An Taobh Siar agus Nis

An Taobh Siar agus Nis (Scottish Gaelic for 'West Side and Ness') is one of the 11 wards of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Scottish Gaelic for 'Council of the Western Isles'). Created in 2007, the ward elects three councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system. Originally a four-member ward, the number of members elected in An Taobh Siar agus Nis was reduced following a boundary review and it has elected three councillors since the 2022 Comhairle nan Eilean Siar election.

An Taobh Siar agus Nis
Na h-Eileanan Siar
Outline map
Boundary of An Taobh Siar agus Nis in Na h-Eileanan Siar from 2007–2022.
Population2,668 (2021)[1]
Electorate2,552 (2022)
Major settlementsBarvas
Port of Ness
Scottish Parliament constituencyNa h-Eileanan an Iar
Scottish Parliament regionHighlands and Islands
UK Parliament constituencyNa h-Eileanan an Iar
Current ward
Created2007 (2007)
Number of councillors3
CouncillorJohn N. MacLeod (Independent)
CouncillorKenneth MacLeod (SNP)
CouncillorDonald MacSween (Independent)
Created fromBarvas and Arnol
Carloway
Dell
Gress
Laxdale
Port of Ness
Shawbost

Independents have dominated elections in the Western Isles and the majority of councillors elected in the area have had no party affiliation. However, since 2012, the Scottish National Party (SNP) have held one of the seats.

Boundaries

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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 An Taobh Siar agus Nis was formed from an amalgamation of several previous first-past-the-post wards. It contained all of the former Dell and Port of Ness wards, the majority of the former Barvas and Arnol and Shawbost wards as well as part of the former Carloway, Gress and Laxdale wards. The ward centres around the towns of Barvas and Port of Ness in the northwest of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. It includes the remote and uninhabited Isle of Rona in the north Atlantic Ocean – the northernmost part of the council area.[2] Proposals in the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2017 Scottish local elections would have extended the ward south to include Carloway.[3] However, these were not adopted by Scottish ministers as plans for the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 would bring forward an interim review following the 2017 elections.[4]

The Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 allowed for the creation of single- and dual-member wards to allow for better representation of island areas. The boundaries for An Taobh Siar agus Nis were unaffected by the 2019 Reviews of Electoral Arrangements – instigated as a result of the act. However, the ward was reduced from a four-member ward to a three-member ward to improve electoral parity.[5]

Councillors

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Election Councillors
2007 Agnes Rennie
(Independent)
John MacKay
(Independent)
Kenneth M. Murray
(Independent)
Iain Morrison
(Independent)
2012 Kenneth MacLeod
(SNP)
2015
by-election
John N. McLeod
(Independent)
2017 Kenny J. MacLeod
(Independent)
2022 Donald McSween
(Independent)

Election results

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2022 election

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An Taobh Siar agus Nis – 3 seats
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6
Independent John N. MacLeod (incumbent) 25.0 346 356        
SNP Kenny MacLeod (incumbent) 21.8 302 365        
Independent Donald MacSween 19.6 271 282 288 290 339 479
Independent Dorothy Morrison 16.8 233 242 248 250 283  
Independent Donald J. MacLeod 9.5 131 133 135 138    
SNP Finlay J. MacLeod 7.4 102          
Electorate: 2,552   Valid: 1,414   Spoilt: 29   Quota: 347   Turnout: 55.4%  

Source:[6]

2017 Election

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2017 Comhairle nan Eilean Siar election[7]

An Taobh Siar agus Nis - 4 seats
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2 3 4 5 6
Independent John N. MacLeod (incumbent) 23.72 339          
SNP Kenneth MacLeod (incumbent) 19.38 277 286.85        
Independent Kenny John MacLeod 16.72 239 260.89 261.11 310.99    
Independent John MacKay (incumbent) 15.4 220 224.38 224.63 254.81 261.75 339.88
Independent Alistair MacLennan (incumbent) 13.51 193 200.82 201 238.49 247.3  
Independent Malcolm McTaggart 11.27 161 164.44 164.52      
Electorate: TBC   Valid: 1,429   Spoilt: 35   Quota: 286   Turnout: 1,464 (57.6%)  

2015 By-election

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An Taobh Siar agus Nis By-election (7 October 2015) – 1 Seat[8]
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1
Independent John Norman MacLeod 86.9% 886
Independent Richard Froggatt 7.4% 75
Scottish Green Gavin MacLeod Humphreys 5.8% 59
Valid: 1,020   Quota: 511   Turnout: (39.8%)  

2012 Election

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2012 Comhairle nan Eilean Siar election

An Taobh Siar agus Nis - 4 seats
Party Candidate FPv% Count
1 2
Independent Iain Morrison (incumbent)†††† 24.18% 354  
Independent John MacKay (incumbent) 21.17% 310  
SNP Kenneth MacLeod 20.36% 298  
Independent Kenneth MacLeod Murray (incumbent) †† 19.74% 289 316.4
Independent Alastair MacLennan 8.13% 119 128.3
Independent Alastair Dunlop 6.42% 94 103.3
Electorate: 2,599   Valid: 1,464   Spoilt: 21   Quota: 293   Turnout: 1,485 (56.34%)  

2007 Election

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2007 Comhairle nan Eilean Siar election

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar election, 2007: An Taobh Siar agus Nis
Party Candidate 1st Pref % Seat Count
Independent Iain Morrison 463 25.9 1 1
Independent John MacKay 335 18.7 2 3
Independent Kenneth MacLeod Murray 313 17.5 3 5
Independent Annie MacSween 277 15.5
Independent Agnes Rennie 267 14.9 4 7
Independent Iain MacLeod 118 6.6
Independent Malcolm McTaggart 14 0.8

References

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  1. ^ "An Taobh Siar agus Nis". Scottish Government. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  2. ^ "Fourth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements; Na h-Eileanan an lar Council Area" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. May 2006. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  3. ^ "Fifth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements; East Ayrshire Council Area" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. May 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  4. ^ "Council ward boundaries agreed". Scottish Government. 14 September 2016. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  5. ^ "Review of Electoral Arrangements; Na h-Eileanan an Iar Council Area" (PDF). Boundaries Scotland. June 2021. Retrieved 21 July 2024.
  6. ^ Faulds, Allan. "Comhairle nan Eilean Siar 2022". Ballot Box Scotland. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
  7. ^ "Local Government Elections 2017". Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.
  8. ^ "Comhairle nan Eilean Siar – 2015 Press Releases". cne-siar.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 12 April 2017.