Colinton/Fairmilehead (ward)

Location of the ward within Edinburgh

Colinton/Fairmilehead is one of the seventeen wards used to elect members of the City of Edinburgh Council. Established in 2007 along with the other wards, it elects three Councillors.

As its name suggests, the ward's territory is based around the communities of Colinton and Fairmilehead in the far south of the city's urban area up to the boundary with Midlothian, also including Bonaly, Comiston, Firrhill, Hunter's Tryst / New Swanston, Oxgangs and Redford, plus the separate hamlet of Swanston. In 2019, the ward had a population of 25,257.

Councillors

Election	Councillors
2007		Elaine Aitken (Conservative)		Jason Rust (Conservative)		Eric Barry (Labour)
2012			Richard Lewis (SNP)
2017	Philip Doggart (Conservative)		Scott Arthur (Labour)
2022		Marco Biagi (SNP)
2024 by-election			Louise Spence (Liberal Democrats)

Election results

2024 by-election

Colinton/Fairmilehead by-election (14 November 2024) – 1 seat

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11
	Liberal Democrats	Louise Spence	36.3	2,683	2,684	2,685	2,687	2,697	2,704	2,763	2,793	2,898	3,096	3,751
	Conservative	Neil Cuthbert	19.6	1,454	1,458	1,458	1,465	1,476	1,483	1,517	1,638	1,643	1,676
	Labour	Sheila Gilmore	19.5	1,441	1,441	1,444	1,446	1,453	1,463	1,480	1,495	1,611	1,886	2,055
	SNP	Marianna Clyde	10.8	800	800	800	801	806	816	826	835	963
	Scottish Green	Daniel Milligan	5.3	393	393	396	397	402	407	414	423
	Reform UK	Grant Lidster	3.6	268	269	269	281	283	287	300
	Independent	Marc Wilkinson	2.3	173	173	175	177	179	190
	Independent	David Henry	0.8	57	57	57	63	75
	Scottish Family	Richard Lucas	0.7	51	51	51
	Independent	Mev Brown	0.7	50	51	60	62
	Independent	Bonnie Prince Bob	0.3	22	22
	Scottish Libertarian	Tam Laird	0.1	9
Electorate: 19,907   Valid: 7,401   Spoilt: 45   Quota: 3,701   Turnout: 37.4%

Source:

2022 election

Main article: 2022 City of Edinburgh Council election

Colinton/Fairmilehead - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Labour	Scott Arthur (incumbent)	33.4	3,812
	Conservative	Jason Rust (incumbent)	20.3	2,317	2,435	2,480	2,507	3,512
	SNP	Marco Biagi	17.3	1,969	2,123	2,142	2,561	2,590	2,614	3,216
	Liberal Democrats	Louise Watson Spence	12.4	1,416	1,719	1,739	1,950	2,044	2,329
	Conservative	Neil Cuthbert	9.6	1,100	1,185	1,211	1,221
	Scottish Green	Helen McCabe	5.4	621	739	763
	Scottish Family	Richard Crewe Lucas	1.6	179	195
Electorate: 19,454   Valid: 11,414   Spoilt: 126   Quota: 2,854   Turnout: 59.3%

Source:

2017 election

2017 City of Edinburgh Council election

Colinton/Fairmilehead - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Conservative	Jason Rust (incumbent)	33.25%	3,783
	Labour	Scott Arthur	20.59%	2,343	2,423	2,541	2,855
	Conservative	Philip Doggart	16.51%	1,879	2,580	2,602	2,724	2,727	3,430
	SNP	Richard John Lewis (incumbent)	20.73%	2,359	2,387	2,610	2,712	2,714
	Liberal Democrats	David Richard Walker	4.64%	528	584	680
	Scottish Green	Sara Marsden	4.28%	487	500
Electorate: 19,085   Valid: 11,379   Spoilt: 111   Quota: 2,845   Turnout: 60.2%

2012 election

2012 City of Edinburgh Council election

Colinton/Fairmilehead - 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6	7
	Conservative	Jason Rust (incumbent)	28.71%	2,692
	Conservative	Elaine Aitken (incumbent)	23.29%	2,184	2,427
	SNP	Richard Lewis	20.59%	1,931	1,953	1,962	1,975	2,021	2,187	2,816
	Labour	Eric Barry (incumbent)	17.87%	1,676	1,699	1,708	1,724	1,831	2,070
	Scottish Green	Andy Saunders	4.91%	460	474	484	501	647
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Beal	3.62%	339	350	365	368
	UKIP	Malcolm MacKay	1.01%	95	100	105
Electorate: 18,521   Valid: 9,377   Spoilt: 74 (0.78%)   Quota: 2,345   Turnout: 9,451 (51%)

2007 Election

2007 City of Edinburgh Council election

2007 Council election: Colinton/Fairmilehead

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4	5	6
	Conservative	Elaine Aitken	23.1	2,877	2,878	2,907	3,111
	Conservative	Jason Rust	22.6	2,815	2,816	2,844	2,994	3,012.70	3,595.21
	Labour	Eric Barry	18.7	2,332	2,41	2,442	2,758	2,760.15	3,639.03
	SNP	Thomas Kielty	14.9	1,861	1,881	1,983
	Liberal Democrats	Stuart Bridges	14.8	1,842	1,845	2,020	2,589	2,593.21
	Scottish Green	Alastair J Tibbitt	4.2	517	546
	Scottish Socialist	Robert Mathie	0.6	80
Electorate: 18,413   Valid: 12,324   Spoilt: 132   Quota: 3,082   Turnout: 67.6%

External links

• Listed Buildings in Colinton/Fairmilehead Ward, City of Edinburgh at British Listed Buildings