Dalmellington was one of 32

electoral wards The wards and electoral divisions in the United Kingdom are electoral districts at sub-national level, represented by one or more councillors. The ''ward (subnational entity), ward'' is the primary unit of English electoral geography for civil pa ...

East Ayrshire Council East Ayrshire Council (Scottish Gaelic: ''Comhairle Shiorrachd Inbhir Àir an Ear'') is the political body covering the East Ayrshire local authority created in 1995, comprising nine wards, each electing three of four local councillors through th ...

. Originally created in 1974, the ward was initially within Cumnock and Doon Valley District Council before the local government reforms in the 1990s. The ward elected one councillor using the

first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

electoral system. The ward was a Labour stronghold as the party successfully held the seat at every election after gaining it from the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

(SDP) in 1992 until it was abolished. In 1988, Dalmelington was the only ward in Scotland won by the newly formed SDP – a breakaway party from the

Social and Liberal Democrats The Liberal Democrats, colloquially known as the Lib Dems, are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom, founded in 1988. They are based at Liberal Democrat Headquarters, in Westminster, and the leader is Ed Davey. They are the third ...

which was formed by a merger of the original

and the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. In 2007, the ward was abolished and replaced by the multi-member

Doon Valley The Doon Valley is an unusually wide, long valley within the Sivalik Hills and the Lesser Himalayas, in the Indian states of Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana. Within the valley lies the city of Dehradun, the winter capital of Uttar ...

ward as council elections moved to a proportional voting system – the

single transferable vote The single transferable vote (STV) or proportional-ranked choice voting (P-RCV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vot ...

– following the implementation of the

Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 The Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 (asp 9) is an Act of the Scottish Parliament which provided, amongst other things, for the election of councillors to the local government in Scotland, local authorities in Scotland by the single transfera ...

Boundaries

The Dalmellington ward was created in 1974 by the Formation Electoral Arrangements from the previous Dalmellington South electoral division of Ayr County Council. The ward centered around the town of

Dalmellington Dalmellington (, ) is a market town and civil parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, co ...

and took in the southern part of Cumnock and Doon Valley next to its borders with Kyle and Carrick District Council and Stewartry District Council. The boundaries remained largely unchanged following the Initial Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements in 1981. A review in 1986 into the boundaries between the Cumnock and Doon Valley and Kyle and Carrick district councils saw an area to the south of Dalmellington transferred from Kyle and Carrick to Cumnock and Doon Valley which extended the council area to the boundary with Wigtown District Council and included the whole of

Loch Doon Loch Doon (, ) is a freshwater loch in Carrick, Scotland. It is considered relatively oligotrophic. The River Doon issues from its northern end, while the loch itself receives waters from Gala Lane and Loch Enoch (in the Galloway Hills) via Eg ...

within Cumnock and Doon Valley. All of the area transferred was included within the Dalmellington ward. Following the Second Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements in 1994, the ward's eastern boundary was moved west to reduce it in area as a result of the 1986 review. After the implementation of the

Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 The Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 (c. 39) is an Act of parliament, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the current Local government in Scotland, local government structure of 32 Unitary authority, unitary authori ...

, the boundaries proposed by the second review became the Formation Electoral Arrangements for the newly created

– an amalgamation of Cumnock and Doon Valley District Council and Kilmarnock and Loudoun District Council. In 1998, the Third Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements made minor alterations to the wards northern boundary ahead of the 1999 election. In 2007, the ward was abolished as the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 saw proportional representation and new multi-member wards introduced. The vast majority of the area covered by the Dalmellington ward was placed into the new Doon Valley ward and a small area became part of the Cumnock and New Cumnock ward.

Councillors

Election results

2003 election

1999 election

1995 election

1992 election

1988 election

1984 election

1980 election

1977 election

1974 election

Notes

References

{{Wards of East Ayrshire Wards of East Ayrshire (1995–2007) Dalmellington Wards of Cumnock and Doon Valley (1974–1995) 1974 establishments in Scotland 2007 disestablishments in Scotland