The
Highland Council ('''' in
Gaelic) comprises 21 wards, each electing three or four councillors by the
single transferable vote system, which creates a form of
proportional representation. The total number of councillors is 74,
Current administration The
most recent election of the council was on 5 May 2022, and resulted in a coalition administration formed by the
SNP and the
Independent group. The Coalition had 39 councillors, and the opposition was divided between 15
Lib Dem, 10
Conservatives, 2
Labour and 4
Green councillors plus 4 independent members who were not part of the ruling group. Councillor Andrew Jarvie resigned from the
Conservatives to stand as a Unionist in December 2022 but actually stood as Non-aligned. Scottish Liberal Democrat Councillor Sarah Rawlings resigned in 2023 due to ill health. Maureen Ross was elected in her place in September 2023 and joined the Highland Independent Group. Councillor Patrick Logue resigned from the Conservatives to stand as Non-aligned in October 2023. Councillors Duncan Macpherson, Maxine Smith, Andrew Jarvie, Matthew Reiss, and Jim McGillivray formed the Highland Alliance in late October 2023 led by the first two named.
2017 elections The
2017 election was on the 4th and resulted in a coalition administration formed by two of the four political parties on the council, the
Liberal Democrats and the
Labour party, together with the
Independent group. It was the first election formed under the new ward boundaries. The Coalition had 41 councillors, and the opposition was divided between 22
SNP councillors, 10
Conservatives, and 1
Green member. Subsequently, there have been
nine by-elections and seven defections on the council. Following the by-elections, the independent administration have gained two, held one, and lost two councillors. Two councillors have also defected from the group, both currently sit with the Conservative group. The SNP have gained two, held one, and lost one councillor in by-elections, and an additional five councillors have resigned from the group. Of these five, one has since returned to the SNP group, three have formed a working group "Highland Matters" together with the sole Scottish Green member of the council, and the fifth remains unaligned to any group on the council. The Conservatives have lost two seats to by-elections, while they gained two from the aforementioned independent defections. The Liberal Democrats have won three and lost two councillors to by-elections. Finally, independent Cllr Ben Thompson for Caol and Mallaig resigned within six months prior to the scheduled date of the 2022 Highland Council election. Consequently, his vacancy will not be filled by a by-election.
2012 elections The
2012 election was on 3 May, and resulted in a coalition administration formed by all three political parties on the council, the
SNP, the
Liberal Democrats and the
Labour party.
2007 elections After the 2007 election, the Independent Group, led by
Nairn ward councillor Sandy Park, effectively acted like a party, complete with a
party whip. Immediately after the
2007 council election, an administration had then been formed by the Independent Group and the SNP, but collapsed when the SNP withdrew from the coalition. After the collapse, a second
independent group was formed, called the Independent Members Group. From August 2008, the council had been ruled by a coalition of the Independent Group and
Liberal Democrat and
Labour parties. This administration was established following the collapse of a ruling coalition of the Independent Group and
Scottish National Party (SNP) in June 2008. In February 2010, a third
independent group was formed, when four councillors left the Independent Group and created the Independent Alliance Group. Since then groups and parties have been represented as follows: The Liberal Democrat Michael Foxley had become the new council Convener by 23 December 2010.
History The first elections to the Highland Council were in 1995, when the
unitary council was created under the
Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. Since then, there have been general elections of the council at four year intervals. Since 1999 these elections have coincided with general elections of the
Scottish Parliament, but the next council election has been delayed for a year, until 2012, to end this coincidence, making the current council term one of five years instead of four. The new council was created to replace a
regional council and eight
district councils, which had been created under the
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, and were abolished in 1996. Until 2007, the new council maintained decentralised management and committee structures which related to former district boundaries, except this arrangement was compromised by changes to ward boundaries in 1999, so that committees ceased to represent exactly the areas for which they were making decisions. Current management and committee structures, involving three corporate management areas and related committees, were created at the same time as the introduction of multi-member wards and single transferable vote elections in 2007. The
1995 election created a council of 72 members, each elected from a single-member
ward by the
first past the post system of election. Ward boundaries were redrawn for the
1999 election, to create 80 single-member wards and, again, election was by the first past the post system. The same wards and the same system of election were used for the
2003 election. For the
2007 election, ward boundaries were redrawn again, under the
Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, to create the current 22 multi-member wards, each electing three or four councillors by the single transferable vote system, but still electing a total of 80 councillors. The eight older management areas, created when district councils were abolished in 1996, were also groups of wards, and each management area had an
area committee of councillors elected from the wards in the area. Three of the older management areas,
Caithness,
Nairn and
Sutherland, were very similar to earlier local government
counties. Two others,
Inverness and
Ross and Cromarty, had the names of earlier counties but have very different boundaries. The management areas were: Between 2007 and 2017, the 22 wards were divided between three corporate management areas, and each of these was subdivided to create a total of 16 ward management areas. Some wards were grouped into larger areas for ward management purposes, and one ward was divided between two different ward management areas. Therefore, the number of ward management areas was less than the number of wards. The corporate management areas were named as (1) Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, (2) Inverness, Nairn, and Badenoch and Strathspey, and (3) Ross, Skye and Lochaber. Two of these names are also those of
Westminster Parliament (
House of Commons)
constituencies, and one name is very similar to the name of another Westminster constituency, but constituency and corporate management area boundaries are different. Corporate management areas were represented, for some purposes, by their own committees. Also, there was an Inverness city management area covering seven of the nine wards (and thus four of the six ward management areas) of the Inverness, Nairn, and Badenoch and Strathspey corporate management area, with the city area being represented by a city committee. Public forums are held at ward level, and there are also private ward-level meetings of councillors. The numbers of wards in each corporate management area, and the number of councillors representing them, were as follows: For lists of wards and details of how they are grouped into corporate and ward management areas, see: •
Highland Council wards created in 2007 In 2017, following the 5th Boundary Review, the management areas were abolished and the council area was divided into just the council wards. For the latest available wards see: •
Highland Council Wards in 2017 For lists of wards see: •
Highland Council wards 1995 to 1999 •
Highland Council wards 1999 to 2007 •
2007 to 2017 wards •
Highland Council Wards in 2017 == Westminster and Holyrood ==