East Dunbartonshire

Template:Short description Template:About Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox settlement

East Dunbartonshire (Template:Langx; Template:Langx, Template:IPA) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders Glasgow City Council Area to the south, North Lanarkshire to the east, Stirling to the north, and West Dunbartonshire to the west. East Dunbartonshire contains many of the suburbs in the north of Greater Glasgow, including Bearsden, Milngavie, Bishopbriggs, Kirkintilloch, Lenzie, Twechar, Milton of Campsie, Balmore, and Torrance, as well as some other of Glasgow's commuter towns and villages. The council area covers parts of the historic counties of Dunbartonshire, Lanarkshire, and Stirlingshire.

The council area was formed in 1996, as a result of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, from the former Bearsden and Milngavie districts and most of the former Strathkelvin district, which had been part of the Strathclyde region.

History

East Dunbartonshire was created in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, which abolished the regions and districts which had been created in 1975, replacing them with unitary council areas. East Dunbartonshire covered the area of the abolished Bearsden and Milngavie and Strathkelvin districts (except the Chryston and Auchinloch area from the latter, which went to North Lanarkshire). Both former districts had been in the Strathclyde region.<ref>Template:Cite legislation UK</ref>

Both of East Dunbartonshire's predecessor districts had been created in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. The Bearsden and Milngavie district had been created covering Milngavie, Bearsden and adjoining areas from Dunbartonshire. The Strathkelvin district had been created covering Kirkintilloch and adjoining areas from Dunbartonshire, Bishopbriggs and adjoining areas from Lanarkshire, and the parishes of Baldernock and Campsie from Stirlingshire.<ref>Template:Cite legislation UK</ref>

Demographics

East Dunbartonshire council area has low levels of deprivation, with relatively low unemployment and low levels of crime. The population is both declining and ageing.<ref> Template:Cite web</ref>

In a 2007 Reader's Digest poll, East Dunbartonshire was voted the best place in Britain to raise a family.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The area has generally performed well in the Halifax Quality of Life survey; in 2010 it was ranked third in Scotland,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and it was the only Scottish area in the British Top 20 in 2008.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> A Legatum Prosperity Index published by the Legatum Institute in October 2016 showed East Dunbartonshire as the most prosperous council area in Scotland and the ninth most prosperous in the United Kingdom.

Communities

The area is divided into thirteen community council areas, twelve of which have community councils as at 2023 (being those with asterisks in the list below):<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Div col

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Governance

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Political control

The first election to East Dunbartonshire Council was held in 1995, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new system came into force on 1 April 1996. Political control of the council since 1996 has been as follows:<ref name=compositions>Template:Cite web</ref>

Party in control		Years
Template:Party name with colour	1996–1999
Template:Party name with colour	1999–

Leadership

The first leader of the council, Charles Kennedy, had been the last leader of the old Strathkelvin District Council. The leaders of East Dunbartonshire Council since 1996 have been:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Councillor	Party		From	To
Charles Kennedy	Template:Party name with colour	1 Apr 1996	Oct 1999
Keith Moody	Template:Party name with colour	Oct 1999	May 2003
John Morrison	Template:Party name with colour	8 May 2003	3 May 2007
Rhondda Geekie<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	Template:Party name with colour	17 May 2007	4 May 2017
Gordan Low	Template:Party name with colour	23 May 2017	21 Dec 2017
Vaughan Moody	Template:Party name with colour	20 Mar 2018	May 2022	Co-leaders
Andrew Polson	Template:Party name with colour	20 Mar 2018	May 2022	Co-leaders
Gordan Low	Template:Party name with colour	19 May 2022

Composition

Following the 2022 election and subsequent changes of allegiance up to July 2024, the composition of the council was:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Party		Councillors
Template:Party name with colour	8
Template:Party name with colour	5
Template:Party name with colour	4
Template:Party name with colour	2
Template:Party name with colour	3
Total		22

The next election is due in 2027.

