HELENSBURGH and Lomond could be set to lose a councillor under new boundary proposals for Argyll and Bute.
The Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland suggests that Helensburgh Central should have three councillors, instead of the current four, and that the total number of councillors in Argyll and Bute should be reduced from 36 to 34.
The commission is also proposing that 900 people on the electoral roll in Helensburgh should be moved from Helensburgh Central to Helensburgh and Lomond South.
The proposals were debated by elected councillors at a meeting of the full council last week.
READ MORE: Tributes to Helensburgh councillor as she steps down as Argyll and Bute leader
Helensburgh councillor Richard Trail and his Lomond North colleague George Freeman both suggested there should be no ‘corporate response’ from the authority as a whole, and that councillors should be left to submit their own comments on the plans.
But a draft corporate response supporting some of the proposals but criticising others – particularly the reduction in overall councillor numbers – was backed after a vote.
Proposals to reduce councillor numbers in Argyll and Bute were last made in 2016, but the commission’s suggestions then were not accepted by the Scottish Government because of the impact they would have on councillors’ ties to their local area.
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