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Cut in number of councillors proposed           16/2/14

Councillors on the Comhairle want to cut their own numbers down by five.

In a move previously described as turkeys voting for Christmas by one elected member, they argue the present figure of 31 is too high.

The council has backtracked from an original suggestion to slash the number from 31 councillors to 22.

It now wants a less drastic cut so just five councillors’ posts would be axed by the next election if the changes go through.

They seek to reduce the Comhairle in size to 26 or 27 elected members after the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland launched a national review.

The body is looking at council boundaries as well as the number of councillors to serve on each local authority, ward boundaries and other electoral arrangements.

The Commission is due to make its own recommendations soon but the island council is putting forward its own options.

One idea is to retain the current boundaries but have one councillor less in each of the four member wards - Barra and South Uist, Stornoway North, Stornoway South, and Westside and Ness. This would require some adjustment to boundaries.

It is also considering a general cut of up to five councillors across the Western Isles on the basis  of one councillor per 1,000 electors instead of the current ratio of one per 750 voters. This would reduce the Comhairle to 26 elected members.

There is consensus from councillors in the Harris and Lochs areas that this should be part of the same ward - they also indicated that North Lochs, Kinloch and South Lochs should be included in the same ward as this represented a natural community and would encourage more candidates to stand for election whilst sharing the demanding workload for those elected.

The Comhairle will argue for the introduction of electoral wards consisting of between two to six councillors so that distinct geographical communities can be adequately represented.

It opposes the idea of creating larger wards to cover a bigger population and widespread geography as this hits a candidate’s ability to canvass the entire ward while remaining within expenditure limits.