A brief history of Scottish local government
Here is a short essay (9 pages) telling the story of how, over the course of 1000 years, Scottish society changed from small, self-sufficient communities to our current democratic structures, including community councils. You can read it here (below), or Download (word doc), or in PDF format.
History of Scottish local government, with reference to Perth & Kinross
Introduction
Before the 11th century society in Scotland consisted of self-sufficient family or clan communities, formed by Picts and Scots in the area north of Forth and Clyde, called Scotia or Alba, and Britons in the south-west and Angles in the south-east, and the Norse Vikings in the islands. The settlements of the Picts can often be recognised by the term Pit- (Pittenweem, Pitlochry), and those of the Scots by Bal-, Gaelic baile (Ballintuim, Ballinluig). Settlements of the Britons can be recognised by Tra-, Welsh tre (Traquair, Tranent), and those of the Angles by English –ton (Symington, Haddington), and the Vikings by Norse bosta (Kirkibost, Habost). During the 9th and 10th centuries the Scots became predominant in all areas, except the islands, which accounts for the term Bal- reaching across to the east coast (Baldovie, Balmullo), and even south of Forth and Clyde (Balerno, Ballantrae). These terms all referred to a farm or ferm-toun. There were no towns, in the sense we understand today. Law would have been tribal, differing according to the national origin of the people, whether Scots (Gaels), Picts, Britons, Angles or Norse.
There was little in the way of centralised government. The first move towards a centralised system of government came with the introduction of feudalism in the 12th century under David 1. Land was divided up into baronies and distributed by the king to whom he pleased, with some land being given to the church. The grant of land from the king came with the title of Baron, and the right to dispense local justice via the Baron’s Court. The most important of these barons were given the title of Earl.
The lords (barons and earls) leased fiefs (parcels) of land under two types of tenure – free and unfree. Free tenure (held by ‘freemen’) meant that although you had to provide certain services to your lord, those services were predetermined, such as providing chivalry services (in the case of knights, who built about 200 motte and bailey castles in the 12th century [1]) or agricultural services for a set number of days each year. Unfree tenure, held by villeins and serfs, meant that your lord could demand your service at any time, and you could not leave the area without your lord’s permission.
BurghsDavid copied the idea of burghs from England, founding at least 15 and possibly 18 during his reign. Burghs were urban settlements to which the Crown granted exclusive trading privileges. In return they provided the crown with tolls and duties. At first they were controlled by the nobles and their various officers (e.g. sheriffs, and the bailies who collected duties), but they gradually became more independent, forming early town councils. [2]
They were typically headed by an alderman, mayor or provost, who was loyal to the king and to the burgesses who elected them. The burgesses were freemen of the burgh who were allowed to earn a living as merchants or craftsmen.
By 1326 burghs had become recognised as the ‘Third Estate’, sending representatives (burgh commissioners) to sit alongside nobility and senior clergy (the First and Second Estates) in the Scottish Parliament, also known as ‘The Three Estates’, 'community of the realm' or tres communitates.[3]
Early burghs were created and owned by the Crown (Royal Burghs), although the king also authorised the Church to establish some burghs (ecclesiastical burghs). Most of the Royal Burghs were the capitals of sheriffdoms (see below), which offered the king the protection of a royal castle. By 1707 there were around 70 Royal Burghs.
From the early 13th century, the Crown also authorised nobles to establish and own burghs, known as burghs of barony. By 1450 these had fairly uniform privileges, including[4]:
Over 300 burghs of barony were created between 1450 and 1846.
In addition, around one in twenty burghs were created as Burghs of Regality. These were burghs held originally by one of the leading nobles, and their courts had greater judicial powers than ordinary baron’s courts.[5] These rights were abolished in 1747 after which they held only the same jurisdictional rights as burghs of barony.
