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The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (c. 65) is an act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered local government in Scotland on 16 May 1975.
The act followed and largely implemented the report of the Royal Commission on Local Government in Scotland in 1969 (the Wheatley Report), and it made the most far-reaching changes to Scottish local government in centuries. It swept away the counties, burghs and districts established by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1947, [1] which were largely based on units of local government dating from the Middle Ages, and replaced them with a uniform two-tier system of regional and district councils (except in the islands, which were given unitary, all-purpose councils).
In England and Wales, the Local Government Act 1972 established a similar system of two-tier administrative county and district councils.
The act abolished previous existing local government structures and created a two-tier system of regions and districts on the mainland and a unitary system in the islands. The former counties remained in use for land registration purposes.
The act also established the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland, with the remit to make proposals to the Secretary of State for effecting changes which it thought desirable in the interests of effective and convenient local government. The Act also abolished the use of Fiars Prices for valuing grain.
Region | Composed of |
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Highland |
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Grampian |
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Tayside | |
Fife |
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Lothian |
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Borders | |
Central |
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Strathclyde |
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Dumfries and Galloway |
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Island area | Composed of |
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Orkney |
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Shetland |
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Western Isles |
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Region | District | Composed of |
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Highland | Caithness |
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Sutherland |
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Ross and Cromarty |
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Skye and Lochalsh |
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Lochaber |
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Inverness |
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Badenoch and Strathspey |
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Nairn |
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Grampian | Moray |
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Banff and Buchan |
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Gordon |
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City of Aberdeen |
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Kincardine and Deeside |
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Tayside | Angus |
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City of Dundee |
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Perth and Kinross |
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Fife | Kirkcaldy |
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North East Fife |
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Dunfermline |
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Lothian | West Lothian |
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City of Edinburgh |
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Midlothian |
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East Lothian |
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Central | Clackmannan |
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Stirling |
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Falkirk |
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Borders | Tweeddale |
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Ettrick and Lauderdale |
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Roxburgh |
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Berwickshire |
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Strathclyde | Argyll |
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Dumbarton |
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City of Glasgow |
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Clydebank |
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Bearsden and Milngavie |
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Bishopbriggs and Kirkintilloch |
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Cumbernauld |
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Monklands |
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Motherwell |
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Hamilton |
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East Kilbride |
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Eastwood |
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Lanark |
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Renfrew |
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Inverclyde |
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Cunninghame |
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Kilmarnock and Loudoun |
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Kyle and Carrick |
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Cumnock and Doon Valley |
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Dumfries and Galloway | Merrick |
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Stewartry |
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Nithsdale |
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Annandale and Eskdale |
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Several districts were later renamed: Merrick becoming Wigtown, Argyll to Argyll and Bute, Bishopbriggs and Kirkintilloch to Strathkelvin, Cumbernauld to Cumbernauld and Kilsyth, and Lanark to Clydesdale.
Unlike the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, the 1973 act in Scotland used the term region for the upper tier of the two-tier system. This has caused far less confusion over the identity of the counties in Scotland. The counties still enjoy wide public recognition.[ citation needed ] Even though they no longer play any direct part in local government, counties are used in many other systems: Royal Mail continued to use them as postal counties, and the Watsonian vice-counties, registration counties and many of the lieutenancy areas of Scotland are based on them.[ citation needed ]
However, the sheer size of some regions meant that it became cumbersome to administer all functions on a region-wide basis. By 1977 Strathclyde Regional Council had established unelected sub-regional councils, which resembled the county councils that the regional council had replaced.
The two-tier system of local government introduced by the act lasted until 1 April 1996 when the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 came into effect, abolishing the regions and districts and replacing them with 32 unitary authorities.
A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national government.
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent term used in Scotland was a county of city. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in Northern Ireland. In the Republic of Ireland they remain in existence but have been renamed cities under the provisions of the Local Government Act 2001. The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 re-introduced the term for certain "principal areas" in Wales. Scotland did not have county boroughs but instead had counties of cities. These were abolished on 16 May 1975. All four Scottish cities of the time—Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow—were included in this category. There was an additional category of large burgh in the Scottish system, which were responsible for all services apart from police, education and fire.
Strathclyde was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. The Strathclyde region had 19 districts. The region was named after the early medieval Kingdom of Strathclyde centred on Govan, but covered a broader geographic area than its namesake.
The Stirling council area is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and has a population of about 93,470. It was created in 1975 as a lower-tier district within the Central region. The district covered parts of the historic counties of Stirlingshire and Perthshire, which were abolished for local government purposes. In 1996 the Central region was abolished and Stirling Council took over all local government functions within the area.
The Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the current local government structure of 32 unitary authorities covering the whole of Scotland.
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth was one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland between 1975 and 1996.
Strathkelvin is the strath (valley) of the River Kelvin in west central Scotland, lying north-east of Glasgow. The name Strathkelvin was used between 1975 and 1996 for one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region.
A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.
The local government areas of Scotland were redefined by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and redefined again by the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994.
The structure of local government in the United Kingdom underwent large changes in the 1990s. The system of two-tier local government introduced in the 1970s by the Local Government Act 1972 and the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 was abolished in Scotland and Wales on 1 April 1996 and replaced with single-tier authorities. In England, some areas remained two-tier but many single-tier authorities were created. No changes were made to local government in Northern Ireland.
Renfrew District was, between 1975 and 1996, one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland.
Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan counties in a two-tier arrangement. Non-metropolitan districts with borough status are known as boroughs, able to appoint a mayor and refer to itself as a borough council.
Monklands was, between 1975 and 1996, one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland.
The history of local government in England is one of gradual change and evolution since the Middle Ages. England has never possessed a formal written constitution, with the result that modern administration is based on precedent, and is derived from administrative powers granted to older systems, such as that of the shires.
Central region was a local government region from 1975 to 1996, being one of twelve such regions across Scotland. The Regional Council's headquarters were at Viewforth in Stirling, which had been previously the headquarters of Stirlingshire County Council. Since 1996 the area has been divided into the council areas of Clackmannanshire, Falkirk and Stirling, which had previously been districts within Central region.
Dumbarton was, from 1975 to 1996, one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland, covering the town of Dumbarton and surrounding areas to the north-west of Glasgow.
Motherwell was a local government district in the Strathclyde region of Scotland from 1975 to 1996, lying to the south-east of the regional capital Glasgow.
Hamilton was a local government district in the Strathclyde region of Scotland from 1975 to 1996, lying to the south-east of the regional capital Glasgow.
Local government areas covering the whole of Scotland were first defined by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889. As currently defined, they are a result, for the most part, of the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994.
The Royal Commission on Local Government in Scotland, usually called the Wheatley Commission or the Wheatley Report, was published in September 1969 by the chairmanship of Lord Wheatley. Its recommendations led to a new system of regional and district councils, introduced in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.