Aberdeen City Council

Aberdeen City Council Aiberdeen Ceitie Cooncil Comhairle Cathair Obar Dheathain
Logo
Location
Geography
Area	Ranked 25th
- Total	71.22 sq mi (184.5 km2)
Admin HQ	Aberdeen
ISO 3166-2	GB-ABE
ONS code	00QA
Demographics
Population	Ranked 8th
- Total (2010 est.)	217,100
- Density	1,169 / km²
Politics
Aberdeen City Council aberdeencity.gov.uk
Control
TBA (council NOC)
MPs	Frank Doran Anne Begg Malcolm Bruce
MSPs	Brian Adam Kevin Stewart Maureen Watt

Aberdeen City Council represents the Aberdeen City council area of Scotland. Following the election of May 3rd, 2012, the council is controlled by a coalition of centre-left Scottish Labour, centre-right Scottish Conservative and independent councillors^[1].

The council area was created in 1996, under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. However, a sense of Aberdeen as a city, with its own city council, can be traced back to 1900, when the city of county of Aberdeen was created.

In 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the county of city was combined with Bucksburn, Newhills, Old Machar, Stoneywood, Dyce and Peterculter areas of the county of Aberdeen and a Nigg area of the county of Kincardine (including Cove Bay) to form the Aberdeen district of the Grampian region. This district became the now existing unitary council area in 1996.

On 9 May 1995 by resolution under section 23 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 The City of Aberdeen Council changed the name of the local government area of "City of Aberdeen" to "Aberdeen City".^[2]

Composition

Between 2003 and 2007 the council was under the control of a Liberal Democrat and Conservative coalition, holding 23 of the 43 seats on the council. Prior to the 2003 election, the council had been considered a Labour stronghold.^[3] Following the May 2007 election, contested for the first time using a system of proportional representation, the Liberal Democrats and Scottish National Party (SNP) formed a coalition to run the council, holding 27 of the 43 seats (following an SNP by election gain from the Conservatives on 16 August 2007, the Lib Dem/SNP coalition held 28 of the 43 seats). Two Liberal Democrat councillors became independents during this period due to personal controversies, while the Conservative Group split in August 2010 with two councillors forming the Independent Alliance Group.

After the Scottish Local Government Elections in 2012 the control of the council shifted back to the Labour Party^[4]. This caused disappointment for SNP after successfully gaining all constituencies in the North East at the 2011 Scottish Parliamentary elections but failing to win control of a number of Councils in Scotland including Aberdeen in 2012 ^[5]. The Council is now controlled by a Labour-Conservative coalition supported by two independents, giving the administration 22 seats.

Aberdeen City Council comprises forty-three councillors who represent the city's wards and is headed by the Lord Provost who is currently Lord Provost Peter Stephen. The Leader of the Council is Barney Crockett of the Scottish Labour Party.

Political composition: (as at May 2012)

• Labour - 17 councillors
• Scottish National Party - 15 councillors
• Liberal Democrat - 5 councillors
• Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party - 3 councillors
• Independent - 3 councillors

Chief Officials:

• Chief Executive - Valerie Watts
• Head of Legal & Democratic Services - Jane MacEachran

New wards from May 2007

Before May 2007, councillors represented 43 single-member wards, but since then,all seats were contested by a different electoral system. On May 5, 2007, it was the first election to use the single transferable vote system of election and multi-member wards, each ward electing three or four councillors. The Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland completed its final recommendations for new wards for all the council areas of Scotland and for Aberdeen there will be 13 multi-member wards with a total of 43 councillors. This system was introduced as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, and is designed to produce a form of proportional representation.^[6]

The composition of wards have changed to: 3 councillors:

• (11) Airyhall/Broomhill/Garthdee
• (8) George Street/Harbour
• (5) Hilton/Stockethill
• (13) Kincorth/Loirston
• (3) Kingswells/Sheddocksley
• (9) Lower Deeside
• (7) Midstocket/Rosemount
• (4) Northfield
• (6) Tillydrone/Seaton/Old Aberdeen

4 councillors:

• (2) Bridge of Don
• (1) Dyce/Bucksburn/Danestone
• (10) Hazlehead/Ashley/Queens Cross
• (12) Torry/Ferryhill

Election results, 2012

Note: The net gain/loss and percentage changes relate to the result of the previous Scottish local elections on 3rd May 2007. This may differ from other published sources showing gain/loss relative to seats held at dissolution of Scotland's councils.

Election Results, 2007

References

External links

• Aberdeen City Council: official website

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