Ministers back majority of council ward boundary changes
Council ward boundaries are to be changed in 25 out of 32 local authorities across Scotland.
Council ward boundaries are to be changed in 25 out of 32 local authorities across Scotland.
The Scottish Government accepted all but five recommendations made by the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland as part of a regular review of wards and councillor numbers.
The alterations will come into effect in time for next year's council elections.
All mainland councils will see changes except Dundee City, Argyll and Bute and the Scottish Borders, while changes to three island councils may be made at a later date.
The Conservatives and Labour questioned the Government's decision to reject some of the recommendations, suggesting ministers had "cherry-picked" the changes.
Parliamentary business minister Joe FitzPatrick said: "In a small number of cases - Argyll and Bute, Dundee City and Scottish Borders - we have listened to local representations and left boundaries as they currently stand to ensure that strong historic ties in particular areas and communities are maintained.
"Significant concerns were raised about aspects of the commission's proposals for those areas, in particular that they would not reflect local communities.
"While the commission did try to address these in its final recommendations, it was clear from the responses to those recommendations that many of those concerns remained. We therefore decided that the better course would be to keep the status quo for those areas.
"In the case of the three island councils, we are committed to introducing an Islands Bill in this first Parliamentary year enabling the creation of one or two-member island wards.
"We do not propose to pre-empt the Bill by changing ward boundaries in Orkney, Shetland or Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, so we are therefore not implementing any changes in those areas.
"However, we will be asking the commission to look at electoral arrangements for the islands areas once the Bill has been enacted, with the aim of having any changes arising from the Islands Bill in place for the local elections in 2022."
Scottish Conservative local government spokesman Graham Simpson said: "Voters and councillors will rightly ask why the SNP is cherry-picking boundaries in this way.
"Not only has the SNP dragged its feet on boundary changes, but now we have an unprecedented intervention from ministers.
"It's irrelevant whether political parties support these changes or not - the Scottish Government likes to think of itself as transparent and honest, which is why it must explain in detail the rationale behind these decisions."
Scottish Labour's business manager James Kelly said there was a potential conflict of interest because Mr Fitzpartrick's constituency is in Dundee City - one of the councils where changes were rejected.
"There should be full transparency on the decision-making process, which comes just months before the local government elections.
"Mr FitzPatrick should come before MSPs to explain his decision."
Liberal Democrat business manager Mike Rumbles also raised concerns, saying: "We need the boundary review process to be independent and transparent.
"Any suggestion that there has been any kind of political stitch-up on the part of the SNP government can only serve to undermine public trust.
"Joe FitzPatrick needs to come to Holyrood and explain his government's pick-and-mix approach to Parliament."
But a spokesman for Mr FitzPatrick hit back, saying: "These are boomerang attacks from opposition press offices in Edinburgh, who seem completely unaware that their own parties lobbied locally for these changes not to go ahead - and have welcomed today's announcement.
"The explanation for not accepting certain recommendations were laid out by the Scottish Government today, and those decisions took account of strong community representations.
"We listened carefully to the concerns of local communities - something Labour, Tories and Lib Dems seem reluctant to do, which doesn't bode well for them for next year's local elections."
He also stated: "The minister has already indicated that he would be happy to appear at the committee."