.3%	659	894.4
	Liberal Democrats	Hamish Wood (incumbent)	12.31%	498	546	575.4	579	585.9	652.4	768	858.1
	SNP	Robert Stewart	7.1%	287	314.1	322.7	345.3	358.5	387	413.2
	Conservative	George Cruickshank	6.89%	279	297.4	307.4	307.9	335.8	351.9
	Labour	Mike Robb	5.46%	221	234.2	242.1	243.3	246.2
	UKIP	Fred Pidcock	1.63%	66	72.1	75.8	76.3
Electorate: 8,999 Valid: 4,044 Spoilt: 56 Quota: 809 Turnout: 4,100 (45.56%)

2007 election

The Highland Council election, 2007: Aird and Loch Ness
	Candidate	FPv%	%	Seat	Count
Independent	Margaret Davidson	1,215	24.6	1	1
Independent	Helen Carmichael	1,125	22.8	2	1
SNP	Drew Hendry	892	18.1	3	5
Liberal Democrats	Hamish Wood	550	11.1	4	8
Conservative	Margaret Chown	355	7.2
Independent	John Martin	322	6.5
Labour	Andrew MacKintosh	292	5.9
Independent	Alexander Nicol	192	3.9

References

^ "Scottish Boundary Commission | he Boundary Commission for Scotland is responsible for reviews of UK Parliament constituencies in Scotland".
^ "2022 local government election results Ward 12 Aird and Loch Ness Report - declaration of results". Highland Council. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
^ "2022 local government election results Ward 12 Aird and Loch Ness Report - candidates votes per stage". Highland Council. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2024.
^ Smart, Joanna. "Local Government by-elections". www.highland.gov.uk. Retrieved 25 September 2020.
^ "Ward 12 Aird and Loch Ness By-Election Results 2021". The Highland Council. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
^ "2017 council election Ward 12 Aird and Loch Ness". The Highland Council. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
^ Ramage, Iain (13 July 2015). "Drew Hendry steps down, triggering Highland by-election". Press and Journal. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
^ "Ward 13 - Aird and Loch Ness By-election - Thursday 8 October 2015". highland.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 16 November 2015.

[1] "Scottish Boundary Commission | he Boundary Commission for Scotland is responsible for reviews of UK Parliament constituencies in Scotland".

[2] "2022 local government election results Ward 12 Aird and Loch Ness Report - declaration of results". Highland Council. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2024.

[3] "2022 local government election results Ward 12 Aird and Loch Ness Report - candidates votes per stage". Highland Council. 6 May 2022. Retrieved 11 April 2024.

[4] Smart, Joanna. "Local Government by-elections". www.highland.gov.uk. Retrieved 25 September 2020.

[5] "Ward 12 Aird and Loch Ness By-Election Results 2021". The Highland Council. Retrieved 3 January 2022.

[6] "2017 council election Ward 12 Aird and Loch Ness". The Highland Council. Retrieved 3 January 2022.

[7] Ramage, Iain (13 July 2015). "Drew Hendry steps down, triggering Highland by-election". Press and Journal. Retrieved 18 February 2021.

[8] "Ward 13 - Aird and Loch Ness By-election - Thursday 8 October 2015". highland.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 16 November 2015.

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