Under the Act of Union of 1707 all the parliamentary burghs (burghs represented in the pre-Union Parliament of Scotland) were grouped together into 14 Districts of Burghs, each with a representative in the Westminster Parliament. The only exception was Edinburgh which had an MP to itself. The burghs in a district were not necessarily adjacent or even close together. Districts of burghs continued, despite several changes, until 1950.[6]
The Scottish Reform Act, a.k.a. The Representation of the People Act 1832, extended the right to vote to anyone who owned or rented property worth £10 a year. This increased the electorate in Scotland from 4,239 to over 65,000. Scottish burgh representation in the Westminster Parliament rose from 15 seats to 22. The total number of Scottish seats in Westminster rose from 45 to 53, consisting of 30 for the shires/stewartries and 23 for the cities, burghs and towns. Some older royal burghs, such as Aberdeen, Dundee and Perth, were given a Member of Parliament each for the first time, while Glasgow and Edinburgh were each given two MPs (http://www.nls.uk/maps/towns/reform/further_information.html).
Three acts of parliament in 1833 came to be known as the Burgh Reform Acts.
The first of these was the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act 1833, which enabled existing royal burghs, burghs of regality, and burghs of barony to become ‘Police Burghs’ if this was approved by three quarters of inhabitants. Police burghs were organised by commissioners who could adopt such powers as paving, lighting, cleansing, watching, supplying with water and other improvements. Inhabitants could decide, by a ¾ majority, that the commissioners and town council magistrates would be the same. Otherwise the Town Council would continue as a separate body with the power to select a fifth of the commissioners from amongst themselves. The remainder were elected by public vote. Elections for a third of the commissioners took place annually.
The Act arose because of the changing needs of growing towns. For example water supplies could no longer be met by wells and springs. There was greater concern for health and hygiene, demands for filth to be removed from streets, and for better systems of drainage and sewage.
Commissioners had a wide range of powers. They could levy a property tax for carrying out their duties. They could set up a weigh house and gas street lighting. If a chimney went on fire, the occupier was fined. Chimney pots had to be secured or removed to make “passengers” (passers by) safe. Offences under the Act were to be tried by the sheriff of the county in which the burgh was situated, or by magistrates of the burgh (magistrates in Coupar Angus had the power to send miscreants to Perth prison for up to two weeks).
By 1850 there were 41 police burghs. In that year a second Burgh Police Act was introduced, giving police burghs greater power to carry out improvements, and making it easier to establish new police burghs. By 1975 there were 232 police burghs.
The second Burgh Reform Act of 1833 forced the Town Councils and magistrates of the Royal Burghs to have public elections, allowing those who had been enfranchised by the Scottish Reform Act to vote. There was an annual election of councillors, based on those who had been longest in office.
The third Burgh Reform Act imposed elected magistrates and councils on 13 towns and non-royal burghs that had recently been added to the Districts of Burghs. N.B. not all burghs were added to the Districts of Burghs – only those listed in the Scottish Reform Act. Many towns and burghs did not get a town council of any sort until they established themselves as police burghs. For example until Coupar Angus became a police burgh in 1853 [the commissioners met for the first time on 28 February] it had only a Town Committee which kept the streets clean with income from the sale of street manure and steelyard fees. The Coupar Angus commissioners adopted the parts of the 1850 Act relating to police, lighting and improvement, but not water supplies. [7]
Shires and sheriffdoms
King David expanded the system of shires, or sheriffdoms, to increase his control over Scotland. The Sheriffs (‘shire reeves’) were local judges and crown officials appointed from the 12th century until the present day.[8] The boundaries of shires were often based on those of the pre-feudal ‘thanages’ – areas of land granted by the crown to earls and managed by a ‘thane’.[9] Kinross was changed from a thanage to a shire by the end of the 13th century. Within a shire there could be more than one barony (there were 14 in Perthshire[10]). The word ‘shire’ rather than ‘county’ was used in Scotland until county councils were created under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889.
By the reign of James IV (crowned 1488, died 1513), the sheriffdoms were used to select Commissioners (MPs) to the Parliament of Scotland, for the "landward constituencies" (i.e. outside burgh boundaries).[11] In 1667 Commissioners of Supply (comprising unelected landowners) were established in each of the shires/counties of Scotland to collect the Land Tax. They later came to carry on much of the local government of their areas, including responsibility for roads and bridges. [12]
With the Union of the Scottish and English Parliaments in 1707, the 27 largest shires were each given one member of the Westminster parliament, while the remaining six (Nairn and Cromarty, Clackmannanshire and Kinross, Bute and Caithness) were paired with one seat each.[13]
Shire adminisatration was taken over by county councils under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889.[14] Councillors for the landward part of the county were elected, while the remainder were co-opted by the town councils of the burghs in the county.[15] Around a third of the 70 members of Perthshire and Kinross-shire County Council were co-opted in this way. This system continued until 1975.
