Aird and Loch Ness (ward)

Aird and Loch Ness is one of the 21 wards used to elect members of the Highland Council. It includes Loch Ness, the town of Beauly, and the village of Fort Augustus. It elects four Councillors.

Location of the ward ^[1]

Councillors

Election	Councillors
2007		Margaret Davidson (Ind.)		Helen Carmichael (Ind.)		Drew Hendry (SNP)		Hamish Wood (Liberal Democrats)
2012
Oct 2015			Jean Davis (Liberal Democrats)
2017			Emma Knox (SNP)			George Cruickshank (Conservative)
Mar 2021					David Fraser (Ind.)
2022		Helen Crawford (Conservative)				Chris Ballance (Green)

Election results

2022 election

Main article: 2022 Highland Council election

Aird and Loch Ness - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	SNP	Emma Knox (incumbent)	26.2	1,364
	Independent	David Fraser (incumbent)	22.7	1,182
	Conservative	Helen Crawford	21.1	1,099
	Scottish Green	Chris Ballance	10.2	528	706	727	730	783	924	1,165
	Independent	Aarron Duncan-MacLeod	8.3	430	471	535	556	596	774
	Liberal Democrats	Holly Kingham	6.6	342	369	385	398	523
	Labour	Michael Perera	4.9	253	276	286	291
Electorate: 10,213   Valid: 5,198   Spoilt: 57   Quota: 1,040   Turnout: 51.5%

Source:^[2][3]

2021 by-election

A by-election was originally scheduled to take place on 5 November 2020 to elect one councillor after the death of George Cruickshank. However, it was postponed to 11 March 2021.^[4]

Aird and Loch Ness By-election (11 March 2021) - 1 seat^[5]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Independent	David Fraser	28.3%	997	1010	1076	1194	1663	2109
	SNP	Gordon Shanks	28.2%	994	1010	1129	1198	1211
	Conservative	Gavin Berkenheger	23.4%	824	835	847	929
	Liberal Democrats	Martin Robertson	8.5%	300	335	397
	Scottish Green	Ryan MacKintosh	7.7%	272	297
	Labour	Bill Moore	3.8%	133
Electorate: 10,147   Valid: 3,520   Spoilt: 44   Quota: 1,761   Turnout: 3,564 (35.1%)

2017 election

Main article: 2017 Highland Council election

Aird and Loch Ness - 4 seats^[6]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Independent	Margaret Davidson (incumbent)	27.8%	1,405
	Conservative	George Cruickshank	19.7%	998	1,045.3
	SNP	Emma Knox	14.2%	719	734.1	734.3	842.07	1,270.6
	Independent	Helen Carmichael (incumbent)	12.4%	625	837.02	848.6	947.6	960.7	1,049.4
	Liberal Democrats	Dr. Jean Davis (incumbent)	10.2%	515	558.6	568.1	654.5	671.2	714.9
	SNP	Matt Friess	8.08%	409	424.9	425.3	491.8
	Scottish Green	Chris Ballance	7.7%	388	411.8	413.5
Electorate: between 9,735 and 9,752   Valid: 5,059   Spoilt: 66   Quota: 1,012   Turnout: 5,125 (52.6%)

2015 by-election

A by-election was triggered by the resignation of Drew Hendry in July 2015, following his election as an MP.^[7]

Aird and Loch Ness By-election (8 October 2015) - 1 Seat^[8]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	Liberal Democrats	Jean Mary Elizabeth Davis	33.5%	1,029	1,099	1,208	1,511
	SNP	Emma Ann Knox	32.5%	1,000	1,097	1,144	1,167
	Conservative	George Cruickshank	15.2%	467	480	544
	Independent	Zofia Fraser	9.5%	293	330
	Scottish Green	Vikki Tania Trelfer	9.3%	287
Electorate: 9,584   Valid: 3,076   Spoilt: 24   Quota: 1,538   Turnout: 3,100 (32.35%)

2012 Election

Main article: 2012 Highland Council election

Aird and Loch Ness - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Independent	Margaret Davidson (incumbent)	36.94%	1,194
	SNP	Drew Hendry (incumbent)	20.77%	840
	Independent	Helen Carmichael (incumbent)	16.3%	659	894.4
	Liberal Democrats	Hamish Wood (incumbent)	12.31%	498	546	575.4	579	585.9	652.4	768	858.1
	SNP	Robert Stewart	7.1%	287	314.1	322.7	345.3	358.5	387	413.2
	Conservative	George Cruickshank	6.89%	279	297.4	307.4	307.9	335.8	351.9
	Labour	Mike Robb	5.46%	221	234.2	242.1	243.3	246.2
	UKIP	Fred Pidcock	1.63%	66	72.1	75.8	76.3
Electorate: 8,999   Valid: 4,044   Spoilt: 56   Quota: 809   Turnout: 4,100 (45.56%)

2007 election

Main article: 2007 Highland Council election

The Highland Council election, 2007: Aird and Loch Ness

Party		Candidate	FPv%	%	Seat	Count
	Independent	Margaret Davidson	1,215	24.6	1	1
	Independent	Helen Carmichael	1,125	22.8	2	1
	SNP	Drew Hendry	892	18.1	3	5
	Liberal Democrats	Hamish Wood	550	11.1	4	8
	Conservative	Margaret Chown	355	7.2
	Independent	John Martin	322	6.5
	Labour	Andrew MacKintosh	292	5.9
	Independent	Alexander Nicol	192	3.9