2012 South Ayrshire Council election

2012 South Ayrshire Council election

← 2007 3 May 2012 (2012-05-03) 2017 →
All 30 seats to South Ayrshire Council 16 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Con Leader Bill McIntosh Allan Dorans Party Conservative SNP Leader's seat Troon Ayr West Last election 12 seats, 37.2% 8 seats, 25.3% Seats before 12 8 Seats won 10 9 Seat change 2 1 Popular vote 12,050 11,203 Percentage 31.5% 29.3% Swing 5.7 4.0   Third party Fourth party   Lab Ind Leader John McDowall Brian Connolly Party Labour Independent Leader's seat Girvan and South Carrick Maybole, North Carrick & Coylton Last election 9 seats, 28.4% 1 seat, 8.3% Seats before 9 1 Seats won 9 2 Seat change 1 Popular vote 9,563 5,166 Percentage 25.0% 13.5% Swing 3.4 5.2
The 8 multi-member wards
Council Leader before election Bill McIntosh (Conservative) No overall control Council Leader after election Bill McIntosh (Conservative) No overall control

Elections to South Ayrshire Council took place on 3 May 2012 on the same day as the 31 other Scottish local government elections. As with other Scottish council elections, it was held using single transferable vote (STV) – a form of proportional representation – in which multiple candidates are elected in each ward and voters rank candidates in order of preference.

The election saw the Conservatives remain as the largest party on the council despite losing two seats. The Scottish National Party (SNP) gained one seat and were second on the popular vote as they tied with Labour as the second largest party. Labour retained their nine seats despite their vote share decreasing by 3.4% and after suffering three defections during the last term. The number of independent candidates elected doubled to two seats.

Following the election, the Conservatives formed a minority administration working in a partnership agreement with Labour and both independents. This replaced the previous Conservative minority administration.

2012 South Ayrshire Council election result

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Conservative	10	0	2	2	33.3	31.51	12,050	5.7
	SNP	9	1	0	1	30.0	29.3	11,203	4.0
	Labour	9	0	0		30.0	25.0	9,563	3.4
	Independent	2	1	0	1	6.7	13.5	5,166	5.2
	Liberal Democrats	0	0	0		0.0	0.7	255	New
Total		30						38,237

Source: ^[1]

Note: "Votes" are the first preference votes. The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3 May 2007. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

Results of the 2012 South Ayrshire Council election by ward

Ward	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	%	Cllrs	Total Cllrs
	Conservative		SNP		Labour		Independents		Others
Troon	39.6	2	26.9	1	21.0	1	12.4	0			4
Prestwick	38.9	2	32.9	1	25.9	1			2.3	0	4
Ayr North	15.9	1	38.2	1	45.9	2					4
Ayr East	33.0	1	31.4	2	23.4	1	12.2	0			4
Ayr West	48.2	2	25.0	1	15.3	1	9.3	0	2.2	0	4
Kyle	23.5	1	28.7	1	32.8	1	15.1	0			3
Maybole, North Carrick and Coylton	21.3	1	30.3	1	22.9	1	25.6	1			4
Girvan and South Carrick	15.8	0	19.7	1	17.0	1	47.4	1			3
Total	31.5	10	29.3	9	25.0	9	13.5	2	0.7	0	30

The Conservatives (2), Labour (1) and the SNP (1) retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Troon - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Conservative	Peter Convery (incumbent)	22.0	1,289
	Labour	Philip Saxton (incumbent)	21.0	1,233
	Conservative	Bill McIntosh (incumbent)	17.6	1,035	1,130	1,137	1,160	1,207
	SNP	Nan McFarlane (incumbent)	17.5	1,026	1,033	1,043	1,495
	Independent	Pat Brown	12.4	730	734	750	801	912
	SNP	Elaine McBean Little[note 1]	9.4	551	553	557
Electorate: 12,146   Valid: 5,864   Spoilt: 59   Quota: 1,173   Turnout: 48.3%

Source:^[1][2]

The Conservatives (2), Labour (1) and the SNP (1) retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Prestwick - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Labour	Helen Moonie (incumbent)	25.9	1,458
	SNP	Ian Cochrane	24.9	1,399
	Conservative	Hugh Hunter (incumbent)	23.1	1,296
	Conservative	Margaret Toner (incumbent)	15.9	892	933	941	1,089	1,154
	SNP	John Wallace	8.0	448	513	754	760	806
	Liberal Democrats	Allan MacBain	2.3	128	185	193	199
Electorate: 12,238   Valid: 5,621   Spoilt: 102   Quota: 1,125   Turnout: 45.9%

Source:^[1][3]

Labour (2), the SNP (1) and the Conservatives (1) retained the seats they had won at the previous election. In 2007, Cllr Campbell was elected as a Labour candidate but subsequently resigned from the party and later joined the SNP.

