Steòrnabhagh a Tuath

Steòrnabhagh a Tuath (Scottish Gaelic for 'Stornoway North') is one of the 11 wards of Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Scottish Gaelic for 'Council of the Western Isles'). Created in 2007, the ward elects four councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system and covers an area with a population of 3,748 people.

Steòrnabhagh a Tuath
Na h-Eileanan Siar
Boundary of Steòrnabhagh a Tuath in Na h-Eileanan Siar from 2007–2022.
Population	3,748 (2021)[1]
Electorate	3,097 (2022)
Major settlements	Stornoway (part of)
Scottish Parliament constituency	Na h-Eileanan an Iar
Scottish Parliament region	Highlands and Islands
UK Parliament constituency	Na h-Eileanan an Iar
Current ward
Created	2007 (2007)
Number of councillors	4
Councillor	Gordon Murray (SNP)
Councillor	Duncan MacInnes (Independent)
Councillor	Iain M. MacAulay (Independent)
Councillor	Malcolm K. MacDonald (Independent)
Created from	Blackwater Braighe Castle Coulregrein Goathill Laxdale Manor Park Plasterfield

Independents have dominated elections in the Western Isles and the majority of councillors elected in the area have had no party affiliation. However, since 2012, the Scottish National Party (SNP) have held one of the seats.

Boundaries

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 Steòrnabhagh a Tuath was formed from an amalgamation of several previous first-past-the-post wards. It contained all of the former Coulregrein and Manor Park wards, the majority of the former Castle ward as well as part of the former Blackwater, Braighe, Goathill, Laxdale and Plasterfield wards. The ward centres around the northern and eastern parts of Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis and includes the village of Laxdale.^[2] Proposals in the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2017 Scottish local elections would have reduced the ward's size in area and population resulting in the ward becoming a three-member ward.^[3] However, these were not adopted by Scottish ministers as plans for the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 would bring forward an interim review following the 2017 elections.^[4]

The Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 allowed for the creation of single- and dual-member wards to allow for better representation of island areas. The ward was largely unaffected by the review but the ward's southern boundary was extended south to include the Arnish peninsula. It remained a four-member ward.^[5]

Councillors

Election	Councillors
2007		Murdo MacLeod (Independent)		Iain MacKenzie (Independent)		Roddie MacKay (Independent)		Neil Campbell (Independent)
2012		Gordon Murray (SNP)	Iain MacLean MacAulay (Independent)
2017	Neil MacKay (Independent)
2022	Duncan MacInnes (Independent)			Malcolm Kenneth MacDonald (Independent)

Election results

2022 election

Main article: 2022 Comhairle nan Eilean Siar election

Steòrnabhagh a Tuath – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	SNP	Gordon Murray (incumbent)	23.3	315
	Independent	Duncan MacInnes	20.0	271
	Independent	Iain M. MacAulay (incumbent)	17.9	242	252	256	259	272
	Independent	Malcolm K. MacDonald	14.8	201	210	213	215	226	227	243	265	328
	Independent	Calum B. MacKay	9.9	134	137	139	141	147	148	162	179
	Independent	Tracy Dinner	4.2	57	61	61	71	74	74	80
	Independent	Malcolm I. McTaggart	4.1	55	57	60	63	65	65
	Independent	Willie MacRae	3.3	44	46	46	49
	Independent	Maxi MacNeill	1.7	23	25	25
	Independent	John M. MacMillan	0.9	12	13
Electorate: 3,097   Valid: 1,354   Spoilt: 25   Quota: 271   Turnout: 44.5%

Source:^[6]

2017 election

Main article: 2017 Comhairle nan Eilean Siar election

Steòrnabhagh a Tuath – 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	SNP	Gordon Murray (incumbent)	34.4	486
	Independent	Roddie MacKay (incumbent)	28.2	398
	Independent	Iain MacAulay (incumbent)	17.6	249	321
	Independent	Neil MacKay	10.3	145	190	251	269	357
	Independent	Lesley McKenzie	9.5	134	163	176	183
Electorate: 2,993   Valid: 1,412   Spoilt: 28   Quota: 283   Turnout: 48.1%

Source: ^[7]

2012 Election

2012 Comhairle nan Eilean Siar election

Steòrnabhagh a Tuath - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9
	Independent	Iain MacKenzie (incumbent)	20.68%	299
	Independent	Roddie MacKay (incumbent)	18.12%	262	264.1	272.1	294.1
	SNP	Mohammed Ahmed	12.17%	176	176.4	179.5	182.5	182.8	194.9	207.1	218.2
	SNP	Gordon Murray	12.03%	174	174.7	180.7	192.7	193.2	208.4	228.7	251.1	358.4
	Independent	Murdo Murray	8.30%	120	121.8	123.8	128.4	129.4	142.6	160.9
	Independent	Iain MacLean MacAulay	7.12%	103	103.5	109.6	117.7	118.4	145.7	177.3	221.9	249.0
	Independent	David Morrison	6.36%	92	93.1	97.1	104.1	104.8
	Independent	Neil Campbell (incumbent)	6.29%	91	91.5	92.5
	Independent	Jackie MacKay (incumbent)	6.15%	89	89.8	95.8	108.1	108.8	123.2
	Labour	Kevin Paterson	2.77%	40	40.2
Electorate: 2,986   Valid: 1,446   Spoilt: 25   Quota: 290   Turnout: 1,471 (48.42)%

2007 Election

2007 Comhairle nan Eilean Siar election

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar election, 2007: Steòrnabhagh a Tuath

Party		Candidate	FPv%	%	Seat	Count
	Independent	Murdo MacLeod	920	50.3	1	1
	Independent	Roddie MacKay	305	16.7	2	2
	Independent	Iain MacKenzie	212	11.6	3	3
	Independent	Neil Campbell	168	9.2	4	7
	Liberal Democrats	John Chisholm Cole	108	5.9
	Independent	Angus MacMillan	95	5.2
	Independent	Colin Scott	20	1.1

References

1. "Steòrnabhagh a Tuath". Scottish Government. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
2. "Fourth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements; Na h-Eileanan an lar Council Area" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. May 2006. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
3. "Fifth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements; East Ayrshire Council Area" (PDF). Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. May 2016. Retrieved 1 November 2024.
4. "Council ward boundaries agreed". Scottish Government. 14 September 2016. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
5. "Review of Electoral Arrangements; Na h-Eileanan an Iar Council Area" (PDF). Boundaries Scotland. June 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
6. Faulds, Allan. "Comhairle nan Eilean Siar 2022". Ballot Box Scotland. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
7. Teale, Andrew. "Local Elections Results 2017 Eilean Siar". Local Elections Archive Project. Retrieved 1 November 2024.