45.The Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland and the Scottish Ministers are obliged, under section 28(2) of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (“the 1973 Act”), to implement electoral arrangements in accordance with section 1 of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 (“the 2004 Act”). Currently this includes the requirement for there to be three or four councillors returned per electoral ward in Scotland.
46.This section of the Act amends the 2004 Act to provide an exception to the usual three or four member rule for electoral wards in relation to wards which consist either wholly or partly of one or more inhabited islands. In these circumstances the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland will have the flexibility to propose wards of one or two members.
47.This new power would form part of the existing framework of rules for the consideration of local electoral arrangements, set out in section 13 and schedule 6 of the 1973 Act, which require the Commission and Ministers to take into account:
the interests of effective and convenient local government;
that each councillor should as near as possible represent the same number of electors;
the desirability of fixing boundaries that are easily identifiable;
any local ties which would be broken by making a particular boundary; and
special geographic considerations that may need different treatment.