Parishes
David 1 increased the number of parishes (there could be several parishes within a barony). In Scotland, civil parishes, as opposed to ‘ecclesiastical’ parishes connected to a church, can be dated from 1845 when parochial boards were established to administer poor relief. Later in the century they took on the role of registering births, deaths and marriages.
Following the boundary changes under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, the county of Perthshire contained 81 civil parishes. Where a parish contained a burgh, a separate landward parish was formed for the portion outside the town.[16]
Under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1894, the parochial boards were replaced by democratically elected parish councils, although their functions remained the same. Landward parishes were given powers to acquire buildings for public offices and lay out recreation grounds.[17] In 1930 parish councils were abolished and their powers transferred to county councils, which, for administrative purposes, were sub-divided into districts. There were five districts in Perthshire.
This is one of the key points of divergence between English and Scottish local government. While in Scotland parish councils were merged into districts, which were later subsumed by unitary authorities, England retained many of its parish councils, and they remain to this day (see below).
Perthshire County Council
Perthshire was a top-level local government area between 1890-1975, governed by a county council. From 1930 a joint county council was formed with the neighbouring small county of Kinross-shire.
Burghs in PerthshireBy the 1890s the County of Perthshire contained the following burghs:
The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 divided burghs into three classes from 1930:
Summary of the system of local government in Scotland prior to regionalisation in 1975
Local government in Scotland prior to 1975 consisted of the following authorities:
Allocation of functions
Local government functions up to 1975 were allotted as follows:
Counties of Cities – all functions
County councils
Small burghs – housing, minor roads, street lighting, cleansing and refuse collection, sewerage, assistance to industry, regulation of shops, markets etc., burial and cremation, libraries and museums, places of entertainment, parks and recreation.
District councils – maintenance of public ways and footpaths, concurrent powers with the county council in relation to community centres, places of entertainment, parks and recreation, allotments, rights of way.
However the picture was not as clear cut as this. County councils were able to delegate their powers to districts and burghs. Thus although there were only 35 education authorities (the counties and 4 cities), there were 56 health authorities (the counties, cities and large burghs) and 234 housing authorities (the counties, cities and all the burghs).
The reverse could also happen. When authorities were considered too small to carry out their statutory functions effectively, they could choose (or be compelled) to form joint committees with neighbouring authorities. For example although there were 56 police and fire authorities in Scotland, there were only 20 police forces and 11 fire brigades.
The Wheatley report, and the introduction of a 2-tier system in 1975
After the Second World War the role of the state increased dramatically. Local government took on many new responsibilities, including housing, education, town planning, social services, economic development and others.[19] There was a push for a more rational and coherent system to cope with this expanded role. A Royal Commission was set up in 1966 under the chairmanship of Lord Wheatley, leading to the publication of a report in 1969. The report made the following criticisms of local government:
Arguments in favour of the existing system
Many people argued in favour of retaining the existing system, claiming that it worked and had many great achievements to its credit. They also pointed out that the system was steeped in tradition, which would be lost. With regard to the charge that small authorities were not cost effective, it was argued that locally organised services were often cheaper. Other weaknesses in the system were put down to a lack of proper finance, rather than a fundamental flaw in the system.
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973
The Wheatley report led to the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. This introduced a two-tier system of local government, usually referred to as ‘regionalisation’, which came into effect in 1975. Scotland was divided into 9 regions and 53 districts (and 3 unitary councils for the islands). Regional councils were responsible for major planning, water and sewerage. Burgh councils were abolished*, and their powers given over to the new district councils. The county of Perthshire was abolished, and the bulk of it became Perth and Kinross District of Tayside region (Dundee and Angus were the other two districts in Tayside). Burgh courts were also abolished.
