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Scottish Electoral Wards

Local government in Scotland comprises 32 unitary local authorities (council areas), which are divided into wards for electoral purposes. There are currently a total of 1,226 councilors elected from 355 wards - with each Mainland ward returning 3 or 4 councillors. Island wards may have 1 or 2 member wards. Boundaries Scotland is responsible for recommendations on the definition of ward boundaries, however, the definitive dataset is delineated by Ordnance Survey for inclusion in their BoundaryLine product.

Default

Identification info

Alternative title

Multi-member Wards

Alternative title

MMW

Metadata Language
English
Character set
UTF8
Dataset Reference Date (Creation)
1994-11-11
Dataset Reference Date (Revision)
2019-04-01
Identifier
OS_BL_ScottishElectoralWards
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
Maintenance and update frequency
As needed

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

  • Administrative units

GEMET - Concepts, version 2.4

  • local government

  • local authority

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

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Temporal reference

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

Distribution Information

Data format

Data format
Name Version

ESRI Shapefile

1.0

 

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
 
 

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 and electoral arrangements in Scotland. Electoral reviews make recommendations on the overall number of councillors in each local authority and number of councillors in each ward (each Mainland ward must elect either 3 or 4 councillors, Island wards may have between 1 and 4 councillors depending on their size); the number of wards for local government elections and their boundaries; and the extent of council areas. Electoral reviews are undertaken roughly every 8 to 12 years. Recommendations that are accepted by Ministers are enacted by statutory instrument and passed to Ordnance Survey for inclusion in their BoundaryLine product.


Following the reorganisation of councils into the 32 unitary local authorities, 1,245 electoral boundaries were defined following direction from the Secretary of State in accordance with Schedule 2 of the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994. Since then, a number of formal reviews of electoral arrangements and administrative areas have taken place. A summary of the reviews and their impact on electoral ward boundaries is as follows:


3rd Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements:

• First review following the introduction of 32 local authorities, resulting in 1,222 wards


4th Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements:

• Resulted in the introduction of 353 multi-member wards


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 2012/05/03 (SSI 2011/332):

• West Lothian at Bathgate


5th Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements:

• Amendments to wards in 25 of the 32 local authorities (no amendments to Argyll and Bute, Dundee City, Scottish Borders, Orkney, Shetland and Na h-Eileanan an Iar)


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

• Keltybridge and Fife Envirnonmental Energy Park at Westfield


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

• Glasgow City and North Lanarkshire at Cardowan, by Stepps


Effective 2021-10-27 (SSI2021/369)

•The Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Electoral Arrangements) Regulations 2021. New ward boundaries introduced following Review.


Effective 2021-10-27 (SSI2021/370)

•The North Ayrshire (Electoral Arrangements) Regulations 2021. New ward boundaries introduced following Review.


Effective 2021-10-27 (SSI2021/371)

•The Orkney Islands (Electoral Arrangements) Regulations 2021, SSI 2021/371. New ward boundaries introduced following Review.


Effective 2021-10-27 (SSI2021/372)

•The Shetland Islands (Electoral Arrangements) Regulations 2021, SSI 2021/372. New ward boundaries introduced following Review.


With regards to the seaward extent of boundaries, 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
f17baa94-1e55-4656-9f7b-ead496609220 XML
Metadata Language
English
Character set
UTF8
Resource type
Dataset
Metadata Date
2023-06-20T12:15:13
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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Keywords

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

Publishing Body

Access the portal
Full access to the portal and metadata.

Associated resources (if any)

Not available


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