Councillors vote on whether to break up Scotland's largest local authority area

Elected members of the UK’s largest council area have voted against the proposal to split it up.

A group of councillors had called for a review of the governance of the Highland region, which covers a land mass almost as big as Belgium.

They claimed communities could be better served by a smaller number of new authorities.

It comes after the Highland region was voted bottom for public services in mainland Scotland.

However, in a council meeting held this week, an amendment suggesting strengthening the powers of existing local area committees won by just five votes.

The suggestion to split the council area, which covers large geographic areas such as Caithness, Sutherland, Wester Ross, Easter Ross, Badenoch and Strathspey and the Isle of Skye, was put forward by MSP for Skye and Lochaber, and Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes.

Local community groups, including Dunnet and Canisbay Community Council, made a “crise de coeur” this year regarding the urgent need to arrest the continuing decline in population, services and infrastructure within the county within the local authority area.

In July this year, Highland Council, which has a population of 235,000, was ranked bottom in Scotland in a Sunday Times list for both health and education out of 29 mainland council areas. It was also the weakest in literacy, with just 65 per cent of P1, P4 and P7 pupils achieving the expected level in the subject.

At the time, the local authority said it was disappointed with the result, and said the analysis presented the information in way that did not reflect the true picture of Highland.

In September, the Building a Local Scotland (BLS) campaign singled out the Highland Council area as a prime example of “creeping centralisation” that made the country “one of the least locally governed countries in the world”.

And just last month, the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) found that “too many people in the Highlands and Islands are hungry, homeless without access to healthcare, and the basics for everyday life”.

Professor Angela O’Hagan said of the report - Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Highlands and Islands - that: “The commission is very concerned about the poor state of economic, social and cultural rights in the Highlands and Islands.”

Nine councillors had signed a motion asking Highland Council to write to the Scottish government about holding a review.