The SNP administration of North Ayrshire Council hope to boost their numbers by up to five new councillors.

The minority administration has backed recommendations from chief executive Elma Murray that they make the case for five more members.

However, The Boundaries Commission does not propose any overall increase in councillor numbers across Scotland. The number proposed for each council is based on formulae which provide a weighting reflecting both rurality and deprivation.

According to North Ayrshire officials, “based on the appropriate formula” North Ayrshire Council should have 35 councillors rather than 30 at present. The Commission propose to cap any increase at 10%, meaning that North Ayrshire Council could get 33 councillors. NAC have decided to ask for five.

Wards such as the north coast, comprising Fairlie, Largs, Skelmorlie and Cumbrae can only have 3 or 4 members. There are, at present, four council seats although, sadly, SNP member Alex McLean has just passed away, and there will be a by-election in October.

A key consideration for the Commission is to ensure that as far as possible each member represents a similar number of electors. Wards should be aligned with Neighbourhood Planning Areas; and towns should not be split between wards.

Officials say the starting point for the design of the council’s response was to align ward boundaries with the six neighbourhood planning areas as far as possible.

The present structure of 30 members is not aligned to such planning areas. The combined North Coast/Garnock Valley ward of West Kilbride/Dalry is an example which reflects neither geographical nor natural community boundaries, say officials.

NAC claim that with 33 members it is easier to fit wards into neighbourhood planning areas. This would result in 10 wards, seven of which would be three member wards compared to the present eight wards of which only two are three member wards.

The council recommends that there should be 35 councillors as the best means of aligning wards with neighbourhood planning areas. Officials assert that the neighbourhood areas best represent communities, both in terms of geography and demographics.

They cite taking away Fairlie from the Largs district, and aligning it with West Kilbride and the island of Arran.

If the Commission agree 35 councillors, further work will be undertaken during 2015 to determine the exact boundaries or wards. This could also involve splitting polling districts to provide a more natural geographical boundary.