Scottish Local Government
Medieval and early modern local government
An important process took place from the 12th century onwards, when Scotland was divided into counties, parishes and burghs. Counties had their origin in sheriffdoms and stewartries (sheriffs and stewards were royal officials and judges). Parishes were originally a way of dividing up the country into small areas, each of which would support a local church and clergy. Burghs were towns which enjoyed special privileges relating the regulation of trade and industry, and a certain amount of autonomy. From the 17th century until the mid-19th century ‘local government’ in Scotland is often characterised as rule by church and gentry (in parishes and counties) and by burgess oligarchy in the burghs.
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Modern local government
Social, economic, political and religious changes all played their part in the evolution of local government in the 18th and 19th centuries. The creation of parliamentary and police burghs, civil parishes, school boards, and a host of other local authorities transformed local government and improved the living conditions of millions of Scots in the face of enormous problems such as population growth, industrial pollution, disease and rising crime rates. In 1889 county councils were created with wide powers over landward areas (outwith burghs). The first half of the 20th century saw further rationalisation of local government, with more powers accruing to county councils and larger burghs. The division of counties, burghs and civil parishes was abolished in 1975.
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Counties and parishes (until 1975)
Education Authorities (1918-1930)
Local Authorities under the Contagious Diseases Acts
Senior officials – Chamberlain or Treasurer
Senior officials – Medical Officer of Health
Parochial Boards and Parish Councils
District Committees (1889-1930)
District Lunacy Boards/District Boards of Control
Special Drainage, Water Supply, Lighting and Scavenging districts
List of Counties, Cities, Large Burghs & Small Burghs
Local Government in Scotland since 1975
The 1973 Local Government (Scotland) Act abolished the centuries old system of counties, parishes and burghs in Scotland; replacing it with a two-tier system of regions and districts. This, in turn, was abolished in 1996 and replaced with the current system of single-tier authorities.
Between 1974 and 1996 (under the 1973 Local Government (Scotland) Act), most of Scotland had a two-tier system of local government, where 53 district councils were responsible for some functions and 9 regional councils were responsible for others. Three island areas (Western Isles, Orkney, and Shetland) were governed by single-tier island authorities. New Town Corporations operated in five towns in the central belt (Cumbernauld, East Kilbride, Glenrothes, Irvine, and Livingston), and shared responsibility for services such as housing, planning, and economic development with regional and district councils in each area.
From 1996 onwards, under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994, single-tier councils were created which inherited most of the functions of regional, district, and island councils. New Town Corporations were wound up between 1991 and 1996. Some services, such as water and sewerage, were removed entirely from local government. Valuation became subject to independent local authorities, called Valuation Joint Boards and other services, such as policing and fire, were initially managed by joint arrangements and later removed from local government oversight.
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List of regional, district, island and unitary councils
Bibliography
Bell, James & James Paton, Glasgow: Its Municipal Organization & Administration (J. MacLehose & Sons, 1896)
Ferguson, Keith, An introduction to local government in Scotland (The Planning Exchange, 1984)
Kerley, Richard with Mark Urquhart, Local authority organisation and management in Scotland 1975-1996 (Scottish Office Central Research Unit, 1997)
McConnell, Allan, Scottish Local Government (Edinburgh University Press, 2004)
Mackenzie, W. Mackay, The Scottish Burghs: an expanded version of the Rhind lectures in archaeology for 1945 (Oliver & Boyd, 1949)
Pryde, George S., Central and local government in Scotland since 1707 (Historical Association (Great Britain) 1960)
Urquhart, R. M., The Burghs of Scotland 5 vols. (Scottish Library Association, 1989-1992).
Whetstone, Ann E., Scottish County Government in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries (John Donald, 1981)
Whyte, W. E., The Local Government (Scotland) Act, 1929 (Hodge & Co, 1929)
Where can I see minutes of the meetings of a current local authority or its committees?
Most councils in Scotland provide online access to their minutes and committee minutes and have placed older minutes in their archives service. Check the council’s website or ask its contact centre about access.
Where can I see minutes of the meetings of a regional or district council or its committees?
The most likely source for these is the archives service of the successor local authority.
Did a particular town or suburb have a police force at one time?
Not all Scottish towns had separate police forces. Here is a list of those which did (with their dates of operation and the force which succeeded them). If the town concerned is not on this list it almost certainly did not have a separate police force, and was most likely served by the relevant county constabulary.
Aberdeen 1818-1975, successor force: Grampian.
Airdrie 1821-1967. Successor force: Lanark County.
Alloa 1822-1930. Successor force: Clackmannan County.
Anderston 1824-1846. Successor force: Glasgow City.
Annan 1858?-1881. Successor force: Dumfries County.
Arbroath 1836-1949. Successor force: Angus County.
Ardrossan 1859- ? Successor force: Ayr County.
Ayr 1845-1968. Successor force: Ayrshire.
Banff 1859-1886. Successor force: Banffshire.
Blairgowrie 1857-1875. Successor force: Perthshire.
Brechin 1859-1930. Successor force: Angus.
Broughty Ferry 1888-1913. Successor force: Dundee City.
Burntisland 1859-1861. Successor force: Fife.
Calton 1819-1846. Successor force: Glasgow City.
Campbeltown 1858-1863. Successor force: Argyllshire.
Coatbridge 1886-1867. Successor force: Lanarkshire.
