Beith Garnock East Kilbirnie North Kilbirnie South Largs South and Fairlie
Kilbirnie and Beith was one of the 10 wards used to elect members of North Ayrshire Council. Created in 2007 following the Fourth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements, the ward elected three councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system. As a result of the Islands (Scotland) Act 2018, the ward was abolished in 2022.
The area was politically split after each election returned one councillor for both the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Labour as well as one independent councillor.
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 Kilbirnie and Beith was formed from an amalgamation of several previous first-past-the-post wards. It contained part of the former Garnock East and Kilbirnie South wards and the majority of the former Kilbirnie North ward as well as all of the former Beith ward and a small part of the former Largs South and Fairlie ward. Kilbirnie and Beith took in an area in the northeast of the council area next to its border with Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire and centred around the towns of Beith and Kilbirnie.[1] Following the Fifth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements ahead of the 2017 Scottish local elections, the ward was reduced in area as largely unpopulated areas were transferred to other wards. The eastern boundary was moved west to run along the A737 with the area transferred to the Dalry and West Kilbride ward.[2]
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.[3][4]
A by-election arose in the Kilbirnie and Beith Ward following the death of SNP councillor Craig Taylor. Anthea Dickson held the seat for the SNP on 11 December 2008.
