Local government areas of Scotland facts for kids

Scotland has special areas for its local government, which is how towns and regions are run. These areas have changed a lot over time. The first big changes happened in 1889 with a new law. Then, more changes came in 1973, and the system we mostly use today was set up by a law in 1994.

Before 1889, towns called burghs had their own elected councils, but counties didn't. The 1889 law created a system across Scotland based on older areas called counties and burghs. Later, in 1973, the county and burgh system was replaced with regions and districts, plus special islands council areas. Finally, the 1994 law got rid of regions and districts. It created a new system where every area has just one main council, similar to how the islands councils already worked.

How Local Government Worked (1889 to 1930)

During this time, local government in Scotland had three main parts: counties, burghs, and parishes.

What Were Counties?

The Local Government (Scotland) Act of 1889 changed how counties were managed. It also changed their number and borders. For example, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire joined together to become Ross and Cromarty. Lanarkshire's different parts were merged. Also, Orkney and Shetland became separate counties.

A special group was set up to fix county borders between 1891 and 1892. In 1890, each of the 33 counties got a county council. These councils had some elected members and some members chosen by town councils in the burghs. The county council mainly looked after the areas outside the burghs.

County Districts

County councils had to divide their county into smaller districts. Each district had a committee that handled things like roads and public health. This committee included county councillors from that area and one person from each parish in the district.

What Were Burghs?

Burghs were a type of town government that had existed for hundreds of years. They were first created by special documents called charters, often to give towns trading rights. In the 1800s, laws changed how burghs worked. A law in 1833 allowed burghs to set up a "police system" to manage things like paving, lighting, cleaning, and water supply.

Another law in 1850 allowed any place with 700 people to become a "police burgh." Burghs that didn't adopt this system were ended in 1893. Burghs were mostly independent. When county councils were created, they had limited power inside burgh boundaries.

Counties of Cities

Some large burghs became so important that they were also called "counties of cities." This meant they were completely separate from the county councils around them. For example, the royal burgh of Edinburgh was already a "county and city." Later, Glasgow became a county of a city in 1893, followed by Dundee in 1894, and Aberdeen in 1899.

What Were Parishes?

The smallest level of local government was the parish. From 1845, parochial boards managed poor relief and, outside burghs, slowly took on public health duties. In 1894, these boards were replaced by elected parish councils.

Education Areas

In 1919, Scotland was divided into education areas. These included the four counties of cities, the burgh of Leith, and each of the local government counties. For the counties, these areas also included all burghs within them. The people on these education authorities were directly elected by voters.

How Local Government Changed (1930 to 1975)

By 1928, Scotland had many different local authorities, and their jobs often overlapped. To make things simpler, a new law was proposed. It aimed to get rid of many of these bodies, leaving only 33 county councils and 201 burgh councils.

Burghs (except for the counties of cities) were split into two types: large burghs and small burghs. Large burghs gained more power from the county councils. Small burghs, however, gave most of their duties to the county councils.

The law was changed a bit as it went through parliament. People worried that getting rid of parish councils and district committees would leave a gap. So, the rural parts of each county were divided into new districts. These were run by councils made up of county councillors and elected district councillors.

The final law also allowed some small burghs to combine. It also joined Kinross-shire with Perthshire, and Nairnshire with Moray, to form "combined counties." In these combined areas, the individual county councils still existed, but a joint county council became the main local authority.

After these changes in 1930, Scotland's local government areas were:

• The four counties of cities
• 29 counties
• 2 combined counties
• Large burghs (towns with 20,000 people or more, plus Arbroath)
• Small burghs
• Rural districts

This system was confirmed in the Local Government (Scotland) Act of 1947. Over time, the number of small burghs grew, and the number of districts went down. There wasn't an easy way for a small burgh to become a large burgh just by growing in population. Only one new large burgh, East Kilbride, was created during this period, and that needed a special law in 1967.

The System from 1973 to 1996

The Local Government (Scotland) Act of 1973 completely changed local government in 1975. It created a system with nine regions (which had two levels of government) and three islands council areas (which had just one level). This new system replaced all the old counties and burghs.

Each two-tier region had a regional council and several smaller district subdivisions, each with its own district council. The number of districts in a region varied from three to 19.

The 1973 Act was based on ideas from the Wheatley Report, which was a study into Scottish local government in 1969. The new regions and districts were usually very different from the counties and districts they replaced. Two of the new islands council areas had the same borders as older counties. The third islands area was made up of parts from two different old counties.

Local Government Today (1994 to Present)