*Under the 1973 Act, the new district councils had responsibility for looking after the ‘Common Good’ (properties and funds of the old burghs), and in doing so, to ‘have regard to the interests of the inhabitants of the area to which the common good formerly related’.[20] This suggests that although burgh councils disappeared, burghs themselves remained as legal entitities.
Community CouncilsAs recommended by the Wheatley report, the 1973 Act introduced community councils. These were to represent grass roots opinion, rather than discharge functions and be called a tier of local government. Their role is defined as “to ascertain, co-ordinate and express to the local authorities for its area, and to public authorities, the views of the community which it represents.” [21]
Even this limited role has been partially undermined by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 2003. This empowers local authorities to take the lead in consulting communities directly as part of the process of ‘community planning’, in which community councils are reduced to mere consultees with no higher status than any other community group.
The boundaries of community councils often match those of the old civil parishes.[22] In Kinross-shire there is an almost exact match between the boundaries of community councils and the civil parish boundaries of 1845. In Perthshire the picture is a little less clear-cut. Although some community councils exactly match civil parish boundaries, others cover groups or parts of parishes.
Scotland’s community councils are not equivalent to and have fewer powers than the English Parish or Town Councils, which can generate local income to fund their activities through a supplementary charge (called a 'precept'). This is added to the council tax bill for the residents of their area. .
Since the First World War, parish councils in England have gradually acquired a wide range of powers, including[23]:
The introduction of a single tier system in 1996
Regional councils were accused of being too expensive, and too remote from ordinary people. In 1996 the regions were abolished in a process commonly known as ‘disaggregation’. The 53 district councils were replaced by 32 unitary councils (click here for map), and the number of councillors was reduced from 1,695 to 1,222. One common criticism of local government in Scotland is the low ratio of local authority councillors to voters, averaging 1:3,269. This means that it is very difficult for Scottish local authority councillors to really get to know their constituents..By contrast the ratio in the UK as a whole is 1:2,600, while in Sweden it is1:667, in Germany 1:250 and in France 1:115.
Conclusion
The history of Scottish local government is essentially the story of how the people of Scotland changed from feudal subjects, to democratic citizens, represented in municipal and national government.
1930 marked the beginning of a major divergeance between Scottish and English local government. While England retained its parish councils, in Scotland they were grouped together into district adminstrations (five in the county of Perthshire and Kinross-shire). In 1975 the powers of these districts, and of town/burgh councils, were transferred to the newly created district councils – such as Perth & Kinross District Council. The loss of burgh councils is seen by many as a retrograde step, denying people living in the smaller (former burgh) towns any meaningful say in the governance of their local communities.
Since the 1990s there has been a recognition that Scotland’s communities need more powers to govern themselves. However the actions that have been taken to achieve this have been characterised by vagueness that has made them ineffective. For example section 23 of the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994 required local authorities to institute a scheme of decentralisation. However the Act failed to explain what this should mean in practice, with the result that many local authorities did little more than carry out a few consultation exercises.
In 2009, as a pilot project, the Scottish Government selected three community councils to receive a grant of £15,000 each to see if they could put it to good use[25] – early signs are encouraging (watch this space). However as yet community councils have been offered no additional powers or specific responsibilities.
The statutory role of community councils, as it currently stands, is extremely vague, including:
Michael Gallagher,
With thanks to Hamish Robertson for his invaluable help with the pre-feudal history of Scotland.
[1] The Convention of the Baronage of Scotland, http://www.scotsbarons.org/
[2] McConnell, A Scottish Local Government Edinburgh University Press (2004), p44
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_Scotland
[4] Pryde, George S. Court Book of the Burgh of Kirkintilloch 1658-1694, xlvi
[5] Definition provided by the Dictionary of the Scots Language at http://www.dsl.ac.uk/getent4.php?plen=5853&startset=32614204&dtext=snd&query=REGALITY, accessed on 1 October 2012.
[6] Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliamentary_burghs, accessed on 26 June 2011
[7]Urquhart, R. M. (Roderick MacKenzie): The burghs of Scotland and the Police of Towns (Scotland) Act 1850 (13 & 14 Vict. c.33) [Winchester] : [The author], 1987. Available at Dundee University Law Library, catalogue number KP 790 U 79
[8] Scottish Archive Network, http://www.scan.org.uk/knowledgebase/gazetteer/counties.htm, accessed on 1 October 2012.
