Community Council Elections (2001)

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The2001 election attracted 22 nominations for the 15 seats. Somewhat controversially, the Burntisland Tenants & Residents Association actively promoted nine of the candidates, and urged voters to back only those nine. The roots of this novel approach to the election lay in the Association's strongly held view that the Community Council should take a much more aggressive line when promoting the town's interests.

Another innovation in 2001 was the use of postal voting. Each person on the electoral register was sent a ballot paper, which had to be returned to Fife Council (the organisers of the election) by 'polling day', 11 October. This resulted in a dramatic increase in 'turnout': 1,955 (41%) of the 4,734 who were eligible to vote returned their ballot papers. Each person had a maximum of 15 votes, although no more than one vote could be cast for each candidate.

The results of the October 2001 election were as follows. (1) = retiring member; (2) = candidate promoted by the Burntisland Tenants & Residents Association.

Successful

1

Christine Dewar (1)

1,274

2

Margaret Macdonald (1)

1,133

3

Alexander MacDonald (1)

1,100

4

David Cooper (1)

1,094

5

Aneris Grant (1)

1,074

6

Avril Coventry (1)

1,042

7

David Plant (1)

1,026

8

Robert Fairlie (1)

977

9

Andrew Wight-Boycott (1)

941

10

John Scobie

932

11

Alexander Whitton (1)

876

12

Stuart Laing (2)

797

13

Ian Quinney (2)

791

14=

William Leggatt (2)

773

14=

Avril Turpie (2)

773

 

Unsuccessful

16

Merrick Yates (2)

689

17

Scott MacKenzie (2)

671

18

Rosalind Leggatt (2)

653

19

Lesley Gilbert (2)

615

20

John Gilbert (2)

590

21

Stephen Madley

557

22

Susan Madley

535

William Leggatt resigned from the Community Council at the inaugural meeting held on 26 October 2001. At the subsequent meeting, held on 9 November 2001, the Community Council decided to invite George Kay to fill the vacancy, and Mr Kay accepted the invitation.

On 8 November 2002, the Community Council considered the filling of vacancies caused by the resignations of David Cooper and Ian Quinney. They decided to invite Alan Smart to become a member, and Mr Smart accepted.

Alexander Whitton resigned from the Community Council prior to the April 2003 meeting.

Community Council Officebearers

Following the above election, the Community Council elected the following officebearers at its inaugural meeting held on 26 October 2001:

Chair: Alexander MacDonald
Vice Chair: David Plant
Secretary: Margaret Macdonald
Treasurer: Aneris Grant
Minutes Secretary: Avril Coventry
Editor, Burgh Buzz: Andy Wight-Boycott

Because of the Secretary's ill health, George Kay was appointed Acting Secretary at the Community Council meeting of 10 October 2003

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