2017 South Ayrshire Council election

2017 South Ayrshire Council election

← 2012 4 May 2017 (2017-05-04) 2022 →
All 28 seats to South Ayrshire Council 15 seats needed for a majority
Registered	89,490
Turnout	52.1%
First party Second party   Con Leader Martin Dowey Allan Dorans Party Conservative SNP Leader's seat Ayr West Ayr West (defeated) Last election 10 seats, 31.5% 9 seats, 29.3% Seats before 10 9 Seats won 12 9 Seat change 2 Popular vote 19,851 13,808 Percentage 43.4% 30.2% Swing 11.9% 0.9%   Third party Fourth party   Lab Ind Leader Brian McGinley Brian Connolly Party Labour Independent Leader's seat Ayr East Maybole, North Carrick and Coylton Last election 9 seats, 25.0% 2 seat, 13.5% Seats before 9 2 Seats won 5 2 Seat change 4 Popular vote 6,954 4,879 Percentage 15.2% 10.7% Swing 9.8% 2.8%
The 8 multi-member wards
Council Leader before election Bill McIntosh (Conservative) No overall control Council Leader after election Douglas Campbell (SNP) No overall control

The 2017 South Ayrshire Council election took place on 4 May 2017 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 Conservatives retained their position as the largest party returning 12 councillors - two more than in the previous election. The Scottish National Party (SNP) maintained their total of nine councillors to remain as the second party while Labour lost four seats. The number of independents returned remained at two.

Following the election, a coalition administration was formed between the SNP, Labour and Independent councillors, even though the Conservatives remained the largest party on the council.^[1]