Local Authority Areas - Scotland

Local government in Scotland comprises 32 unitary local authorities, which are responsible for the provision of a range of public services such as education, licensing regulations, social care, transport and waste management. The current authority boundaries are largely a result of reorganization that took place in 1996, following the enactment of the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994 which abolished the two tier structure of regions and districts. Boundaries Scotland is responsible for recommendations on the definition of local authority boundaries, however, the definitive dataset is delineated by Ordnance Survey for inclusion in their BoundaryLine product.

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Identification info

Alternative title

Council Areas
Alternative title

las
Metadata Language
English
Character set
UTF8
Dataset Reference Date (Creation)
1996-04-01
Dataset Reference Date (Revision)
2019-04-01
Identifier
OS_BL_ScottishLocalAuthority
Originator
  Boundaries Scotland
Thistle House, 91 Haymarket Terrace , Edinburgh , Scotland , EH12 5HD , United Kingdom
Distributor
  Ordnance Survey - Customer Services
Explorer House, Adanac Drive , Southampton , SO16 0AS , United Kingdom
Distributor
  The Improvement Service - Spatial Hub Custodian
iHub, Quarrywood Ct , Livingston, West Lothian , EH54 6AX , United Kingdom
Maintenance and update frequency
As needed

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

  • Administrative units

GEMET - Concepts, version 2.4

  • local authority

  • local government
Limitations on Public Access
Other restrictions
Other constraints
No limitations to public access
Use constraints
Other restrictions
Other constraints
Open Government Licence
Other constraints

The following attribution statement must be used to acknowledge the source of the information: Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right (insert year)
Spatial representation type
Vector
Denominator
10000
Topic category
  • Boundaries
Extent
GB-SCT

ISO3166-2 2007-12-13

N
S
E
W


Temporal reference

Temporal extent
 
Temporal extent
 
 
Code
EPSG:4258
Code
EPSG:27700

Distribution Information

Data format

Data format
Name Version

ESRI Shapefile

1.0

WMS

1.3.0
 

Transfer options

Resource Locator
Protocol Resource Locator Name

WWW:LINK-1.0-http--link

 		https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/opendatadownload/products.html OS OpenData Supply

OGC:WMS

 		https://geo.spatialhub.scot/geoserver/sh_las/wms?service=wms&authkey=b85aa063-d598-4582-8e45-e7e6048718fc

pub_las

OGC:WFS

 		https://geo.spatialhub.scot/geoserver/sh_las/wfs?authkey=b85aa063-d598-4582-8e45-e7e6048718fc

pub_las
 
 

Data quality info

Quality Scope
Dataset
Conformity
COMMISSION REGULATION (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services
Explanation
Degree
false
Statement

Boundaries Scotland is responsible for reviewing and making recommendations to Scottish Ministers for local authority boundaries in Scotland. Recommendations that are accepted by Ministers are enacted by statutory instrument and passed to Ordnance Survey for inclusion in their BoundaryLine product.


Local Authority boundaries were originally defined according to Schedule 1 of the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994. Since their formation in 1996, there have been a number of amendments following formal administrative area reviews. These are as follows:


Effective 2002-06-01 (SSI 2002/155-157):

• Argyll and Bute and West Dunbartonshire at Ardoch Sewage Works

• Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire at Blackburn

• Glasgow City and Renfrewshire at Braehead

• City of Edinburgh and West Lothian at West Farm, Broxburn


Effective 2010-04-01 (SSI 2009/368, 442):

• Glasgow City and North Lanarkshire at Cardowan, by Stepps

• Angus and Dundee City at Fithiebank


Effective 2011-04-01 (SSI 2010/353):

• East Dunbartonshire and Glasgow City at Princes Gate and Greenacres, by Robroyston


Effective 2018-02-02 (SSI 2017/430):

• Fife and Perth and Kinross at Keltybridge and Fife Envirnonmental Energy Park, Westfield


Effective 2019-04-01 (SSI 2018/308):

• Glasgow City and North Lanarkshire at Cardowan by Stepps


With regards to the seaward extent of a local authority, this normally ends at the low water mark. In a small number of cases, a local government area has been extended by legislation around a port or harbour into the surrounding sea beyond the low water mark. The largest of these is Yell Sound in the Shetland Islands, and there are also substantial extensions at Aberdeen and Greenock.
 

Metadata

File identifier
1cd57ea6-8d6e-412b-a9dd-d1c89a80ad62 XML
Metadata Language
English
Character set
UTF8
Resource type
Dataset
Metadata Date
2023-06-20T12:17:12
Metadata standard name
UK GEMINI
Metadata standard version

2.3

Point of contact

Organisation name

Boundaries Scotland
Delivery point

Thistle House, 91 Haymarket Terrace
City

Edinburgh
Administrative area

Scotland
Postal code

EH12 5HD
Country

United Kingdom
Electronic mail address

boundaries.scot@scottishboundaries.gov boundaries.scot@scottishboundaries.gov.uk

Role
Point of contact
Point of contact
  Boundaries Scotland
Thistle House, 91 Haymarket Terrace , Edinburgh , Scotland , EH12 5HD , United Kingdom
 
 
 

Overviews

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W


Keywords

GEMET - Concepts, version 2.4
local authority local government
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
Administrative units

Publishing Body

Access the portal

Associated resources (if any)

Not available