[9] ScottishHistory.com, http://www.scottishhistory.com/articles/early/thanes/sheriffs_page2.html, accessed on 1 October 2012
[10] Scottish Feudal Barony, page on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_feudal_barony, accessed 1 October 2012
[11] Counties of Scotland, page on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counties_of_Scotland, accessed 1 October 2012
[12] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commissioners_of_Supply
[13] Brown, Richard Society and Economy in Modern Britain 1700-1850 Routledge, 1991, page 16
[14] Local Government Scotland Act, page on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Government_%28Scotland%29_Act_1889, accessed 1 October 2012
[15] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_council
[16] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_parish
[17] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Government_(Scotland)_Act_1894
[18] http://www.answers.com/topic/burgh
[19] McConnell, A Scottish Local Government Edinburgh University Press (2004), p47
[20] Local Government Act 1973, s222
[21] Section 51, Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.
[22] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_parish
[23] Role of Parish Councils - http://www.whetstone.org.uk/page13.html
[24] The Role of Parish Councils - http://www.whetstone.org.uk/page13.html
[25] Community Council Pilot Schemes - http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/local-government/CommunityCouncils/CCPilotSchemes
[26] http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/local-government/CommunityCouncils
Introduction
Before the 11th century society in Scotland consisted of self-sufficient family or clan communities, formed by Picts and Scots in the area north of Forth and Clyde, called Scotia or Alba, and Britons in the south-west and Angles in the south-east, and the Norse Vikings in the islands. The settlements of the Picts can often be recognised by the term Pit- (Pittenweem, Pitlochry), and those of the Scots by Bal-, Gaelic baile (Ballintuim, Ballinluig). Settlements of the Britons can be recognised by Tra-, Welsh tre (Traquair, Tranent), and those of the Angles by English –ton (Symington, Haddington), and the Vikings by Norse bosta (Kirkibost, Habost). During the 9th and 10th centuries the Scots became predominant in all areas, except the islands, which accounts for the term Bal- reaching across to the east coast (Baldovie, Balmullo), and even south of Forth and Clyde (Balerno, Ballantrae). These terms all referred to a farm or ferm-toun. There were no towns, in the sense we understand today. Law would have been tribal, differing according to the national origin of the people, whether Scots (Gaels), Picts, Britons, Angles or Norse.
There was little in the way of centralised government. The first move towards a centralised system of government came with the introduction of feudalism in the 12th century under David 1. Land was divided up into baronies and distributed by the king to whom he pleased, with some land being given to the church. The grant of land from the king came with the title of Baron, and the right to dispense local justice via the Baron’s Court. The most important of these barons were given the title of Earl.
The lords (barons and earls) leased fiefs (parcels) of land under two types of tenure – free and unfree. Free tenure (held by ‘freemen’) meant that although you had to provide certain services to your lord, those services were predetermined, such as providing chivalry services (in the case of knights, who built about 200 motte and bailey castles in the 12th century [1]) or agricultural services for a set number of days each year. Unfree tenure, held by villeins and serfs, meant that your lord could demand your service at any time, and you could not leave the area without your lord’s permission.
BurghsDavid copied the idea of burghs from England, founding at least 15 and possibly 18 during his reign. Burghs were urban settlements to which the Crown granted exclusive trading privileges. In return they provided the crown with tolls and duties. At first they were controlled by the nobles and their various officers (e.g. sheriffs, and the bailies who collected duties), but they gradually became more independent, forming early town councils. [2]
They were typically headed by an alderman, mayor or provost, who was loyal to the king and to the burgesses who elected them. The burgesses were freemen of the burgh who were allowed to earn a living as merchants or craftsmen.
By 1326 burghs had become recognised as the ‘Third Estate’, sending representatives (burgh commissioners) to sit alongside nobility and senior clergy (the First and Second Estates) in the Scottish Parliament, also known as ‘The Three Estates’, 'community of the realm' or tres communitates.[3]
Early burghs were created and owned by the Crown (Royal Burghs), although the king also authorised the Church to establish some burghs (ecclesiastical burghs). Most of the Royal Burghs were the capitals of sheriffdoms (see below), which offered the king the protection of a royal castle. By 1707 there were around 70 Royal Burghs.
