North Coast and Cumbraes (ward)
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| North Coast and Cumbraes | |
|---|---|
| North Ayrshire | |
 Boundary of North Coast and Cumbraes in North Ayrshire from 2017–2022. | |
| Electorate | 13,596 (2017) |
| Major settlements | Largs Millport |
| Scottish Parliament constituency | Cunninghame North |
| Scottish Parliament region | West Scotland |
| UK Parliament constituency | North Ayrshire and Arran |
| 2007–2022 | |
| Number of councillors | 4 |
| Replaced by | North Coast |
| Created from | Kilbirnie North Largs East Largs North and Skelmorlie Largs South and Fairlie Largs West and Cumbrae |
North Coast and Cumbraes was one of the nine wards used to elect members of North Ayrshire Council. Created in 2007 following the Fourth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements, the ward elected four councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system. As a result of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, the ward was abolished in 2022.
The ward was a Scottish National Party (SNP) stronghold as the part held half the seats between 2007 and 2017. Both Labour and the Conservatives also returned one councillor at each election.
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 North Coast and Cumbraes was formed from an amalgamation of several previous first-past-the-post wards. It contained the northern part of former Largs South and Fairlie ward and the western part of the former Kilbirnie North ward as well as all of the former Largs East, Largs North and Skelmorlie and Largs West and Cumbrae wards. North Coast and Cumbraes took in the northernmost part of the council area next to its border with Inverclyde, Renfrewshire and the Firth of Clyde and included the towns of Largs, Fairlie and Skelmorlie as well as the two islands of The Cumbraes.[1]
North Coast and Cumbraes was the only ward in the council area unaffected following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2017 Scottish local elections.[2]
In 2018, the Scottish Parliament passed the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 which included provisions to improve the representation of island communities on councils. As a result, an intermediate review of the boundaries in North Ayrshire was carried out. The review coincided with the introduction of the Scottish Elections (Reform) Act 2020 which allowed for the creation of five-member wards. This proposed that three wards – Dalry and West Kilbride, Kilbirnie and Beith and North Coast and Cumbraes – be replaced by two new wards named Garnock Valley and North Coast. The proposals for North Ayrshire were subsequently approved by the Scottish Parliament and the ward was abolished in 2022.[3][4]