Council areas of Scotland | |
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Category | Administrative unit |
Location | Scotland |
Number | 32 |
Populations | 22,020 (Orkney Islands) – 622,820 (Glasgow) |
Areas | 60 km2 (23 sq mi) (Dundee) – 25,653 km2 (9,905 sq mi) (Highland) |
Government |
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Subdivisions |
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This article is part of a series within the Politics of the United Kingdom on the |
Politics of Scotland |
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For local government purposes, Scotland is divided into 32 areas designated as "council areas" (Scottish Gaelic : comhairlean), which are all governed by single-tier authorities designated as "councils". [1] They have the option under the Local Government (Gaelic Names) (Scotland) Act 1997 [2] of being known (but not re-designated) as a "comhairle" when opting for a Gaelic name; only Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Council of the Western Isles) has chosen this option, whereas the Highland Council (Comhairle na Gàidhealtachd) has adopted its Gaelic form alongside its English equivalent, informally.
The council areas have been in existence since 1 April 1996, under the provisions of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. Historically, Scotland was divided into 34 counties or shires. Although these no longer have any administrative function, they are still used to some extent in Scotland for cultural and geographical purposes, and some of the current council areas are named after them. There are also a number of other administrative divisions, some of which are handled by joint boards of the councils.
At the most local level, Scotland is divided into civil parishes, which are now used only for statistical purposes such as the census. The lowest level of administrative subdivision are the communities, which may elect community councils.
Traditionally burghs have been the key unit of the local government of Scotland, being highly autonomous entities, with rights to representation in the old Parliament of Scotland. Even after the Acts of Union 1707, burghs continued to be the principal subdivision. Until 1889, administration was on a burgh and parish basis.
The years following 1889 saw the introduction of a hierarchy of local government administration comprising counties, counties of cities, large burghs and small burghs.
With effect from 16 May 1975 and until 31 March 1996 the local government divisions of Scotland consisted of an upper tier of regions each containing a lower tier of districts except for the single-tier island council areas . Since 1996 there has only been a single tier of government, and the former island council areas are of equal status to the other councils.
Scotland has several other administrative divisions, some of which are handled by joint boards of the councils.
There are several joint boards for electoral registration and the purposes of property valuation for assessing council tax and rates. [4]
Joint board area | Council areas |
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Ayrshire | East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire |
Borders | Scottish Borders |
Central Scotland | Clackmannanshire, Falkirk, Stirling |
Dumfries and Galloway | Dumfries and Galloway |
Dunbartonshire and Argyll & Bute | Argyll and Bute, East Dunbartonshire, West Dunbartonshire |
Fife | Fife |
Grampian | Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Moray |
Glasgow | Glasgow City |
Highlands and Islands | Highland and Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles) |
Lanarkshire | North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire |
Lothian | East Lothian, City of Edinburgh, Midlothian, West Lothian |
Orkney and Shetland | Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands |
Renfrewshire | East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, Renfrewshire |
Tayside | Angus, Dundee City, Perth and Kinross |
See also NHS Scotland
Until 1 April 2014 the towns of Cambuslang and Rutherglen were in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area despite being located in South Lanarkshire. They are now part of NHS Lanarkshire.
The Scottish Government has created seven "Regional Transport Partnerships", for establishing transport policy in the regions. They broadly follow council area groupings.
RTP area | Council areas |
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NESTRANS | Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire |
TACTRAN | Angus, Dundee, Perth and Kinross, Stirling |
HITRANS | Argyll and Bute (except Helensburgh and Lomond), Highland, Moray, Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles), Orkney |
ZetTrans | Shetland |
SEStran | Edinburgh, Clackmannanshire, East Lothian, Falkirk, Midlothian, Fife, Scottish Borders, West Lothian |
SWESTRANS | Dumfries and Galloway |
Strathclyde Partnership for Transport | Argyll and Bute (Helensburgh and Lomond only), West Dunbartonshire, East Dunbartonshire, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, Glasgow, East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, South Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire |
In the Eurostat Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), Scotland is a level-1 NUTS region, coded "UKM", which is subdivided as follows: [5]
NUTS 1 | Code | NUTS 2 | Code | NUTS 3 | Code |
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Scotland | UKM | Eastern Scotland | UKM2 | Angus and Dundee | UKM21 |
| Clackmannanshire and Fife | UKM22 | |||
East Lothian and Midlothian | UKM23 | ||||
Scottish Borders | UKM24 | ||||
Edinburgh | UKM25 | ||||
Falkirk | UKM26 | ||||
Perth and Kinross, and Stirling | UKM27 | ||||
West Lothian | UKM28 | ||||
South Western Scotland | UKM3 | East Dunbartonshire, West Dunbartonshire, and Helensburgh and Lomond | UKM31 | ||
Dumfries and Galloway | UKM32 | ||||
East and North Ayrshire mainland | UKM33 | ||||
Glasgow | UKM34 | ||||
Inverclyde, East Renfrewshire, and Renfrewshire | UKM35 | ||||
North Lanarkshire | UKM36 | ||||
South Ayrshire | UKM37 | ||||
South Lanarkshire | UKM38 | ||||
North Eastern Scotland | UKM5 | Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire | UKM50 | ||
Highlands and Islands | UKM6 | Caithness and Sutherland, and Ross and Cromarty | UKM61 | ||
Inverness, Nairn, Moray, and Badenoch and Strathspey | UKM62 | ||||
Lochaber, Skye and Lochalsh, Arran and Cumbrae, and Argyll and Bute (except Helensburgh and Lomond) | UKM63 | ||||
Eilean Siar (Western Isles) | UKM64 | ||||
Orkney Islands | UKM65 | ||||
Shetland Islands | UKM66 |
The current land registration system in Scotland divides Scotland into 33 Registration Counties, [6] each coming into effect on various dates between 1981 and 2003. These areas in most cases resemble those of the pre-1975 administrative counties with Glasgow being the only current city to form a registration county.
