Arran (ward)

Arran is one of the nine electoral wards of North Ayrshire Council. Re-established in 2022, the ward elects one councillor using the single transferable vote electoral system and covers an area with a population of 4,649 people.

The Arran ward was first created in 1974 by the Formation Electoral Arrangements for Cunninghame District Council from the previous Corrie and Brodick, Lamlash, Whiting Bay, Southend, Shedog and Lochranza electoral divisions of Bute County Council. The ward centres around the Isle of Arran and includes the Holy Isle and the uninhabited island of Pladda.^[2] The boundaries remained largely unchanged following the Initial Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements in 1979^[3] and the Second Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements in 1994.^[4] After the implementation of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, the boundaries proposed by the second review became the Formation Electoral Arrangements for the newly created North Ayrshire Council – a unitary authority for the area previously under Cunninghame District Council. Again, the boundaries were unchanged following the Third Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements in 1998.^[5] In 2007, the ward was abolished as the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 saw proportional representation and new multi-member wards introduced. Arran was combined with mainland wards and placed into the new Ardrossan and Arran ward.^[6] The Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 allowed for the creation of single- and dual-member wards to better represent island communities. As a result, the 2019 Reviews of Electoral Arrangements saw the re-establishment of a ward for Arran with the same boundaries as before.^[7][8]

Source: ^[9][10]