Banff and Buchan is a committee area of the

Aberdeenshire Council Aberdeenshire Council is the local authority for Aberdeenshire, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. The council has been under no overall control since its creation in 1996. It is based at Woodhill House, which is outside its own territory ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, covering an area along the northern coast of the council area. The main towns are Banff and

Fraserburgh Fraserburgh (; ), locally known as the Broch, is a town in Aberdeenshire (unitary), Aberdeenshire, Scotland, with a population recorded in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census as 13,100. It lies in Buchan in the northeastern corner of th ...

. Fishing and agriculture are important industries, together with associated processing and service activity. Banff and Buchan was also the name of a

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

of Grampian Region between 1975 and 1996. The district covered a much larger area than the modern committee area. Its council was based in Banff.

History

The area has a long history of human occupation. Prehistoric features include a large

long barrow Long barrows are a style of monument constructed across Western Europe in the fifth and fourth millennia BCE, during the Early Neolithic period. Typically constructed from earth and either timber or stone, those using the latter material repres ...

Longman Hill Longmanhill is a Bronze Age long barrow situated atop a prominent rounded landform in northern Aberdeenshire, Scotland near Banff Bay. Due to the low-lying coastal plain characteristics, the elevation of Longmanhill affords a long-distance view as ...

south-east of Macduff, as well as Cairn Lee to the west of Longman Hill.

Local government district

The Banff and Buchan

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

district was created on 16 May 1975 under the

Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (c. 65) is an Act of Parliament (UK), act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered local government of Scotland, local government in Scotland on 16 May 1975. The act followed and largely impleme ...

, which established a two-tier structure of local government across Scotland comprising upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts. Banff and Buchan was one of five districts created within the Grampian region. The new district covered parts of the historic counties of

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...

and

Banffshire Banffshire (; ; ) is a historic county in Scotland. The county town is Banff, although the largest settlement is Buckie to the west. The historic county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975. Since 1996 the area has been spli ...

. It covered the whole area of twelve former

districts A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

and parts of another two, which were all abolished at the same time: ''From Aberdeenshire'' *Deer district * Ellon district (parish of Cruden only) *

burgh A burgh ( ) is an Autonomy, autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots language, Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when David I of Scotland, King David I created ...

Peterhead Peterhead (; , ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is the council area's largest settlement, with a population of 19,060 at the 2022 Census for Scotland, 2022 Census. It is the largest fishing port in the United Kingdom for total landi ...

burgh * Rosehearty burgh *

Turriff Turriff () is a town and civil parish in Aberdeenshire in Scotland. It lies on the River Deveron, about above sea level, and has a population of 5,708. In everyday speech it is often referred to by its Scots name ''Turra'', which is deriv ...

burgh *Turriff district ''From Banffshire'' * Aberchirder burgh *Aberchirder district * Banff burgh *Banff district * Cullen district ( Fordyce electoral division only) * Macduff burgh * Portsoy burgh The rest of Banffshire became part of the

Moray Moray ( ; or ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Its council is based in Elgin, the area' ...

district of the Grampian region. The new district was named Banff and Buchan, combining the names of the former county and town of Banff and the ancient

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

Buchan Buchan is a coastal district in the north-east of Scotland, bounded by the Ythan and Deveron rivers. It was one of the original provinces of the Kingdom of Alba. It is now one of the six committee areas of Aberdeenshire. Etymology The ge ...

, which had covered the parts of the district from Aberdeenshire. The regions and districts created in 1975 were abolished in 1996, being replaced by

council areas For local government purposes, Scotland is divided into 32 areas designated as "council areas" (), which are all governed by single-tier authorities designated as "councils". They have the option under the Local Government (Gaelic Names) (Sc ...

. The area of Banff and Buchan was merged with the Gordon and Kincardine and Deeside districts to become the new

council area.

Political control

The first election to the district council was held in 1974, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until it came into its powers on 16 May 1975. Throughout the council's existence, a majority of the seats were held by

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

councillors:

Premises

The district council met at Banff Sheriff Court, the courthouse (built 1871) which had also served as the meeting place of the old Banffshire County Council. The district council had its main offices at St Leonard's House on Sandyhill Road in Banff, which had also been the main offices of the former Banffshire County Council since 1934. It also used other offices inherited from its predecessors, notably including Banff Town House at 34 Low Street, formerly offices of Banff Town Council, and Arbuthnot House on Broad Street in Peterhead, formerly offices of Peterhead Town Council. The offices passed to Aberdeenshire Council on local government reorganisation in 1996. St Leonard's House and Banff Town House continue to be used as area offices.

Committee area

The successor Aberdeenshire Council established a number of area committees to discuss local matters. One is called Banff and Buchan, but covers a smaller area than the pre-1996 district. The committee area just covers the wards of Banff and District, Fraserburgh and District and Troup. Other parts of the pre-1996 district are included in the committee areas of Buchan (the area around Peterhead) and

Formartine Formartine ( meaning "Martin's land") is a committee area in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. This district extends north from the River Don, Aberdeenshire, River Don to the River Ythan. It has a population of 36,478 (2001 Census). The committee area w ...

(the area around Turriff).

Parliamentary constituencies

The name is also used for the Banff and Buchan

constituency An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provi ...

of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

(at

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

). This seat has been held since 2017 by David Duiguid of the Conservative Party who gained it from Dr Eilidh Whiteford of the

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

. From 1999 to 2011 Banff and Buchan was also used as a constituency of the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

(at Holyrood). Despite sharing the same name, the boundaries of the two constituencies differed after 2005.

References

;Specific ;General * {{Use dmy dates, date=March 2017 Politics of Aberdeenshire 1975 establishments in Scotland 1996 disestablishments in Scotland States and territories established in 1975 States and territories disestablished in 1996 Districts of Scotland Committee areas of Aberdeenshire