From the early 13th century, the Crown also authorised nobles to establish and own burghs, known as burghs of barony. By 1450 these had fairly uniform privileges, including[4]:
- buying and selling any goods in the burgh
- the right to have bakers, brewers, vendors of flesh and fish and other appropriate artificers.
- of having a market cross and a weekly market, and
- of holding an annual fair on a fixed day and for the week following
Over 300 burghs of barony were created between 1450 and 1846.
In addition, around one in twenty burghs were created as Burghs of Regality. These were burghs held originally by one of the leading nobles, and their courts had greater judicial powers than ordinary baron’s courts.[5] These rights were abolished in 1747 after which they held only the same jurisdictional rights as burghs of barony.
Under the Act of Union of 1707 all the parliamentary burghs (burghs represented in the pre-Union Parliament of Scotland) were grouped together into 14 Districts of Burghs, each with a representative in the Westminster Parliament. The only exception was Edinburgh which had an MP to itself. The burghs in a district were not necessarily adjacent or even close together. Districts of burghs continued, despite several changes, until 1950.[6]
The Scottish Reform Act, a.k.a. The Representation of the People Act 1832, extended the right to vote to anyone who owned or rented property worth £10 a year. This increased the electorate in Scotland from 4,239 to over 65,000. Scottish burgh representation in the Westminster Parliament rose from 15 seats to 22. The total number of Scottish seats in Westminster rose from 45 to 53, consisting of 30 for the shires/stewartries and 23 for the cities, burghs and towns. Some older royal burghs, such as Aberdeen, Dundee and Perth, were given a Member of Parliament each for the first time, while Glasgow and Edinburgh were each given two MPs (http://www.nls.uk/maps/towns/reform/further_information.html).
Three acts of parliament in 1833 came to be known as the Burgh Reform Acts.
The first of these was the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act 1833, which enabled existing royal burghs, burghs of regality, and burghs of barony to become ‘Police Burghs’ if this was approved by three quarters of inhabitants. Police burghs were organised by commissioners who could adopt such powers as paving, lighting, cleansing, watching, supplying with water and other improvements. Inhabitants could decide, by a ¾ majority, that the commissioners and town council magistrates would be the same. Otherwise the Town Council would continue as a separate body with the power to select a fifth of the commissioners from amongst themselves. The remainder were elected by public vote. Elections for a third of the commissioners took place annually.
The Act arose because of the changing needs of growing towns. For example water supplies could no longer be met by wells and springs. There was greater concern for health and hygiene, demands for filth to be removed from streets, and for better systems of drainage and sewage.
Commissioners had a wide range of powers. They could levy a property tax for carrying out their duties. They could set up a weigh house and gas street lighting. If a chimney went on fire, the occupier was fined. Chimney pots had to be secured or removed to make “passengers” (passers by) safe. Offences under the Act were to be tried by the sheriff of the county in which the burgh was situated, or by magistrates of the burgh (magistrates in Coupar Angus had the power to send miscreants to Perth prison for up to two weeks).
By 1850 there were 41 police burghs. In that year a second Burgh Police Act was introduced, giving police burghs greater power to carry out improvements, and making it easier to establish new police burghs. By 1975 there were 232 police burghs.
The second Burgh Reform Act of 1833 forced the Town Councils and magistrates of the Royal Burghs to have public elections, allowing those who had been enfranchised by the Scottish Reform Act to vote. There was an annual election of councillors, based on those who had been longest in office.
