Southside/Newington (ward)

Southside/Newington is one of the seventeen wards used to elect members of the City of Edinburgh Council.^[2] Established in 2007 along with the other wards, it elects four Councillors. As its name suggests, the ward's territory to the south-east of the city centre is based around the communities of Newington and the South Side (defined as the area south of Drummond Street between the Meadows and Salisbury Crags, bisected by Clerk Street), also including Blackford, Cameron Toll, The Grange, Mayfield, Prestonfield and Sciennes.

Location of the ward within Edinburgh^[1]

A minor 2017 boundary change saw the loss of Dumbiedykes in the north of the ward and the addition of Nether Liberton village in the south. In 2019, the ward had a population of 37,696.^[3]

Councillors

Election	Councillors
2007		Gordon Mackenzie (Liberal Democrats)		Ian Perry (Labour)		Steve Burgess (Greens)		Cameron Rose (Conservative)
2012		Jim Orr (SNP)
2017	Alison Dickie (SNP)
2022	Simita Kumar (SNP)	Tim Pogson (Labour)		Pauline Flannery (Liberal Democrats)

Election results

2022 election

Main article: 2022 City of Edinburgh Council election

Southside/Newington - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Labour	Tim Pogson	24.1	2,837
	Green	Steve Burgess (incumbent)	23.0	2,717
	SNP	Simita Kumar	19.2	2,260	2,338	2,557
	Conservative	Cameron Rose (incumbent)	17.6	2,077	2,139	2,146	2,154
	Liberal Democrats	Pauline Flannery	16.1	1,897	2,141	2,236	2,331	3,739
Electorate: 24,152   Valid: 11,788   Spoilt: 96   Quota: 2,358   Turnout: 49.2%

Source: ^[4][5]

2017 election

2017 City of Edinburgh Council election^[6]

Southside/Newington - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1
	Conservative	Cameron Rose (incumbent)	26.93%	3,151
	SNP	Alison Dickie	20.54%	2,403
	Green	Steve Burgess (incumbent)	20.35%	2,381
	Labour	Ian Perry (incumbent)	20.12%	2,354
	Liberal Democrats	Dan Farthing	12.05%	1,410
Electorate: 22,338   Valid: 11,699   Spoilt: 73   Quota: 2,340   Turnout: 11,772 (52.7%)

2012 election

2012 City of Edinburgh Council election

Southside/Newington - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Green	Steve Burgess (incumbent)	19.97%	1,869	1,883
	Labour	Ian Perry (incumbent)	19.78%	1,851	1,856	1,858	1,886
	SNP	Jim Orr	18.34%	1,717	1,723	1,725	1,742	1,744	1,886
	Conservative	Cameron Rose (incumbent)	16.72%	1,565	1,568	1,568	1,570	1,571	1,855	1,857	2,501
	Liberal Democrats	Gordon MacKenzie (incumbent)	13.97%	1,308	1,341	1,343	1,348	1,351	1,548	1,551
	Independent	Gordon Murdie	9.53%	892	895	896	921	923
	TUSC	William Black	0.93%	87	90	91
	Liberal	Margaret Lea	0.76%	71
Electorate: 20,821   Valid: 9,360   Spoilt: 67 (0.71%)   Quota: 1,873   Turnout: 9,427 (45.3%)

On 1 March 2014, SNP councillor Jim Orr resigned from the party and became an Independent citing disillusionment with internal political spats.^[7] He retired prior to the next election.

2007 election

2007 City of Edinburgh Council election

2007 Council election: Southside/Newington

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
	Labour	Ian Perry	18.6	2,530	2,537	2,548	2,554	2,568	2,763
	Conservative	Cameron Rose	18.5	2,516	2,529	2,531	2,546	2,551	2,686	2,691.32	2,835.77
	Liberal Democrats	Gordon Mackenzie	17.0	2,304	2,309	2,315	2,356	2,378	2,670	2,681.66	4,168.10
	Green	Steve Burgess	14.1	1,920	1,935	1,961	1,974	2,062	2,610	2,623.58	2,893.41
	Liberal Democrats	Liz O' Malley	14.0	1,907	1,913	1,917	1,939	1,945	2,087	2,097.96
	SNP	Susanna Lacey	13.1	1,780	1,790	1,824	1,845	1,876
	Scottish Socialist	Scott Simpson	1.1	146	150	183	189
	Liberal	Margaret Lea	1.1	144	148	156
	Solidarity	James C. Allinson	1.0	140	142
	Independent	George E. Pitcher	0.6	81
Electorate: 23,620   Valid: 13,468   Spoilt: 121   Quota: 2,694   Turnout: 57.5%