Highland Council wards created in 2007

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Highland council area
Shown as one of the council areas of Scotland

1999 to 2007

2007

22 new Highland Council wards^[1]^[2] have been created for the third general election to the Highland Council, in Scotland, polling on Thursday 3 May 2007. The new wards replace 80 earlier wards, each electing one councillor, which have been in use since 1999.

The election is the first to use the single transferable vote system of election, instead of the first past the post system, and three or four councillors will be elected from each of the 22 wards, to produce a council of 80 members.

The single transferable vote system, with multi-member wards, is designed to produce a form of proportional representation.

The council has decided to group the new wards into three new operational management areas, each with its own corporate manager, and there will be, also, subdivision of the operational areas, creating a three-tier administrative structure. Some of the lowest-level subdivisions will consist of single wards. Others will consist of a groups of wards. Each lowest-level subdivision will be under a single ward manager.^[3]

The new wards have been created under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004. The wards are as defined in recommendations of the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland.^[4]

[edit] List of wards

No	Ward	Description	Seats	Operational area
13	Aird and Loch Ness	Includes Loch Ness, the town of Beauly, and the village of Fort Augustus Aird is a former district of the county of Inverness	4	Inverness Nairn and Badenoch and Strathspey
21	Badenoch and Strathspey	Includes the towns and villages of Aviemore, Carrbridge, Cromdale, Grantown-on-Spey, Kingussie and Newtonmore Badenoch and Strathspey is also a former district of the Highland region	4	Inverness Nairn and Badenoch and Strathspey
10	Black Isle	A Black Isle area, between the Beauly Firth and the Cromarty Firth Includes the towns of Cromarty and Fortrose	4	Ross Skye and Lochaber
12	Caol and Mallaig	Includes the Caol area of the town of Fort William, the town of Mallaig, and the Small Isles A boundary divides the town of Fort William between the Fort William and Ardnamurchan ward and the Caol and Mallaig ward	3	Ross Skye and Lochaber
18	Culloden and Ardersier	Includes the villages of Culloden, Ardersier and Smithton	4	Inverness Nairn and Badenoch and Strathspey
7	Cromarty Firth	North of the Cromarty Firth, west of the Tain and Easter Ross ward Includes the towns of Alness, Evanton and Invergordon	4	Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross
9	Dingwall and Seaforth	Includes the towns of Dingwall, Conon Bridge, and Muir of Ord	4	Ross Skye and Lochaber
5	East Sutherland and Edderton	Includes the towns and villages of Brora, Dornoch, Edderton, Golspie and Helmsdale Sutherland is a former local government county, and a former district of the Highland region	3	Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross
11	Eilean a' Cheò	Islands, including Skye and Raasay	4	Ross Skye and Lochaber
22	Fort William and Ardnamurchan	Includes part of the town of Fort William (south of Caol), the villages of Ballachulish and Kinlochleven, and the Ardnamurchan peninsula A boundary divides the town of Fort William between the Fort William and Ardnamurchan ward and the Caol and Mallaig ward Loch Linnhe divides the ward into two distinct areas	4	Ross Skye and Lochaber
15	Inverness Central	Includes Dalneigh, Glebe, Haugh, Merkinch and South Kessock areas of urban Inverness	4	Inverness Nairn and Badenoch and Strathspey
17	Inverness Millburn	Includes Millburn, Culcabock, Longman and Raigmore areas of urban Inverness	3	Inverness Nairn and Badenoch and Strathspey
16	Inverness Ness-side	Includes Drummond, Hilton and Lochardil areas of Inverness, and a more rural area, east of the River Ness	4	Inverness Nairn and Badenoch and Strathspey
20	Inverness South	Includes Cradlehall, Inches and Westhill areas in or near urban Inverness, and the village of Tomatin, on the River Findhorn	4	Inverness Nairn and Badenoch and Strathspey
14	Inverness West	Includes Kinmylies and Scorguie areas of urban Inverness, and a more rural area, west of the River Ness	3	Inverness Nairn and Badenoch and Strathspey
4	Landward Caithness	The former local government county of Caithness, and former district of the Highland region, minus the Thurso and Wick wards Landward means rural, and the ward is bounded more by sea than by other wards	4	Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross
19	Nairn	Urban Nairn and more rural areas Within the former county of Nairn (also known as Nairnshire), and former Nairn district of the Highland region	4	Inverness Nairn and Badenoch and Strathspey
1	North, West and Central Sutherland	Includes the towns and villages of Altnaharra, Bettyhill, Bonar Bridge, Durness, Lairg, Lochinver and Tongue Sutherland is a former local government county and a former district of the Highland region	3	Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross
8	Tain and Easter Ross	Between the Cromarty Firth and the Dornoch Firth, east of the Cromarty Firth ward Includes the town of Tain and the Seaboard Villages Ross is a former county	3	Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross
2	Thurso	Urban Thurso and more rural areas around Thurso Bay Includes Scrabster Harbour, but not the point of Holborn Head	3	Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross
6	Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh	Includes the towns and villages of Gairloch, Lochalsh, Strathpeffer and Ullapool Ross is a former county	4	Ross Skye and Lochaber
3	Wick	Urban Wick and more rural areas to north and south	3	Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross

[edit] Operational areas

The operational areas are designed for those services that could not be effectively or efficiently delivered and managed at ward level.^[5]

Operational area	Wards	Seats
Inverness Nairn and Badenoch and Strathspey also known as East Highland	Aird and Loch Ness Badenoch and Strathspey Culloden and Ardesier Inverness Central Inverness Millburn Inverness Ness-side Inverness South Inverness West Nairn	34
Ross Skye and Lochaber also known as Mid and West Highland	Black Isle Caol and Mallaig Dingwall and Seaforth Eilean a' Cheò Forth William and Arnamurchan Strathpeffer and Lochalshe	23
Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross also known as North Highland	East Sutherland and Edderton Cromarty Firth Landward Caithness North, West and Central Sutherland Tain and Easter Ross Thurso Wick	23