PLANS to create a single Musselburgh local government electoral ward and reduce the number of councillors in East Lothian from 23 to 21 have been put forward by the Local Government Boundary Commission, despite objections from the the local authority, the Courier can reveal.

Currently the council contains seven multi-member wards: Musselburgh West; Musselburgh East and Carberry; Fa’side; Preston, Seton and Gosford; North Berwick Coastal; Haddington & Lammermuir; and Dunbar & East Linton. All have three councillors each, except Fa’side and Preston/Seton/Gosford, which have four each.

The new boundary lines proposed by the reforms – which have not yet been made public but have been seen by the Courier – would see the two Musselburgh wards merged into one, with the combined number of councillors serving Musselburgh dropping from six to four.

Whitecraig and Wallyford would be ‘moved’ from the Musselburgh East ward into a new Tranent and Wallyford ward, while Macmerry would be taken out of Fa’side ward and merged with a new Preston, Seton, Gosford and Macmerry ward.

The current North Berwick Coastal and Dunbar & East Linton wards would stay the same, with the Haddington & Lammermuir ward boundaries altered only slightly.

The proposed changes, which have been put before the council for consultation, have sparked anger from local councillors, who say they cut across recognised communities and will undo the work which has been done to create area partnerships, as well as eroding well-established community groups.

Part of the anger at the proposed changes is the use by the Commission of a new way of calculating the council representation needed not just on the population of the community, but on the levels of deprivation in each ward.

The council has long argued there is no evidence to suggest people living in poorer communities need more councillors.

The Boundary Commission reviews the number of elected councillors in each local authority area at least once every 10 years and has, in the past, based its decision on the number of people living within the county. This is the first time it has taken the level of deprivation in each region into account.

East Lothian’s population rose between 2001 and 2011 by more than 10 per cent, to 99,700, but while Stirling saw a similar rise and is being asked to increase its number of councillors, East Lothian is being asked to do the opposite.

When the cuts were first proposed, Councillor Stuart Currie, leader of the opposition SNP Group, said: “To say if you are deprived you need more representation is patronising – it is not my experience or those of my fellow councillors.” This week, the council said it would continue its strong opposition to the proposals. It has two months to respond before public consideration starts.

Council leader Willie Innes said: “A cross-party working group was formed to look at the proposals when they were first announced in early 2014 and fully considered all implications.

“At the council meeting in April last year there was unanimous support for a report detailing concerns and opposition to the proposals, which includes introducing a new factor of Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation to determine councillor numbers, leading to a reduction in the number of councillors from 23 to 21, and radically changing the ward boundaries in the west.

“The council remains strongly opposed to ward boundary proposals which will cut across recognised communities and negatively impact on the established partnership working models that operate within established community groupings, including school catchment areas and village and town associations. During the past decade, East Lothian has seen one of the largest growths in population in Scotland and future projections indicate a continued increase so the proposal to reduce councillor numbers is inexplicable.

“We will continue to detail our strong opposition to the proposals.”