Plans to split the Helensburgh and Lomond area between two different Scottish Parliament constituencies have been reversed.
Last year Boundaries Scotland revealed proposals for Helensburgh to become part of a new ‘Dumbarton and Helensburgh’ constituency.
But a dividing line would have been drawn just north of the town, meaning Rhu, Shandon, Garelochhead, the Rosneath Peninsula, Arrochar and part of Loch Lomondside would be moved to an enlarged Argyll and Bute constituency.
Today though revised proposals (below) were revealed which showed that there had been a U-turn on the plan following a local inquiry.
Ailsa Henderson, chair of Boundaries Scotland, said: “We were very pleased with the number of responses, as well as the quality of arguments and varied suggestions submitted during our first consultation.
“These have helped us to improve upon our provisional proposals and we have made changes to over two-thirds of the constituencies as a direct result of responses submitted during the consultation and at local inquiries.
“We think we have managed to address the vast majority of concerns while also following the rules as set out in legislation.”
A statement today added that ‘special geographical circumstances’ in Argyll and Bute such as islands with poor transport links justified ‘considerable variation from the electorate quota’ in that area.
Ms Henderson added: “We would now like to hear further views from the public on our revised proposals over the next month.
“Have we addressed the earlier concerns? Could we make further improvements? Have we got accurate names to describe new constituencies?
“We strongly encourage people to make their views heard.
“We particularly want to hear suggestions for alternative boundaries that comply with the legislative requirements and for constituency names.”
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