Boundaries Scotland is an independent body in

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 ...

created as the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland 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 ...

. According to its website, it is responsible for: carrying out reviews of boundaries of local authority areas; reviews of electoral arrangements for local authorities; responding to requests for ad hoc reviews of electoral or administrative arrangements; and reviews of constituencies and regions for the Scottish Parliament. Its work relates to the

local government of Scotland Local government in Scotland comprises thirty-two local authorities, commonly referred to as ''councils''. Each council provides public services, including education, social care, waste management, libraries and planning. Councils receive the ma ...

, and it reports to the

Scottish Government The Scottish Government (, ) is the executive arm of the devolved government of Scotland. It was formed in 1999 as the Scottish Executive following the 1997 referendum on Scottish devolution, and is headquartered at St Andrew's House in ...

. Its counterpart organisations elsewhere in the UK are the

Local Government Boundary Commission for England The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) is a parliamentary body established by statute to conduct boundary, electoral and structural reviews of local government areas in England. The LGBCE is independent of government and po ...

, the

Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru The Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru () is a Welsh Government sponsored body, responsible for defining local government boundaries and Senedd constituency boundaries in Wales, also known as . The Commission was established originally as ...

(Wales) and the Local Government Boundaries Commissioner for Northern Ireland. The

Boundary Commission for Scotland In the United Kingdom, the boundary commissions are non-departmental public bodies responsible for determining the boundaries of Constituencies of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, parliamentary constituencies for elections to the House of Co ...

is a separate body, concerned with the boundaries of UK parliament constituencies in Scotland. When section 28 of the Scottish Elections (Reform) Act 2020 came into force, the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland was renamed Boundaries Scotland.

Electoral reviews

In 2006, the Commission completed its Fourth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements, as required by the

Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 The Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 (asp 9) is an Act of the Scottish Parliament which provided, amongst other things, for the election of councillors to the local government in Scotland, local authorities in Scotland by the single transfera ...

, producing new wards for use in

single transferable vote The single transferable vote (STV) or proportional-ranked choice voting (P-RCV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which each voter casts a single vote in the form of a ranked ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vot ...

elections which each return 3 or 4 councillors. These were first used in elections in 2007. The review resulted in a total of 353 wards across Scotland, returning a total of 1222 councillors. A subsequent interim review in 2011 did not change any ward boundaries, but increased the number of councilors to 1223 from May 2012. A fifth review in 2016 resulted in ward boundaries being changed yet again, though some of the proposed were not implemented, such as in

Argyll and Bute Argyll and Bute (; , ) is one of 32 unitary authority, unitary council areas of Scotland, council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. The current lord-lieutenant for Argyll and Bute is Jane Margaret MacLeod ...

. The Commission's Third Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements reported during 1998 and recommended the electoral arrangements for the unitary local authorities introduced in 1996. The Commission's Second Review reported between 1992 and 1994, and its Initial Review between 1977 and 1979: both concerned the Region and District local government structure that was then in place.

Administrative area reviews

The Commission has conducted a series of reviews of local authority areas to address situations where development has taken place across local authority boundaries, or where local authority areas established by the 1973 Act did not reflect local preferences. In the words of the 1973 Act, the Commission's recommendations are made "in the interests of effective and convenient local government". Since the establishment of Scotland's current 32 unitary councils in 1996, the Commission has conducted 7 such reviews each of which resulted in small changes to the boundaries of authorities to avoid bisecting developed areas. The 1973 Act gives the Commission powers to conduct wide-ranging reviews of local authority structures in Scotland. However, throughout its existence, Ministers have directed the Commission not to conduct such reviews.

External links

Boundaries Scotland website

Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales website

Local Government Boundary Commission for England website

Local Government Boundaries Commissioner for Northern Ireland website

Boundary Commission for Scotland website

Boundary commission for Scotland
at gov.uk

Footnotes

Council elections in Scotland Boundary commissions in the United Kingdom Advisory non-departmental public bodies of the Scottish Government Reports of the Scottish Government 1973 establishments in Scotland Government agencies established in 1973 Organisations based in Edinburgh Scottish commissions and inquiries {{UK-gov-stub