East Dunbartonshire (Scots: Aest Dunbartanshire; Scottish Gaelic: Siorrachd Dhùn Bhreatann an Ear, pronounced [ˈʃirˠəxk ɣum ˈpɾʲɛht̪ən̪ˠ əɲ ˈɛɾ]) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders Glasgow City Council Area to the south, North Lanarkshire to the east, Stirling to the north, and West Dunbartonshire to the west. East Dunbartonshire contains many of the affluent areas north of Glasgow, including Bearsden, Milngavie, (Bishopbriggs), (Kirkintilloch), (Lenzie), (Twechar), Milton of Campsie, Balmore, and Torrance, as well as some other of Glasgow's commuter towns and villages. The council area covers parts of the historic counties of Dunbartonshire, Lanarkshire, and Stirlingshire.

The council area was formed in 1996, as a result of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, from the former Bearsden and Milngavie districts and most of the former Strathkelvin district, which had been part of the Strathclyde region.

History
Demographics
Communities
Governance
Elections
- Wards
Settlements
Places of interest
Education
See also

History

East Dunbartonshire was created in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, which abolished the regions and districts which had been created in 1975, replacing them with unitary council areas. East Dunbartonshire covered the area of the abolished Bearsden and Milngavie and Strathkelvin districts (except the Chryston and Auchinloch area from the latter, which went to North Lanarkshire). Both former districts had been in the Strathclyde region.

Both of East Dunbartonshire's predecessor districts had been created in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. The Bearsden and Milngavie district had been created covering Milngavie, Bearsden and adjoining areas from Dunbartonshire. The Strathkelvin district had been created covering Kirkintilloch and adjoining areas from Dunbartonshire, Bishopbriggs and adjoining areas from Lanarkshire, and the parishes of Baldernock and Campsie from Stirlingshire.

Demographics

In a 2007 Reader's Digest poll, East Dunbartonshire was voted the best place in Britain to raise a family. The area has generally performed well in the Halifax Quality of Life survey; in 2010 it was ranked third in Scotland, and it was the only Scottish area in the British Top 20 in 2008. A Legatum Prosperity Index published by the Legatum Institute in October 2016 showed East Dunbartonshire as the most prosperous council area in Scotland and the ninth most prosperous in the United Kingdom.

Communities

The area is divided into thirteen community council areas, twelve of which have community councils as at 2023 (being those with asterisks in the list below):

Baldernock*
Bearsden East*
Bearsden North*
Bearsden West*
Bishopbriggs*
Campsie*
Kirkintilloch*
Lenzie*
Milngavie*
Milton of Campsie*
Torrance*
Twechar
Waterside*

Governance

East Dunbartonshire

Leadership
Provost	Gillian Renwick, SNP Since 19 May 2022
Leader	Gordan Low, SNP Since 19 May 2022
Chief Executive	Gerry Cornes Since January 2009
Structure
Seats	22 councillors

Political groups	Administration (8) SNP (8) Other parties(14) Liberal Democrats (5) Labour (4) Conservatives (2) Independents (3)
Elections
Voting system	Single transferable vote
Last election	5 May 2022
Next election	6 May 2027
Meeting place

12 Strathkelvin Place, Kirkintilloch, G66 1XT

Leadership

The first leader of the council, Charles Kennedy, had been the last leader of the old Strathkelvin District Council. The leaders of East Dunbartonshire Council since 1996 have been:

Councillor		From	To	Notes
Charles Kennedy	Labour	1 Apr 1996	Oct 1999
Keith Moody	Liberal Democrats	Oct 1999	May 2003
John Morrison	Liberal Democrats	8 May 2003	3 May 2007
Rhondda Geekie	Labour	17 May 2007	4 May 2017
Gordan Low	SNP	23 May 2017	21 Dec 2017
Vaughan Moody	Liberal Democrats	20 Mar 2018	May 2022	Co-leaders
Andrew Polson	Conservative	20 Mar 2018	May 2022	Co-leaders
Gordan Low	SNP	19 May 2022

Composition

Following the 2022 election and subsequent changes of allegiance up to July 2023, the composition of the council was:

Party		Councillors
	SNP	8
	Liberal Democrats	5
	Labour	4
	Conservative	2
	Independent	3
Total		22

The next election is due in 2027.

Premises

Since 2012 the council has been based at 12 Strathkelvin Place in Kirkintilloch, which forms part of the Southbank Marina development adjoining the Forth and Clyde Canal. Prior to 2012 the council was based at Tom Johnston House at the junction of Lenzie Road and Civic Way in Kirkintilloch. Tom Johnston House had been built in 1985 as the headquarters for the old Strathkelvin District Council and was named after Tom Johnston (1881–1965), who was born in Kirkintilloch and had served as Secretary of State for Scotland during the Second World War. Tom Johnston House was demolished in 2015. The new council chamber at Strathkelvin Place is called Tom Johnston Chamber.

Elections

Since 2007 elections have been held every five years under the single transferable vote system, introduced by the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004. Election results since 1995 have been as follows:

Year	Seats	SNP	Liberal Democrats	Labour	Conservative	Independent / Other	Notes
Year	Seats						Notes
1995	26	0	9	15	2	0
1999	24	1	10	10	3	0	New ward boundaries.
2003	24	0	12	9	3	0
2007	24	8	3	6	5	2	New ward boundaries.
2012	24	8	3	8	2	3
2017	22	7	6	2	6	1	New ward boundaries.
2022	22	8	6	4	3	1

Wards

Map of the area's wards (2017 configuration)

Since 2007, the council (as with all others in Scotland) has been elected using multi-member wards, each returning three councillors using a single transferable vote system of proportional representation. Initially this retained the number of councillors at 24 following on from the same number of single-member wards in previous elections, divided equally across eight wards. However, a national boundary and population review prior to the 2017 Scottish local elections led to the number of East Dunbartonshire wards being reduced to seven and the number of councillors being reduced to 22. These current wards are:

#	Ward Name	Seats	Population (2020)
1	Milngavie	3	13,572
2	Bearsden North	3	14,943
3	Bearsden South	3	13,318
4	Bishopbriggs North and Campsie	4	19,323
5	Bishopbriggs South	3	15,868
6	Kirkintilloch East and North and Twechar	3	18,251
7	Lenzie and Kirkintilloch South	3	13,475

Settlements

Largest settlements by population:

Settlement	Population (2020)
Bearsden	28470
Bishopbriggs	23680
Kirkintilloch	21870
Milngavie	12840
Lenzie	8090
Lennoxtown	4260
Milton of Campsie	3910
Torrance	2320
Twechar	1340

Places of interest

Campsie Fells
West Highland Way
Forth and Clyde Canal
Antonine Wall
Mugdock Country Park
Milngavie water treatment works
River Kelvin
Lillie Art Gallery
Auld Kirk Museum
Huntershill Village
The Fort Theatre
The Turret Theatre
The Gadloch

Huntershill Village
Thomas Muir
Thomas Muir Cairn - Erected by John SL Watson and unveiled by East Dunbartonshire's Provost John Dempsey (1997)
Scottish Political Martyrs Gate - Erected by John SL Watson and unveiled by East Dunbartonshire's Provost John Dempsey (1997)
Miners of the world memorial hutch - created by John SL Watson and unveiled by leader of East Dunbartsonshire Council John Morrison (2003)
Finger Post marking the Old Glasgow-Stirling postal road
Huntershill Village Mile Stone
Southwest view across Gadloch Towards the distant Red Road Flats.