Abbey (Dumfries and Galloway ward)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Abbey | |
|---|---|
| Dumfries and Galloway | |
 Boundary of Abbey in Dumfries and Galloway from 2017. | |
| Population | 10,471 (2021)[1] |
| Electorate | 8,592 (2022) |
| Major settlements | Dalbeattie |
| Scottish Parliament constituency | Galloway and West Dumfries |
| Scottish Parliament region | South Scotland |
| UK Parliament constituency | Dumfries and Galloway |
| Current ward | |
| Created | 2007 |
| Number of councillors | 3 |
| Councillor | Kim Lowe (SNP) |
| Councillor | Davie Stitt (Labour) |
| Councillor | Ian Blake (Conservative) |
| Created from | Castle Douglas Urr Criffel Dalbeattie Craignair Dalbeattie Milton Maxwelltown Troqueer |
Abbey is one of the twelve electoral wards of Dumfries and Galloway Council. Created in 2007, the ward was a four-member ward until boundary changes in 2017. It now elects three councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system and covers an area with a population of 10,471 people.
The area has produced strong results for the Conservative who held half the seats between 2007 and 2011 and Labour who held half the seats from 2011 to 2017.
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 Abbey was formed from an amalgamation of several previous first-past-the-post wards. It contained all of the former Dalbeattie Craignair and Troqueer wards, the majority of the former Criffel, Dalbeattie Milton wards and part of the former Castle Douglas Urr, Maxwelltown wards. Abbey took in a central area in the south of the council area that was within the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire and runs along the Solway Firth and Irish Sea coast. It included the town of Dalbeattie as well as the villages of Cargenbridge, New Abbey, Beeswing, Kirkgunzeon, Southerness, Sandyhills, Rockcliffe and Palnackie.[2] Following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2017 Scottish local elections, the ward's western boundary was brought east and an area around the mouth of the Urr Water was transferred to the newly-created Castle Douglas and Crocketford ward. An area north of Dalbeattie around Kirgunzeon and Beeswing was also transferred to the Castle Douglas and Crocketford ward as Abbey was reduced from a four-member ward to a three-member ward.[3]