# North Coast and Cumbraes (ward)

North Coast and Cumbraes was one of the nine wards used to elect members of North Ayrshire Council. Created in 2007 following the Fourth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements, the ward elected four councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system. As a result of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, the ward was abolished in 2022.
The ward was a Scottish National Party (SNP) stronghold as the part held half the seats between 2007 and 2017. Both Labour and the Conservatives also returned one councillor at each election.

## 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 North Coast and Cumbraes was formed from an amalgamation of several previous first-past-the-post wards. It contained the northern part of former Largs South and Fairlie ward and the western part of the former Kilbirnie North ward as well as all of the former Largs East, Largs North and Skelmorlie and Largs West and Cumbrae wards. North Coast and Cumbraes took in the northernmost part of the council area next to its border with Inverclyde, Renfrewshire and the Firth of Clyde and included the towns of Largs, Fairlie and Skelmorlie as well as the two islands of The Cumbraes.
North Coast and Cumbraes was the only ward in the council area unaffected following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2017 Scottish local elections.
In 2018, the Scottish Parliament passed the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018 which included provisions to improve the representation of island communities on councils. As a result, an intermediate review of the boundaries in North Ayrshire was carried out. The review coincided with the introduction of the Scottish Elections (Reform) Act 2020 which allowed for the creation of five-member wards. This proposed that three wards – Dalry and West Kilbride, Kilbirnie and Beith and North Coast and Cumbraes – be replaced by two new wards named Garnock Valley and North Coast. The proposals for North Ayrshire were subsequently approved by the Scottish Parliament and the ward was abolished in 2022.

## Councillors

| Election | Councillors | Councillors | Councillors | Councillors | Councillors | Councillors |
| 2007 | | Alan Hill (SNP) | | Bobby Rae (SNP) | Alex Gallagher (Labour) | Elisabethe Marshall (Conservative) |
| 2012 | Alex McLean (SNP) | Alan Hill (SNP) | Tom Marshall (Conservative) | | Alex Gallagher (Labour) |
| 2014 | Grace McLean (SNP) | Alan Hill (SNP) | Tom Marshall (Conservative) | | Alex Gallagher (Labour) |
| 2017 | | Alan Hill (SNP) | Tom Marshall (Conservative) | Ian Murdoch (Ind.) | Alex Gallagher (Labour) |

## Election results
### 2017 election

North Coast and Cumbraes - 4 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| | Conservative | Tom Marshall (incumbent) | 37.0 | 2,686 | | | | | |
| | SNP | Alan Hill (incumbent) | 19.4 | 1,406 | 1,450 | 1,451 | | | |
| | Labour | Alex Gallagher (incumbent) | 16.0 | 1,160 | 1,461 | | | | |
| | SNP | Grace McLean (incumbent) | 14.8 | 1,075 | 1,091 | 1,091 | 1,092 | 1,112 | |
| | Independent | Ian Murdoch | 11.0 | 801 | 1,110 | 1,113 | 1,113 | 1,272 | 1,767 |
| | Independent | Johnny McCloskey | 1.7 | 124 | 239 | 241 | 241 | | |
| Electorate: 13,596 Valid: 7,252 Spoilt: 117 Quota: 1,451 Turnout: 54.2% ||||||||||
Source:

### 2014 by-election

SNP councillor Alex McLean died on 1 August 2014. A by-election was held on 30 October 2014 and was won by his widow Grace McLean, also of the SNP.
North Coast and Cumbraes by-election (30 October 2014) - 1 seat :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 |
| | SNP | Grace McLean | 38.7 | 2,021 | 2,045 | 2,156 | 2,279 | 2,966 |
| | Independent | Drew Cochrane | 22.8 | 1,190 | 1,234 | 1,411 | 2,000 | |
| | Conservative | Toni Dawson | 21.5 | 1,125 | 1,174 | 1,296 | | |
| | Labour | Valerie Reid | 13.2 | 691 | 711 | | | |
| | UKIP | Meilan Henderson | 3.6 | 192 | | | | |
| Electorate: 14,052 Valid: 5,219 Spoilt: 45 Quota: 2,610 Turnout: 37.5% |||||||||
Source:

### 2012 election

North Coast and Cumbraes - 4 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 |
| | SNP | Alan Hill (incumbent) | 27.4 | 1,705 | | | | | |
| | Labour | Alex Gallagher (incumbent) | 18.4 | 1,144 | 1,167 | 1,197 | 1,281 | | |
| | Conservative | Tom Marshall | 18.4 | 1,143 | 1,161 | 1,173 | 1,176 | 1,182 | 1,599 |
| | SNP | Alex McLean | 17.5 | 1,090 | 1,441 | | | | |
| | Independent | Ian Murdoch | 16.3 | 1,017 | 1,050 | 1,103 | 1,126 | 1,137 | |
| | Socialist Labour | James Anderson | 2.0 | 124 | 128 | 137 | | | |
| Electorate: 13,226 Valid: 6,223 Spoilt: 97 Quota: 1,245 Turnout: 47.0% ||||||||||
Source:

### 2007 election

North Coast and Cumbraes - 4 seats :
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count | Count |
| Party | Party | Candidate | FPv% | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| | SNP | Alan Hill | 30.2 | 2,357 | | | | | | | |
| | Labour | Alex Gallagher | 19.8 | 1,549 | 1,608 | | | | | | |
| | Conservative | Elisabethe Marshall | 12.9 | 1,007 | 1,037 | 1,040 | 1,084 | 1,179 | 1,779 | | |
| | Conservative | Tom Marshall | 9.2 | 719 | 732 | 734 | 751 | 785 | | | |
| | SNP | Bobby Rae | 9.2 | 715 | 1,194 | 1,201 | 1,259 | 1,389 | 1,429 | 1,457 | 1,832 |
| | Independent | Ian Murdoch | 7.5 | 587 | 622 | 626 | 793 | 936 | 980 | 1,038 | |
| | Liberal Democrats | Lewis Hutton | 6.3 | 493 | 548 | 559 | 617 | | | | |
| | Independent | Gerard Langan | 4.8 | 377 | 411 | 414 | | | | | |
| Electorate: 13,519 Valid: 7,804 Spoilt: 174 Quota: 1,561 Turnout: 59.0% ||||||||||||
Source: