Subdivisions of Scotland

Scotland

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Scotland

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For local government purposes, Scotland is divided into 32 areas designated as "council areas" which are all governed by unitary authorities^[1] designated as "councils". 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 Na h-Eileanan Siar has chosen this option whereas the Highland Council (Comhairle na Gaidhealtachd) 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.

Other administrative bodies (some of which are described below) still follow boundaries derived from older local government arrangements.

History of the subdivisions of Scotland

Further information: History of burghs and History of local government in Scotland

From 16 May 1975 to 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.

Before then there existed counties, counties of cities, large burghs and small burghs, these being introduced since 1889. Before 1889 administration was on a burgh and parish basis.

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.

Council areas

MAINLAND	Area (sq miles)	Area (km²)	Population (2001)	Density (per km²)
Aberdeen City	70	182	212,125	1164
Aberdeenshire	2439	6317	226,871	36
Angus	843	2184	108,400	50
Argyll and Bute	2712	7023	91,306	13
Clackmannanshire	61	158	48,077	304
Dumfries and Galloway	2489	6446	147,765	23
Dundee City	21	55	145,663	2648
East Ayrshire	492	1275	120,235	94
East Dunbartonshire	68	176	108,243	617
East Lothian	257	666	90,088	135
East Renfrewshire	65	168	89,311	532
City of Edinburgh	100	260	448,624	1725
Falkirk	113	293	145,191	496
Fife	517	1340	349,429	261
Glasgow City	68	175	577,869	3307
Highland	10,085	26,119	208,914	8
Inverclyde	64	167	84,203	503
Midlothian	135	350	80,941	231
Moray	864	2237	86,940	39
North Ayrshire	343	888	135,817	153
North Lanarkshire	184	476	321,067	674
Perth and Kinross	2083	5395	134,949	25
Renfrewshire	102	263	172,867	659
Scottish Borders	1825	4727	106,764	23
South Ayrshire	475	1230	112,097	93
South Lanarkshire	686	1778	302,216	170
Stirling	866	2243	86,212	38
West Dunbartonshire	68	176	93,378	531
West Lothian	165	427	158,714	372
TOTAL MAINLAND	28,260	73,193	4,994,276	68
ISLANDS
Na h-Eileanan Siar	1185	3070	26,502	9
Orkney Islands	396	1025	19,245	19
Shetland Islands	568	1471	21,988	15
TOTAL ISLANDS	2149	5566	67,735	12
TOTAL SCOTLAND	30,409	78,759	5,062,011	64

Other subdivisions

Scotland has several other administrative divisions, some of which are handled by joint boards of the councils.

Police and fire services

Police and fire service areas date from the era (1975 to 1996) of regions and districts and island council areas. In both cases there are current (2011) intentions announced by the Scottish Government to reduce the overall number of separate services.

Services	Original area (former regions)	Council areas
Central Scotland Police Central Scotland Fire and Rescue Service	Central	Clackmannanshire, Falkirk and Stirling
Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary Dumfries and Galloway Fire and Rescue Service	Dumfries and Galloway	Dumfries and Galloway
Fife Constabulary Fife Fire and Rescue Service	Fife	Fife
Grampian Police Grampian Fire and Rescue Service	Grampian	Aberdeenshire, the City of Aberdeen and Moray
Lothian and Borders Police Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service	Lothians and the Scottish Borders	The City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Scottish Borders, Midlothian and West Lothian
Northern Constabulary Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service	Highland, Orkney, Shetland and Western Isles	Highland, Orkney, Shetland and Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles)
Strathclyde Police Strathclyde Fire and Rescue	Strathclyde	Argyll and Bute, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, City of Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire
Tayside Police Tayside Fire and Rescue Service	Tayside	Angus, the City of Dundee and Perth & Kinross

Electoral and valuation

There are several joint boards for electoral registration and the purposes of property valuation for assessing council tax and rates.^[3]

Joint board area	Council areas
Ayrshire Ayrshire and Arran in other contexts	East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire
Borders	Scottish Borders
Central Scotland	Clackmannanshire, Falkirk, Stirling
Dumfries and Galloway	Dumfries and Galloway
Dunbartonshire and Argyll & Bute	East Dunbartonshire, West Dunbartonshire, Argyll and Bute
Fife	Fife
Grampian	Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Moray
Glasgow	Glasgow
Highlands and Western Isles	Highland and Na h-Eileanan Siar (Western Isles)
Lanarkshire	North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire
Lothian	East Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, West Lothian
Orkney and Shetland	Orkney Islands and Shetland Islands
Renfrewshire	East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, Renfrewshire
Tayside	Angus, Dundee, Perth and Kinross

Health

See also NHS Scotland

Health board area	Council areas
Ayrshire and Arran	East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire and South Ayrshire
Borders	Scottish Borders
Dumfries and Galloway	Dumfries and Galloway
Fife	Fife
Forth Valley Central Scotland in other contexts	Clackmannanshire, Falkirk and Stirling
Grampian	Aberdeenshire, City of Aberdeen and Moray
Greater Glasgow and Clyde	City of Glasgow, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire, together with the towns of Cambuslang and Rutherglen in South Lanarkshire
Highland	Argyll and Bute and Highland
Lanarkshire	North Lanarkshire and South Lanarkshire (excepting the towns of Cambuslang and Rutherglen which are in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area)
Lothian	City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian
Orkney	Orkney Islands
Shetland	Shetland Islands
Tayside	Angus, City of Dundee and Perth and Kinross
Western Isles (Eileanan Siar)	Western Isles (Na h-Eileanan Siar)

Transport

See also: Transport Scotland

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
NESTRANS	Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire
TACTRAN	Angus, Dundee, Perth and Kinross, Stirling
HITRANS	Argyll and Bute (except Helensburgh and Lomond), Highland, Moray, Western Isles, Orkney
Shetland	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

Land Registration

The current land registration system in Scotland divides Scotland into 33 counties^[4], 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

Sheriffdoms are judicial areas. Since 1 January 1975 these have been six in number:^[5]

• Glasgow and Strathkelvin
• Grampian, Highland and Islands
• Lothian and Borders
• North Strathclyde
• South Strathclyde, Dumfries and Galloway
• Tayside, Central and Fife

Civil parishes

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 continue to form current registration districts. It should be noted that many boundary changes have occurred over the years and that 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.

Communities

The base level of sub-division in Scotland is that of communities which may elect community councils (CCs). The main role of the CCs is to channel local opinion to larger local-government bodies. Otherwise they 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.

See also

• List of articles about local government in the United Kingdom
• ISO 3166-2:GB, subdivision codes for the United Kingdom
• Fire and Rescue Authority (Scotland), a body responsible for fire services which is formed from persons representing the authority or authorities within its area.

References

1. ^ With respect to Scotland the phrase "unitary authority" is merely descriptive; in the United Kingdom the phrase "unitary authority" as a designation is specific to local government areas in England.
2. ^ Local Government (Gaelic Names) (Scotland) Act 1997
3. ^ Scottish Assessors Association
4. ^ Registers of Scotland publication - Land Register Counties and Operational Dates
5. ^ The Sheriffdoms Reorganisation Order 1974 S.I. 1974/2087 (S.191)