Two would cover the heavily populated Arbroath and surrounding area and one each would be based on the six other county towns and rural hinterlands.

This is the view expressed in the initial response by councillors to the first stage of a review of electoral arrangements by the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland.

Work is under way to meet the timetable of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, requiring council elections in three years’ time to be run on the basis of wards returning three or four members on proportional representation voting.

Councillors agreed that a special sub-committee be established, involving four members of the ruling SNP group and three opposition members, to discuss where boundaries between wards and communities should be drawn in Angus.

Council chief executive Sandy Watson and law boss Catherine Coull told the committee the Boundary Commission has asked the council to map what it considers to be the dividing lines between communities.

The commission is not looking for old wards simply to be lumped together to form new ones, but for the drive to take account of “natural communities” when building them.

In response, the council officials drew up a suggested list of eight wards, loosely modelled around the eight Angus secondary school catchment areas, which, they said, “could be argued already recognise the concept of community focus”.

However, they admitted, “Issues will arise in defining where the watershed should be in some rural areas — i.e. to which burgh should a particular rural settlement be attached?”

The council has asked the commission that the detail of the boundaries between wards be the subject of ongoing consultation. Councillors are keen that ward suggestions are displayed in as wide a spread of venues as possible to make it easier for people to comment on.