Premises

Since 2012 the council has been based at 12 Strathkelvin Place in Kirkintilloch, which forms part of the Southbank Marina development adjoining the Forth and Clyde Canal. Prior to 2012 the council was based at Tom Johnston House at the junction of Lenzie Road and Civic Way in Kirkintilloch. Tom Johnston House had been built in 1985 as the headquarters for the old Strathkelvin District Council and was named after Tom Johnston (1881–1965), who was born in Kirkintilloch and had served as Secretary of State for Scotland during the Second World War.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Tom Johnston House was demolished in 2015.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The new council chamber at Strathkelvin Place is called Tom Johnston Chamber.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Elections

Template:Main Since 2007 elections have been held every five years under the single transferable vote system, introduced by the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004. Election results since 1995 have been as follows:<ref name=compositions/>

Year	Seats	SNP	Liberal Democrats	Labour	Conservative	Independent / Other	Notes
Year	Seats	style="background-color: Template:Party color; width: 3px;" \|	style="background-color: Template:Party color; width: 3px;" \|	style="background-color: Template:Party color; width: 3px;" \|	style="background-color: Template:Party color; width: 3px;" \|	style="background-color: Template:Party color; width: 3px;" \|	Notes
1995	26	0	9	15	2	0
1999	24	1	10	10	3	0	New ward boundaries.<ref>Template:Cite legislation UK</ref>
2003	24	0	12	9	3	0
2007	24	8	3	6	5	2Template:Efn	New ward boundaries.<ref>Template:Cite legislation Scotland</ref>
2012	24	8	3	8	2	3Template:Efn
2017	22	7	6	2	6	1	New ward boundaries.<ref>Template:Cite legislation Scotland</ref>
2022	22	8	6	4	3	1
		style="background-color: Template:Party color; width: 3px;" \|	style="background-color: Template:Party color; width: 3px;" \|	style="background-color: Template:Party color; width: 3px;" \|	style="background-color: Template:Party color; width: 3px;" \|	style="background-color: Template:Party color; width: 3px;" \|

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Wards

File:East Dunbartonshire UK ward map 2017 (blank).svg

Map of the area's wards (2017 configuration)<ref name="ScotGov"/>

Since 2007, the council (as with all others in Scotland) has been elected using multi-member wards, each returning three councillors using a single transferable vote system of proportional representation. Initially this retained the number of councillors at 24 following on from the same number of single-member wards in previous elections, divided equally across eight wards. However, a national boundary and population review prior to the 2017 Scottish local elections led to the number of East Dunbartonshire wards being reduced to seven and the number of councillors being reduced to 22. These current wards are:<ref name="ScotGov">Council Area | East Dunbartonshire, Scottish Government Statistics. Retrieved 21 April 2022</ref>

#	Ward Name	Location	Seats	Population (2020)
1	Milngavie	File:Milngavie.svg	3	13,572
2	Bearsden North	File:Bearsden North.svg	3	14,943
3	Bearsden South	File:Bearsden South.svg	3	13,318
4	Bishopbriggs North and Campsie	File:Bishopbriggs North and Campsie.svg	4	19,323
5	Bishopbriggs South	File:Bishopbriggs South.svg	3	15,868
6	Kirkintilloch East and North and Twechar	File:Kirkintilloch East and North Twechar.svg	3	18,251
7	Lenzie and Kirkintilloch South	File:Lenzie Kirkintilloch South.svg	3	13,475

Settlements

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Largest settlements by population:


Settlement	Population (Template:Scottish settlement population citation)<ref name="auto">Template:Scottish settlement population citation</ref>
Bearsden	Template:Scottish locality population
Bishopbriggs	Template:Scottish locality population
Kirkintilloch	Template:Scottish locality population
Milngavie	Template:Scottish locality population
Lenzie	Template:Scottish locality population
Lennoxtown	Template:Scottish locality population
Milton of Campsie	Template:Scottish locality population
Torrance	Template:Scottish locality population
Twechar	Template:Scottish locality population