Angus residents urged to have say on proposed changes to constituency boundary

Mr Doogan is urging people to have their say before the December 8 deadline.

The Boundary Commission for Scotland has proposed changes for a revised map of UK parliamentary boundaries in Scotland and will see Scotland’s 59 constituencies drop to 57 seats in any future general election.

Mr Doogan has written to Lord Matthews, the Deputy Chair of the Boundary Commission for Scotland to outline his serious concerns including the issue of the Angus council area, which would no longer align with the constituency border.

The new plans will see Arbroath and much of the coast transfer to Dundee East constituency, and a new Angus and Strathmore constituency created to cover the remainder of Angus but also to include all of East Perthshire extending as far as Scone outside Perth and Spittal of Glenshee in the Cairngorms.

Mr Doogan outlines in his letter that the majority of the county of Angus was left intact in the 2005 boundary review, with only the wards Carnoustie, Monifeith and Sildaw removed, which reduced the constituency population down to around 64,000 electors.

Mr Doogan asked Lord Matthew: “Why has the Commission not sought to redraw the boundary of Angus in such a way as to include circa 10,000 electors from the two Angus wards currently in Dundee East and West rather than pursuing an illogical and ill-fitting amalgam of Angus and Perthshire communities?”

Further commenting, Mr Doogan said: “I have many issues with the proposed boundary changes. The Angus constituency is in large part coterminous with the Angus Council area representing a valuable harmony which should be protected not destroyed by any boundary review.

“Moreover, it is not remotely realistic for people in Scone to look to an MP based in Angus as their representative as they will look instead to the MP based in Perth, two miles away.

“A principal identifier for Angus is our coastline, Angus is a coastal county, yet this review seeks to strip the vast majority of the coast from the proposed new Angus boundary including the iconic Arbroath Abbey which is central to the identity of the county.

“This proposed new boundary rides roughshod over Angus’s identity and territory and should be opposed at every opportunity.”