East Ayrshire is one of thirty-two council areas of Scotland. It shares borders with Dumfries and Galloway, East Renfrewshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire. The headquarters of the council are located on London Road, Kilmarnock. With South Ayrshire and the mainland areas of North Ayrshire, it formed the former county of Ayrshire.
The boundary commissions in the United Kingdom are non-departmental public bodies responsible for determining the boundaries of constituencies for elections to the House of Commons. There are four separate boundary commissions:
Sir Thomas Clarke, is a British Labour Party politician who was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1982 until 2015, representing Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill from 2005 until losing his seat to Philip Boswell of the SNP in the May 2015 general election.
The University of the West of Scotland, formerly the University of Paisley, is a public university with four campuses in south-western Scotland, in the towns of Paisley, Blantyre, Dumfries and Ayr, as well as a campus in London, England. The present institution dates from August 2007, following the merger of the University of Paisley with Bell College, Hamilton. It can trace its roots to the late 19th century, and has undergone numerous name changes and mergers over the last century, reflecting its gradual expansion throughout the west of Scotland region.
Richard Neilson Lochhead is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who is Minister for Just Transition, Employment and Fair Work and has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Moray since 2006. He was previously an MSP for North East Scotland 1999–2006 and served as the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Food and Environment from 2007 to 2016, and the Minister for Further Education, Higher Education and Science from 2018 to 2021.
The natterjack toad is a toad native to sandy and heathland areas of Europe. Adults are 60–70 mm in length, and are distinguished from common toads by a yellow line down the middle of the back, and parallel paratoid glands. They have relatively short legs, which gives them a distinctive gait, contrasting with the hopping movement of many other toad species.
Dumfries and Galloway is a county constituency in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was first used in the 2005 general election, and replaced Galloway and Upper Nithsdale and part of Dumfries. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
Liz Lochhead HonFRSE is a Scottish poet, playwright, translator and broadcaster. Between 2011 and 2016 she was the Makar, or National Poet of Scotland, and served as Poet Laureate for Glasgow between 2005 and 2011.
An academy school in England is a state-funded school which is directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control. The terms of the arrangements are set out in individual Academy Funding Agreements. Most academies are secondary schools. However, slightly more than 25% of primary schools, as well, as some of the remaining first and middle schools, are also academies.
The Recreation Ground is a large open space in the centre of Bath, England, next to the River Avon, which is available to be used by permission from the Recreation Ground Trust for recreational purposes by the public at large but particularly the people of Bath and surrounding areas.
The production of renewable energy in Scotland is a topic that has come to the fore in technical, economic, and political terms during the opening years of the 21st century. The natural resource base for renewable energy is high by European, and even global standards, with the most important potential sources being wind, wave, and tide. Renewables produced the equivalent of 97.4% of Scotland's electricity consumption in 2020, mostly from the country's wind power.
Maxwelltown High School was a state funded, six-year comprehensive secondary school in the Lochside area of Dumfries, Scotland. Founded in 1971, Maxwelltown High School was the most recently founded secondary school in Dumfries and Galloway, before merging with other schools into North West Community Campus. It had 311 pupils as of August 2012. The roll of Maxwelltown High School had been steadily declining since 2002.
Healthcare in Scotland is mainly provided by Scotland's public health service, NHS Scotland. It provides healthcare to all permanent residents free at the point of need and paid for from general taxation. Health is a matter that is devolved, and considerable differences have developed between the public healthcare systems in the countries of the United Kingdom, collectively the National Health Service (NHS). Though the public system dominates healthcare provision, private healthcare and a wide variety of alternative and complementary treatments are available for those willing and able to pay.
The Commission on Scottish Devolution, also referred to as the Calman Commission or the Scottish Parliament Commission or Review, was established by an opposition Labour Party motion passed by the Scottish Parliament on 6 December 2007, with the support of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. The governing Scottish National Party opposed the creation of the commission.
In the United Kingdom, byelaws are laws of local or limited application made by local councils or other bodies, using powers granted by an Act of Parliament, and so are a form of delegated legislation. Some byelaws are made by private companies or charities that exercise public or semi-public functions, such as airport operators, water companies or the National Trust.
Rural parliaments are forums for discussion and debate, often established to give voice to rural populations of the country, to influence policy and practice and to develop networks between those in rural areas. They have been established in Estonia, Swedish-speaking Finland, Hungary, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Sweden, and Scotland and will soon be established in Romania.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is the national fire and rescue service of Scotland. It was formed by the merger of eight regional fire services in the country on 1 April 2013. It thus became the largest fire brigade in the United Kingdom, surpassing the London Fire Brigade.
Mairi Angela Gougeon is a Scottish politician who has served as Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and Islands since 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Angus North and Mearns since 2016.
The Wang Chau housing controversy comprises a series of events related to a housing project in Wang Chau, Yuen Long District, Hong Kong. Initiated in 2012, the housing project aims to develop 17,000 public housing units in three phases. Phase 1 refers to ongoing development of 4,000 units in a "green-belt" site; while phases 2 and 3 refer to the deferred plan to build the rest of the targeted units in the "brownfield" site. The case came under media scrutiny after activist Eddie Chu Hoi-dick raised concerns about potential collusion between the Hong Kong government, businesses and rural landlords in his election campaign.
Alister William Jack is a Scottish politician serving as Secretary of State for Scotland since 2019. A member of the Scottish Conservatives, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dumfries and Galloway since 2017.