The third Burgh Reform Act imposed elected magistrates and councils on 13 towns and non-royal burghs that had recently been added to the Districts of Burghs. N.B. not all burghs were added to the Districts of Burghs – only those listed in the Scottish Reform Act. Many towns and burghs did not get a town council of any sort until they established themselves as police burghs. For example until Coupar Angus became a police burgh in 1853 [the commissioners met for the first time on 28 February] it had only a Town Committee which kept the streets clean with income from the sale of street manure and steelyard fees. The Coupar Angus commissioners adopted the parts of the 1850 Act relating to police, lighting and improvement, but not water supplies. [7]
Shires and sheriffdoms
King David expanded the system of shires, or sheriffdoms, to increase his control over Scotland. The Sheriffs (‘shire reeves’) were local judges and crown officials appointed from the 12th century until the present day.[8] The boundaries of shires were often based on those of the pre-feudal ‘thanages’ – areas of land granted by the crown to earls and managed by a ‘thane’.[9] Kinross was changed from a thanage to a shire by the end of the 13th century. Within a shire there could be more than one barony (there were 14 in Perthshire[10]). The word ‘shire’ rather than ‘county’ was used in Scotland until county councils were created under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889.
By the reign of James IV (crowned 1488, died 1513), the sheriffdoms were used to select Commissioners (MPs) to the Parliament of Scotland, for the "landward constituencies" (i.e. outside burgh boundaries).[11] In 1667 Commissioners of Supply (comprising unelected landowners) were established in each of the shires/counties of Scotland to collect the Land Tax. They later came to carry on much of the local government of their areas, including responsibility for roads and bridges. [12]
With the Union of the Scottish and English Parliaments in 1707, the 27 largest shires were each given one member of the Westminster parliament, while the remaining six (Nairn and Cromarty, Clackmannanshire and Kinross, Bute and Caithness) were paired with one seat each.[13]
Shire adminisatration was taken over by county councils under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889.[14] Councillors for the landward part of the county were elected, while the remainder were co-opted by the town councils of the burghs in the county.[15] Around a third of the 70 members of Perthshire and Kinross-shire County Council were co-opted in this way. This system continued until 1975.
Parishes
David 1 increased the number of parishes (there could be several parishes within a barony). In Scotland, civil parishes, as opposed to ‘ecclesiastical’ parishes connected to a church, can be dated from 1845 when parochial boards were established to administer poor relief. Later in the century they took on the role of registering births, deaths and marriages.
Following the boundary changes under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, the county of Perthshire contained 81 civil parishes. Where a parish contained a burgh, a separate landward parish was formed for the portion outside the town.[16]
Under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1894, the parochial boards were replaced by democratically elected parish councils, although their functions remained the same. Landward parishes were given powers to acquire buildings for public offices and lay out recreation grounds.[17] In 1930 parish councils were abolished and their powers transferred to county councils, which, for administrative purposes, were sub-divided into districts. There were five districts in Perthshire.
- Central District
- Eastern District
- Highland District
- Perth District
- Western District
This is one of the key points of divergence between English and Scottish local government. While in Scotland parish councils were merged into districts, which were later subsumed by unitary authorities, England retained many of its parish councils, and they remain to this day (see below).
Perthshire County Council
Perthshire was a top-level local government area between 1890-1975, governed by a county council. From 1930 a joint county council was formed with the neighbouring small county of Kinross-shire.
Burghs in PerthshireBy the 1890s the County of Perthshire contained the following burghs:
- Royal Burgh of Perth (which was styled a city)
- Burgh of Auchterarder (formed 1894: reinstated as a royal burgh in 1951)
- Burgh of Aberfeldy (police burgh from 1887)
- Burgh of Abernethy (burgh of barony from 1458/9, police burgh from 1877)
- Burgh of Alyth (police burgh 1834)
- Burgh of Blairgowrie (burgh of barony 1634, police burgh 1833)
- Burgh of Rattray (police burgh 1873)
- Burgh of Callander (police burgh 1866)
- Burgh of Coupar Angus (burgh of regality 1607, police burgh 1852)
- Burgh of Crieff (burgh of barony 1674, burgh of regality 1687, police burgh 1864)
- Burgh of Doune (burgh of barony 1611, police burgh 1890)
- Burgh of Dunblane (burgh of regality of the Bishop of Dunblane 1442, police burgh 1870)
The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 divided burghs into three classes from 1930:
- "Counties of cities": the four largest royal burghs, they combined the powers of a burgh and county council.
- "Large burghs": independent of the county council except in major services such as police and education.
