2017 South Ayrshire Council election

2017 South Ayrshire Council election

← 2012 4 May 2017 (2017-05-04) 2022 →
All 28 seats to South Ayrshire Council 15 seats needed for a majority
Registered	89,490
Turnout	52.1%
First party Second party   Con Leader Martin Dowey Allan Dorans Party Conservative SNP Leader's seat Ayr West Ayr West (defeated) Last election 10 seats, 31.5% 9 seats, 29.3% Seats before 10 9 Seats won 12 9 Seat change 2 Popular vote 19,851 13,808 Percentage 43.4% 30.2% Swing 11.9% 0.9%   Third party Fourth party   Lab Ind Leader Brian McGinley Brian Connolly Party Labour Independent Leader's seat Ayr East Maybole, North Carrick and Coylton Last election 9 seats, 25.0% 2 seat, 13.5% Seats before 9 2 Seats won 5 2 Seat change 4 Popular vote 6,954 4,879 Percentage 15.2% 10.7% Swing 9.8% 2.8%
The 8 multi-member wards
Council Leader before election Bill McIntosh (Conservative) No overall control Council Leader after election Douglas Campbell (SNP) No overall control

The 2017 South Ayrshire Council election took place on 4 May 2017 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. As with other Scottish council elections, it was held using single transferable vote (STV) – a form of proportional representation – in which multiple candidates are elected in each ward and voters rank candidates in order of preference.

The Conservatives retained their position as the largest party returning 12 councillors - two more than in the previous election. The Scottish National Party (SNP) maintained their total of nine councillors to remain as the second party while Labour lost four seats. The number of independents returned remained at two.

Following the election, a coalition administration was formed between the SNP, Labour and Independent councillors, even though the Conservatives remained the largest party on the council.^[1]

The total number of seats on South Ayrshire Council was reduced as part of a Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements by the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland from 30 to 28, with the total number of council wards remaining at 8. Both the Ayr East and Maybole, North Carrick and Coylton wards saw the number of seats reduced from four to three.^[2]

2017 South Ayrshire Council election result

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	12	2	0	2	42.9	43.4	19,851	11.9
	SNP	9	1	1		32.1	30.2	13,808	0.9
	Labour	5	0	4	4	17.9	15.2	6,954	9.8
	Independent	2	0	0		7.1	10.7	4,879	2.8
	Scottish Green	0	0	0		0.0	0.6	290	New
Total		28						45,782

Source: ^[3]

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3 May 2012. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

The Conservatives (2), the SNP (1) and Labour (1) retained the seats they won at the previous election.

Source: ^[4][5]

The Conservatives (2), the SNP (1) and Labour (1) retained the seats they won at the previous election.

Source: ^[6][7]

Labour retained one of the two seats they had won at the previous election while the SNP and the Conservatives retained the seats they had won at the previous election and the SNP gained one seat from Labour.

Source: ^[8][9]

Due to boundary changes, Ayr East lost one seat. As a result, each of the parties that won seats at the previous election (the SNP, the Conservatives and Labour) all held one seat and the SNP lost their second seat.

Source: ^[10][11]

The Conservatives (2) and the SNP (1) retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the Conservatives gained one seat from Labour.

Source: ^[12][13]

The SNP, Labour and the Conservatives retained the seats they won at the previous election.

Source: ^[14][15]

Due to boundary changes, Ayr East lost one seat. As a result, the SNP, the Conservatives and independent candidate Brian Connolly retained the seats they won at the previous election and Labour lost their seat.

Source: ^[16][17]

The SNP and independent councillor Alec Clark retained the seats they had won at the previous election while the Conservatives gained one seat from Labour.

Source: ^[18][19]