West Mainland is one of the six electoral wards of Orkney Islands Council. Created in 2007, the ward elects four councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system and covers an area with a population of 4,66 people.
Local politics in Orkney is traditionally non-partisan and the ward has only elected one councillor affiliated to a political party.
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 West Mainland was formed from an amalgamation of several previous first-past-the-post wards. It contained all of the former Birsay and Dounby ward, the majority of the former Harray and Stenness, Firth and Sunnybrae and Sandwick and Stromness Landward wards and part of the former Evie, Rendall, Rousay, Egilsay and Wyre ward as well as a small area from the former Orphir, Wells and Flotta ward. Mainland West encompasses the northwestern part of Mainland and includes the villages of Dounby, Twatt, Harray, Stenness and Finstown.
The ward's boundaries were unchanged following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2017 Scottish local elections.
The ward's boundaries were also unchanged following the 2019 Reviews of Electoral Arrangements, an interim review of island areas as a result of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018.
Councillors ElectionCouncillors2007Jimmy MoarAlistair GordonEoin ScottRob Crichton2012Harvey JohnstonOwen Tierney2015 byRachael King2017Duncan Allan Tullock2022Jean Stevenson
Election results 2022 election
2017 election
2015 by-election
2012 election
2007 election
References