Sheriffdoms are judicial areas. Since 1 January 1975, these have been six in number: [7]
The Lieutenancy areas of Scotland are the areas used for the ceremonial lord-lieutenants, the monarch's representatives. The areas are similar to the Historic Counties and the Registration Counties, but are not identical to either. Most notably, the four cities of Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow form separate areas from the surrounding countryside, with the Lord Provost of each city acting ex officio as the lord-lieutenant.
The Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012 resulted in the merger of local police and fire services on 1 April 2013 to form the Police Service of Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Seirbheis Phoilis na h-Alba) and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS, Scottish Gaelic: Seirbheis Smàlaidh agus Teasairginn na h-Alba).
Prior to 1975 policing was the responsibility of the Cities and Burghs of Scotland (see List of burghs in Scotland). Between 1975 and 2013 Scotland was subdivided into Police and fire service areas based on the regions and districts and island council areas that were also formed in 1975. The police and fire service regions used between 1975 and 2013 are listed below.
Scotland is divided into 871 civil parishes which often resemble same-named but legally different ecclesiastical parishes. Although they have had no administrative function since 1930, they still exist and are still used for statistical purposes such as the census. Many former civil parish areas also continued to form registration districts until 1 January 2007. Many boundary changes have occurred over the years and an area currently derived from an old parish might no longer contain a place previously within that parish. Similarly, county boundaries (as still used for land registration) have also changed over the years such that a parish mentioned historically (generally before the 1860s) as being in one county (or sometimes two due to straddling a border) might now be in a neighbouring county and consequentially in a different succeeding council area.
For most administrative purposes, the base level of sub-division in Scotland is now that of communities, which may elect community councils. The main role of these bodies is to channel and reflect local opinion to other bodies; they otherwise have very limited powers. There are around 1,200 communities in Scotland. Not all communities have councils; some have joint councils.
Scottish communities are the nearest equivalent to civil parishes in England.
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south; it borders the counties of Inverness-shire and Aberdeenshire to the north, Angus to the east, Fife, Kinross-shire, Clackmannanshire, Stirlingshire and Dunbartonshire to the south and Argyllshire to the west.
Glasgow City Council is the local government authority for Glasgow City council area, Scotland. In its modern form it was created in 1996. Glasgow was formerly governed by a corporation, also known as the town council, from the granting of its first burgh charter in the 1170s until 1975. From 1975 until 1996 the city was governed by City of Glasgow District Council, a lower-tier authority within the Strathclyde region.
Local government in Scotland comprises thirty-two local authorities, commonly referred to as councils. Each council provides public services, including education, social care, waste management, libraries and planning. Councils receive the majority of their funding from the Scottish Government, but operate independently and are accountable to their local electorates. Councils raise additional income via the Council Tax, a locally variable domestic property tax, and Business rates, a non-domestic property tax.
Dunbartonshire or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders Perthshire to the north, Stirlingshire to the east, Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire to the south, and Argyllshire to the west.
The Shires of Scotland, or Counties of Scotland, were historic subdivisions of Scotland.
Sutherland is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. The name dates from the Viking era when the area was ruled by the Jarl of Orkney; although Sutherland includes some of the northernmost land on the island of Great Britain, it was called Suðrland from the standpoint of Orkney and Caithness.
Ross and Cromarty, is an area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. In modern usage, it is a registration county and a lieutenancy area. Between 1889 and 1975 it was a county.
Caithness is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland.
Peeblesshire, the County of Peebles or Tweeddale is a historic county of Scotland. Its county town is Peebles, and it borders Midlothian to the north, Selkirkshire to the east, Dumfriesshire to the south, and Lanarkshire to the west.
The County of Kinross or Kinross-shire is a historic county and registration county in eastern Scotland, administered as part of Perth and Kinross since 1975. Surrounding its largest settlement and county town of Kinross, the county borders Perthshire to the north and Fife to the east, south and west.
Stirlingshire or the County of Stirling is a historic county and registration county of Scotland. Its county town is Stirling.
Cunninghame is a former comital district of Scotland and also a district of the Strathclyde Region from 1975 to 1996.
The County of Nairn, or Nairnshire, is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. The county was named after Nairn, its only town. The county was used for local government until 1975 when the area was redesignated as the Nairn District, one of the eight districts of the two-tier Highland region. Nairn district was abolished in 1996 when Highland became a single-tier council area.
Tweeddale is a committee area and lieutenancy area in the Scottish Borders council area in south-eastern Scotland. It had also been a province in the Middle Ages. From 1975 to 1996 it was a local government district. Its boundaries correspond to the historic county of Peeblesshire.
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.
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.
Renfrew District was, between 1975 and 1996, one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland.
Renfrewshire or the County of Renfrew is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The lieutenancy area covers the three modern council areas of Inverclyde, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire, and this area is occasionally termed Greater Renfrewshire to distinguish it from the modern council area called Renfrewshire. The historic county additionally included territory on the south-western edge of Glasgow which was gradually transferred to the administrative area of the city as it grew.
The history of local government in Scotland is a complex tale of largely ancient and long established Scottish political units being replaced after the mid 20th century by a frequently changing series of different local government arrangements.
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.