Ayr North - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Labour	Ian Cavana (incumbent)	34.0	1,481
	SNP	Douglas Campbell (incumbent)	31.2	1,361
	Conservative	John Hampton (incumbent)	15.9	692	715	744	762	975
	Labour	Rita Miller	11.9	519	1,003
	SNP	Tom Slider (incumbent)	7.0	305	332	724	751
Electorate: 12,643   Valid: 4,358   Spoilt: 115   Quota: 872   Turnout: 34.5%

Source:^[1][4]

Labour and the SNP retained the seats they had won at the previous elections while the Conservatives retained one seat and lost one seat to the SNP.

Ayr East - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	SNP	Ian Douglas (incumbent)	24.2	1,238
	Labour	Brian McGinley	23.4	1,199
	Conservative	Mary Kilpatrick (incumbent)	22.2	1,135
	Conservative	Patricia McKeand	10.8	554	557	571	665	691	758
	SNP	Corri Wilson[note 2]	7.2	371	552	583	586	664	788	902
	Independent	Andrew Bryden	6.5	331	337	364	367	495
	Independent	Eddie Bulik (incumbent)	5.7	291	298	323	326
Electorate: 11,669   Valid: 5,119   Spoilt: 84   Quota: 1,024   Turnout: 43.9%

Source:^[1][5]

The Conservatives (2), Labour (1) and the SNP (1) retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Ayr West - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Conservative	Bill Grant (incumbent)	33.8	1,992
	Labour	Kirsty Darwent	15.3	901	929	939	976	1,007	1,049	1,267
	Conservative	Robin Reid (incumbent)	14.4	846	1,456
	SNP	Allan Dorans	14.2	836	858	867	874	1,410
	SNP	Roddy MacDonald	10.8	638	660	673	688
	Independent	Brian McKinlay	9.3	549	607	671	734	781	846
	Liberal Democrats	Nicola Prigg	2.2	127	143	177
Electorate: 12,401   Valid: 5,889   Spoilt: 57   Quota: 1,178   Turnout: 47.5%

Source:^[1][6]

The SNP, Labour and the Conservatives retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Kyle - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2
	Labour	Andy Campbell (incumbent)	32.7	1,207
	SNP	John Allan (incumbent)	28.7	1,057
	Conservative	Hywel Davies (incumbent)[note 3]	23.5	865	923
	Independent	Arthur Spurling	15.1	556	647
Electorate: 8,918   Valid: 3,685   Spoilt: 43   Quota: 922   Turnout: 41.3%

Source:^[1][8]

Labour, the SNP, the Conservatives and independent councillor Brian Connolly retained the seats they had won at the previous election.

Maybole, North Carrick and Coylton - 4 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2
	Independent	Brian Connolly (incumbent)	25.5	1,100
	Labour	Sandra Goldie (incumbent)	22.9	986
	Conservative	Ann Galbraith (incumbent)	21.3	916
	SNP	William James Grant	18.8	810	894
	SNP	Mairi Low (incumbent)	11.4	493	527
Electorate: 8,918   Valid: 4,305   Spoilt: 57   Quota: 862   Turnout: 38.8%

Source:^[1][9]

The SNP and Labour retained the seats they had won at the previous election while independent candidate Alec Clark gained a seat from the Conservatives.

Girvan and South Carrick - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3
	Independent	Alec Clark	47.4	1,609
	SNP	Alec Oattes (incumbent)	19.7	670	822	985
	Labour	John McDowall (incumbent)	17.0	579	766	956
	Conservative	Iain Fitzsimmons (incumbent)	15.8	538	741
Electorate: 7,920   Valid: 3,396   Spoilt: 31   Quota: 850   Turnout: 42.9%

Source:^[1][10]

Ayr East SNP councillor Corri Wilson was elected as MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock on 7 May 2015. She resigned her council seat on 23 June 2015^[11] and a by-election was held on 17 September 2015. The seat was held by the SNP's John Wallace.

Ayr East by-election (17 September 2015) - 1 seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5
	Conservative	Dan McCroskrie	38.5	1,527	1,534	1,589	1,740
	SNP	John Wallace	38.0	1,507	1,540	1,600	1,775	???
	Labour	Susan Wilson	16.2	642	654	708
	Independent	Andrew Bryden	5.5	218	227
	Scottish Green	Boyd Murdoch	1.9	76
Electorate: 11,638   Valid: 3,970   Spoilt: 36   Quota: 1,986   Turnout: 34.4%

Source:^[12]