A HIGHLANDS and Islands MSP has called for the creation of an Inverness City Council in an effort to have the largest local authority in Scotland work better for the people that live there.

Emma Roddick made the call in Holyrood on Thursday as she asked whether the Scottish Government would consider local government reform.

Roddick, and many who live in the Highlands, believe that the Highland Council is too big and that the interests of people in Inverness do not correlate with those who live in Wick which are not the same as the issues people face in Fort William.

The Highland Council covers an area larger than Wales which has 22 different local authorities and 40 parliamentary constituencies represented in the Senedd.

However, the population of the Highland Council local authority was around 235,000 at the last available estimate, which is about a third of the population of the Glasgow City Council area.

While the Scottish Government currently has no plans for local government reform as George Adam told Roddick in Holyrood, the Highlands and Islands MSP believes this is an issue important to many in the region.

Roddick, who also sits as a Highland councillor for the Inverness Central ward, told The National: "I spoke to the minister after the formal back and forth and he told me the same thing he said in the chamber. I told him he can expect some follow-up letters from me."

She added: "If you take an interest in politics in the Highlands then you are painfully aware that the Highland Council doesn't work. It's not necessarily the fault of councillors is not necessarily the fault of officers, it's just that it doesn't make sense as an area.

"We saw it with Boundary Scotland trying to play around with the ward boundaries. There was outrage because there's just no way to make it make sense."

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The boundary changes to Highland Council were not backed by the Scottish Parliament and will not go ahead. 

The proposals would have seen Inverness lose two wards but gain two councillors and the far north of the region would have lost three councillors.

Roddick added: "What I would look at is the policy needs for the areas in question. Can you legislate for an area which is the fastest growing city in the country [Inverness], and an area facing depopulation, with the same approach? I don't understand how the answer could be Yes."

Due to a 15% growth in population since 2001, Inverness was declared Scotland's fastest-growing city last year. Indeed, around a quarter of the Highland Council's total population (61,235 people) live in or around Inverness.

Conversely, many areas of the Highlands are facing depopulation as locals are unable to find employment and when they do, can often find it difficult to get a home.

Another option Roddick presented was that of a municipality system, whereby there would be a regional council with smaller councils underneath. The council has a version of this with area committees of wards in the same area - something other councils also have - but these committees are only really able to make recommendations to the council and have very little overall power.

Encouraging the creation of an Inverness City Council, Ballot Box Scotland shared a map of what the new local authority could look like.

The below map would mean that a lot of ward boundaries would have to be changed but it does take in all the urban areas of Inverness where the Inverness South ward currently takes in a large rural area along with the slice of the city.

When contacted for comment about the break-up of the authority, a spokesperson for the Highland Council told The National that the council does not have a fixed position on the matter as no official discussions on such a proposal have taken place.

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In his response to Roddick in Holyrood, Scottish Cabinet minister George Adam said: "We currently have no plans to change the council area. I understand the geographic challenges for Highland Council were recognised when it was first created.

"Unfortunately, these challenges did not allow for a practical solution that would have enabled the area to be split up and those challenges have not changed."

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Local government in Scotland has been made up of 32 local authorities since 1996, the legislative basis for this was The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1994 and any future changes would involve legislation.

“We understand the challenges for Highland Council, due to its large geographical area and dispersed population, but at present there are no plans to change the council area.”