The city's North West Ward is now represented by councillors Glenn Aitken and Mark Conroy. The city's other two wards each have three councillors. The imbalance should be corrected following council elections in November.

The Local Government Act states that the council can leave a vacancy if one opens less than six months before an election.

If the council had decided to fill the vacancy the new councillor would have been determined by countback from the November 2005 election when Mrs McClelland was elected.

Mayor Alistair Wardle said: "Following completion of the statutory procedures required under the act, the earliest possible date on which the vacancy could have been filled was the week ending September 19, with possible swearing in on Monday, September 22. The council considered that the costs associated with filling the vacancy could not be justified in light of the short term the new councillor would serve prior to the election, and that is the intent of the clause in the Local Government Act, which does not require a vacancy to be filled so close to the end of a term."