Cromarty 1859-1868. Successor force: Cromarty County.
Cullen 1840-c.1861. Successor force: Elginshire.
Cupar 1859-1864. Successor force: Fife.
Dingwall 1859-1865. Successor force: Ross-shire.
Dumbarton 1855-1949. Successor force: Dunbartonshire.
Dumfries 1811-1932. Successor force: Dumfries-shire.
Dunbar 1844-1869. Successor force: East Lothian.
Dundee 1824-1975. Successor force: Tayside.
Dunfermline 1811-1949. Successor force: Fife.
Dysart 1858-1859? Successor force: Fife.
Edinburgh 1805-1975. Successor force: Lothian and Borders.
Elgin 1850-1893. Successor force: Morayshire.
Forfar 1857-1930. Successor force: Angus.
Forres c.1859-1867. Successor force: Morayshire.
Fraserburgh 1859-1866. Successor force: Aberdeenshire.
Galashiels 1850-1930. Successor force: Selkirkshire.
Gorbals 1808-1846. Successor force: Glasgow City.
Govan 1864-1912. Successor force: Glasgow.
Glasgow 1800-1975. Successor force: Strathclyde.
Greenock 1801-1967. Successor force: Renfrew and Bute.
Greenock Harbour 1817-1822, 1825-1843. Successor force: Greenock Burgh.
Haddington before 1857-1874. Successor force: East Lothian.
Hamilton 1855-1949, 1958-67. Successor force: Lanarkshire.
Hawick 1840-1930. Successor force: Roxburghshire.
Helensburgh 1846-1875. Successor force: Dunbartonshire.
Inverkeithing c.1859-1885. Successor force: Fife.
Inverness 1847-1968. Successor force: Inverness-shire.
Jedburgh 1857-1861. Successor force: Roxburghshire.
Johnstone 1857-1930. Successor force: Renfrewshire.
Kelso Burgh ?-1881. Successor force: Roxburghshire.
Kilmarnock 1846-1968. Successor force: Ayrshire.
Kilsyth 1840-? Successor force: Stirlingshire?
Kinning Park 1892-1905. Successor force: Glasgow City.
Kirkcaldy 1877-1949. Successor force: Fife.
Kirkintilloch 1838-1872. Successor force: Dunbartonshire.
Kirriemuir 1859-1891. Successor force: Forfarshire.
Leith 1859-1920. Successor force: Edinburgh City.
Lerwick 1892-1940. Successor force: Zetland.
Macduff 1859-1870. Successor force: Banffshire.
Maryhill 1856-1891. Successor force: Glasgow City.
Maxwelltown 1863-1890. Successor force: Kirkcudbrightshire.
Maybole 1859-1861. Successor force: Ayrshire.
Millport ? – ? Successor force: Bute?
Montrose 1833-1930. Successor force: Angus.
Motherwell & Wishaw 1930-1967. Successor force: Lanarkshire.
Musselburgh 1835-1841. Successor force: East Lothian.
Nairn 1859-1866. Successor force: Nairnshire.
Newburgh 1859-1969. Successor force: Fife.
North Berwick ? – 1857/8. Successor force: East Lothian.
Paisley 1806-1969. Successor force: Renfrew and Bute.
Partick 1858-1912. Successor force: Glasgow City.
Perth 1811-1964. Successor force: Perth and Kinross.
Port Glasgow 1857-1895. Successor force: Renfrewshire.
Pulteneytown 1858-1902. Successor force: Caithness-shire.
Renfrew 1857-1930. Successor force: Renfrewshire.
Rothesay 1846-1923. Successor force: Bute.
St Andrews 1858-1859? Successor force: Fife.
Stirling 1857-1938. Successor force: Stirlingshire.
Stranraer 1857-1870. Successor force: Wigtownshire.
Thurso 1841-1873. Successor force: Caithness-shire.
Wick Burgh Formed 1841-1858. Successor force Caithness-shire. Re-formed 1863-1873. Successor force Caithness-shire.
Wishaw ?- 1859. Successor force Lanarkshire.
What was a police burgh?
Police burghs were towns where a local or general act of parliament provided for services (such as water supply, drainage, sewerage, policing, paving, street lighting and refuse disposal) to be supervised by an elected body of commissioners and funded by local rates. Not all police burghs had police forces.
In the second half of the 18th century and the first decades of the 19th century many burghs and other towns faced problems coping with industrial pollution, sewerage, water supply, public health and crime. In 1800 Glasgow obtained a local act of parliament to set up a system of policing, whereby a body of police commissioners, elected by householders, oversaw a police force, and the maintenance of paving, lighting and cleansing the streets. Other Scottish burghs obtained similar local acts in the next few years. In 1832 and 1833 legislation converted royal burghs and many burghs of barony and regality into parliamentary burghs with elected councils. The Burgh Police (Scotland) Act allowed burghs to adopt policing, paving, lighting and cleansing powers through a sheriff court process (which was much less expensive than an act of parliament). Under the Police of Towns (Scotland) Act 1850 and the General Police and Improvement (Scotland) Act 1862 these (and further public health) powers were extended to populous places, and the result was the creation of over 100 ‘police burghs’. The Burgh Police (Scotland) Act 1890 ended the anomaly whereby some burghs had an elected body of police commissioners and a town council and granted further powers to burghs.