2017 South Ayrshire Council election

2017 South Ayrshire Council election

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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.

Results of the 2017 South Ayrshire Council election by ward

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	Conservative		SNP		Lab		Ind		Green
Troon	51.5	2	30.61	1	13.71	1			4.2	0	4
Prestwick	46.2	2	31.3	1	13.3	1	9.1	0			4
Ayr North	25.6	1	43.7	2	24.7	1	6.1	0			4
Ayr East	40.5	1	36.5	1	17.3	1	5.6	0			3
Ayr West	59.2	3	23.4	1	11.1	0	6.2	0			4
Kyle	43.8	1	31.0	1	25.3	1					3
Maybole, North Carrick and Coylton	36.4	1	27.7	1	9.4	0	26.5	1			3
Girvan and South Carrick	26.7	1	19.3	1	9.4	0	44.5	1			3
Total	43.4	12	30.2	9	15.2	5	10.7	2	0.6	0	28

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

Troon - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Conservative	Peter Convery (incumbent)	35.2	2,446
	Conservative	Bob Pollock	16.3	1,135	2,017
	SNP	Craig Mackay	16.2	1,125	1,146	1,157	1,216	2,201
	SNP	Annie McIndoe	14.5	1,005	1,016	1,025	1,117
	Labour	Philip Saxton (incumbent)	13.7	951	1,011	1,194	1,304	1,385
	Scottish Green	Boyd Murdoch	4.2	290	310	371
Electorate: 12,132   Valid: 6,952   Spoilt: 128   Quota: 1,391   Turnout: 57.2%

Source: ^[4][5]

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

Prestwick - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Conservative	Hugh Hunter (incumbent)	29.9	2,008
	SNP	Ian Cochrane (incumbent)	22.3	1,498
	Conservative	Margaret Toner (incumbent)	16.3	1,098	1,641
	Labour	Helen Moonie (incumbent)	13.3	895	932	990	1,000	1,255	1,615
	SNP	John Wallace[note 1]	9.1	612	618	625	749	897
	Independent	Alasdair John Malcolm	9.1	611	649	719	726
Electorate: 12,085   Valid: 6,722   Spoilt: 172   Quota: 1,345   Turnout: 55.1%

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.

Ayr North - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3
	Conservative	Ian Davis	25.6	1,258
	SNP	Laura Brennan-Whitefield	25.5	1,256
	Labour	Ian Cavana (incumbent)	19.5	958	1,015
	SNP	Douglas Campbell (incumbent)	18.1	892	902	1,138
	Independent	Jamie McGeechan	6.1	300	363	375
	Labour	Brenda Knox	5.2	256	286	291
Electorate: 13,106   Valid: 4,920   Spoilt: 158   Quota: 985   Turnout: 39.6%

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.

Ayr East - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Conservative	Mary Kilpatrick (incumbent)	40.5	2,110
	SNP	Chris Cullen	22.1	1,148	1,165	1,223	1,233	1,926
	Labour	Brian McGinley (incumbent)	17.3	900	1,141	1,356
	SNP	Ian McPherson	14.5	753	767	801	810
	Independent	Andrew Bryden	5.6	293	500
Electorate: 10,029   Valid: 5,204   Spoilt: 49   Quota: 1,302   Turnout: 51.5%

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.

Ayr West - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Conservative	Martin Dowey	38.7	3,160
	SNP	Siobhian Brown	15.5	1,267	1,276	1,276	1,376	2,006
	Conservative	Lee Lyons	12.3	1,006	1,847
	Labour	Liz Martin	11.1	911	952	961	1,071	1,103	1,248
	Conservative	Derek McCabe	8.3	675	1,211	1,400	1,530	1,547	1,560	1,865
	SNP	Allan Dorans (incumbent)	7.9	646	653	654	723
	Independent	Chic Brodie	6.2	506	530	535
Electorate: 13,822   Valid: 8,171   Spoilt: 138   Quota: 1,635   Turnout: 59.4%

Source: ^[12][13]

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

Kyle - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Conservative	Arthur Spurling	43.8	2,160
	Labour	Andy Campbell (incumbent)	25.3	1,247
	SNP	Julie Dettbarn	16.4	807	876	879	1,612
	SNP	Scott McFarlane	14.6	721	811	813
Electorate: 10,215   Valid: 4,935   Spoilt: 74   Quota: 1,234   Turnout: 48.7%

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.

Maybole, North Carrick and Coylton - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2
	Conservative	Ian Campbell	36.4	1,584
	SNP	William Grant (incumbent)	27.7	1,202
	Independent	Brian Connolly (incumbent)	20.8	904	1,089
	Labour	Catriona Deliveli	9.4	408	478
	Independent	Gordon McFadzean	5.7	249	318
Electorate: 9,359   Valid: 4,347   Spoilt: 45   Quota: 1,087   Turnout: 48.1%

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.

Girvan and South Carrick - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Independent	Alec Clark (incumbent)	33.1	1,502
	Conservative	Ian Fitzsimmons	26.7	1,211
	SNP	Peter Henderson	19.3	876	919	921	933	1,012	1,285
	Independent	Karen Clark-McCartney	9.5	429	569	586	636	803
	Labour	Owen Martin	9.4	428	485	497	515
	Independent	Gavin Scott	1.9	85	125	134
Electorate: 8,742   Valid: 4,531   Spoilt: 76   Quota: 1,133   Turnout: 52.3%

Source: ^[18][19]