A LOCAL council by-election is due to be held in a ward which saw three councillors step down in a month.
The Colinton/Fairmilehead ward will vote this Thursday for a new city councillor to represent them.
This comes after three city councillors stepped down from the post in November last year, with one leaving just a week after being elected.
Louise Spence of the Liberal Democrats left her post in the word just a week after she was elected to replace Dr Scott Arthur who stepped down after becoming an MP.
Louise ran on a campaign claiming locals deserved a councillor who “lived there” but put her home in the ward up for sale the day after she was elected, later stepping down.
At the time Louise said: “I have had a sudden change in personal circumstances which meant I couldn’t in all conscience fulfil my role as a councillor.
“At this time, my focus must be with my family. I have informed my Liberal Democrat colleagues of my changed circumstances and offered my resignation.”
Marco Biagi, an SNP councillor for the ward, also stepped down before Louise after being offered a position as a special advisor to the Scottish Government and First Minister John Swinney.
Biagi’s appointment to the role of special advisor made Swinney’s team of advisors the biggest any First Minister has ever had with a total of 16.
Biagi’s salary in his new role was estimated to be somewhere in the region of £100,000 a year, significantly more than that of a city councillor.
First to step down was Dr Scott Arthur of the Labour party who left his post in the ward after being elected to Westminster as an MP.
Dr Arthur leaving the ward triggered an election which saw Spence elected, whilst during the time between Dr Arthur’s resignation and Spence’s election, Biagi stepped down.
Now another election is due on Thursday which is estimated to cost the taxpayer a whopping £80,000 with funding for staff and spaces required.
With two seats available, two new councillors will be elected by residents of Colinton/Fairmilehead to replace Biagi and Spence.
The ward has a current electorate of 19,669, with 14,290 electors (72.7%) who have opted to vote in person and 5,379 postal voters (27.3%).
Polling stations will be open from 7am to 10pm on 23 January at Charwood, Fairmilehead Parish Church Hall, St. Cuthbert’s Episcopal Church Hall, Oxgangs Neighbourhood Centre and Pentland Community Centre.
The electronic election count will take place on Friday 24 January starting at 10am with the winners being announced soon after.
Returning officer for Edinburgh, Paul Lawrence, said: “With the by-election fast approaching, I encourage residents of the Colinton/Fairmilehead ward to visit their local polling place on Thursday.
“Please remember your polling cards and take this opportunity to have your say.
“Your two new local councillors will represent your community on issues affecting the ward and Edinburgh as a whole.
“Our elections pages provide useful information on how the Single Transferable Vote system works – you can rank candidates in order of preference, choosing as many or few as you’d like.
“If you’ve requested and received a postal ballot, please return it as soon as possible to make sure your vote is counted.”
