Tayside () was one of the nine

regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and ...

used for

local government in 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 th ...

from 16 May 1975 to 31 March 1996. The region was named after the

River Tay The River Tay (, ; probably from the conjectured Brythonic ''Tausa'', possibly meaning 'silent one' or 'strong one' or, simply, 'flowing' David Ross, ''Scottish Place-names'', p. 209. Birlinn Ltd., Edinburgh, 2001.) is the longest river in Sc ...

History

Tayside region was created in 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 mainland Scotland comprising upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts, following recommendations made by the 1969 Wheatley Report. Tayside region covered the whole area of the

counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

Angus Angus may refer to: *Angus, Scotland, a council area of Scotland, and formerly a province, sheriffdom, county and district of Scotland * Angus, Canada, a community in Essa, Ontario Animals * Angus cattle, various breeds of beef cattle Media * ...

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

(which was a county of a city),

Kinross-shire The County of Kinross or Kinross-shire is a historic county and registration county in eastern Scotland, administered as part of Perth and Kinross since 1975. Surrounding its largest settlement and county town of Kinross, the county borders Per ...

and most of

Perthshire Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore ...

. Tayside region was divided into three districts:

, and

Perth and Kinross Perth and Kinross (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area. It is bordered by Highland (council area), Highland and Aberdeenshire to the north, Angus, Scotland, Angus, Dundee, and F ...

. Tayside region was abolished in 1996 under the

Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 The Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 (c. 39) is an Act of parliament, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the current Local government in Scotland, local government structure of 32 Unitary authority, unitary authori ...

, which replaced regions and districts with unitary council areas. Each of Tayside's three districts became a separate council area, with some adjustments to boundaries around Dundee. Tayside Regional Council directly operated local bus services in the City of Dundee from 1975 until 1986, when

bus deregulation Bus deregulation in Great Britain involved the abolition of Road Service Licensing for bus services outside of Greater London. It began in 1980 with long-distance bus services and was extended to local bus services in 1986 under the Transport ...

under terms of the

Transport Act 1985 The Transport Act 1985 (c. 67) was an act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. It introduced privatised and deregulated bus services throughout Great Britain and came into effect in October 1986. The act was created as a response to growing ...

was implemented. The restructured Tayside Buses became employee-owned in 1991, was sold to

National Express Mobico Group, formerly National Express Group, is a British multinational public transport company with headquarters in Birmingham, England. Domestically it currently operates bus and coach services under brands including National Express. Th ...

in 1997 and

McGill's Bus Services McGill's Bus Services is a bus operator based in Greenock, Scotland. The company has grown to operate a network of routes covering much of the council areas of Inverclyde, East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire, Glasgow City (counci ...

in 2020, and today trades as

Xplore Dundee Xplore Dundee is a bus operator based in Dundee, Scotland, operating services mainly within the city. The operator also runs a service to Edinburgh Airport. It is a subsidiary of the McGill's Group. History The company has its origins in the D ...

. Tayside continues to have a joint electoral, valuation, and health board. It retained its

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

and fire services until they were merged, on 1 April 2013, into bodies known as

Police Scotland Police Scotland (), officially the Police Service of Scotland (), is the national police force of Scotland. It was formed in 2013, through the merging of eight regional police forces in Scotland, as well as the specialist services of the Scottis ...

and the

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) is the national fire and rescue service of Scotland. It was formed by the merger of eight regional fire services in the country on 1 April 2013. It thus became the largest fire brigade in the Unite ...

, which cover the whole of Scotland. Provision of healthcare across the region also continues via

NHS Tayside NHS Tayside is an NHS board which forms one of the fourteen regions of NHS Scotland. It provides healthcare services in Angus, Scotland, Angus, the Dundee City council area and Perth and Kinross. NHS Tayside is headquartered at Ninewells Hospit ...

. Angus Council,

Dundee City Council Dundee City Council is the Local government in Scotland, local authority for Dundee City council area, Dundee City, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. In its modern form it was created in 1996. Dundee was formerly governed by a municipal c ...

and

Perth and Kinross Council Perth and Kinross Council () is the local authority for Perth and Kinross, one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. The council has been under no overall control since 1999. It is based in Perth. History A district called Perth and Kinross was ...

formed Tayside Contracts as their commercial arm and to provide

shared services Shared services is the provision of a service by one part of an organization or group where that service had previously been found in more than one part of the organization or group. Thus the funding and resourcing of the service is shared and the ...

, such as road and housing maintenance, winter maintenance (snow clearing and gritting), catering and cleaning services across the former Tayside area. Tayside Contracts services are open to the public and all profits from the company are equally fed back into each of the three councils to bolster revenue to the local authorities to provide cash for services as a boost to central government and council tax income.

Political control

The first election to the regional 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. Political control of the council from 1975 was as follows:

Leadership

The leaders of the council were:

Elections

Election results were as follows:

Premises

The regional council established its headquarters at

Tayside House Tayside House was an office block development in the City Centre, Dundee, city centre area of Dundee. The building served as the headquarters for Tayside Regional Council and its successor organisation following local government reorganisation, ...

at 28 Crichton Street in Dundee. It was already under construction when the council was created, and the council started moving into the building in May 1976. After the regional council's abolition, ownership of the building passed to the three successor councils. Dundee City Council bought out the other two councils' interests in the building in 1997 and used it as its own offices until 2011, after which the building was demolished.

References

External links

* {{Coord, 56, 42, N, 3, 44, W, region:GB_scale:300000, display=title Regions of Scotland 1975 establishments in Scotland 1996 disestablishments in Scotland States and territories established in 1975 States and territories disestablished in 1996