- "Small burghs": performing minor local government functions such as street-cleaning, housing, lighting and drainage[18]
Summary of the system of local government in Scotland prior to regionalisation in 1975
Local government in Scotland prior to 1975 consisted of the following authorities:
- Counties of cities (4)
- Counties (33)
- Large burghs (21)
- Small burghs (176)
- Districts (196)
Allocation of functions
Local government functions up to 1975 were allotted as follows:
Counties of Cities – all functions
County councils
- (in the landward area, i.e. outside burghs) – all functions
- (within large burghs) – education and valuation
- (within small burghs) – education, health, social work, valuation, police, fire, planning, classified roads, public health, registration, weights and measures.
Small burghs – housing, minor roads, street lighting, cleansing and refuse collection, sewerage, assistance to industry, regulation of shops, markets etc., burial and cremation, libraries and museums, places of entertainment, parks and recreation.
District councils – maintenance of public ways and footpaths, concurrent powers with the county council in relation to community centres, places of entertainment, parks and recreation, allotments, rights of way.
However the picture was not as clear cut as this. County councils were able to delegate their powers to districts and burghs. Thus although there were only 35 education authorities (the counties and 4 cities), there were 56 health authorities (the counties, cities and large burghs) and 234 housing authorities (the counties, cities and all the burghs).
The reverse could also happen. When authorities were considered too small to carry out their statutory functions effectively, they could choose (or be compelled) to form joint committees with neighbouring authorities. For example although there were 56 police and fire authorities in Scotland, there were only 20 police forces and 11 fire brigades.
The Wheatley report, and the introduction of a 2-tier system in 1975
After the Second World War the role of the state increased dramatically. Local government took on many new responsibilities, including housing, education, town planning, social services, economic development and others.[19] There was a push for a more rational and coherent system to cope with this expanded role. A Royal Commission was set up in 1966 under the chairmanship of Lord Wheatley, leading to the publication of a report in 1969. The report made the following criticisms of local government:
- Structure – too many authorities, irrational boundaries, fostering conflict and inhibiting planning
- Functions – Unnecessarily small authorities causing poor service delivery and wasting resources
- Finance – An unequal spread of rateable resources, require to be bolstered by equalisation grants and creating an excessive dependence on the exchequeur
- Membership and internal organisation – Low public standing and a difficulty in attracting good quality candidates. The archaic committee system also inhibits a wider perspective on local affairs.
- Relationship with Central Government – The balance of power has gone wrong and rests far too much with the centre.
- Power – Local government ought to play a more important part in running the country, and should be more independent of central Government.
- Effectiveness – Every local government service should operate on a scale that allows it to function efficiently.
- Local democracy – There should be an elected local council genuinely in charge of the local situation, and answerable to local people for its handling of it.
- Local involvement – People ought to be brought as much as possible into the process of reaching decisions. There should be a means of expressing the local point of view. To that end, Wheatley recommended the introduction of community councils.
Arguments in favour of the existing system
Many people argued in favour of retaining the existing system, claiming that it worked and had many great achievements to its credit. They also pointed out that the system was steeped in tradition, which would be lost. With regard to the charge that small authorities were not cost effective, it was argued that locally organised services were often cheaper. Other weaknesses in the system were put down to a lack of proper finance, rather than a fundamental flaw in the system.
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973
The Wheatley report led to the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. This introduced a two-tier system of local government, usually referred to as ‘regionalisation’, which came into effect in 1975. Scotland was divided into 9 regions and 53 districts (and 3 unitary councils for the islands). Regional councils were responsible for major planning, water and sewerage. Burgh councils were abolished*, and their powers given over to the new district councils. The county of Perthshire was abolished, and the bulk of it became Perth and Kinross District of Tayside region (Dundee and Angus were the other two districts in Tayside). Burgh courts were also abolished.
*Under the 1973 Act, the new district councils had responsibility for looking after the ‘Common Good’ (properties and funds of the old burghs), and in doing so, to ‘have regard to the interests of the inhabitants of the area to which the common good formerly related’.[20] This suggests that although burgh councils disappeared, burghs themselves remained as legal entitities.
Community CouncilsAs recommended by the Wheatley report, the 1973 Act introduced community councils. These were to represent grass roots opinion, rather than discharge functions and be called a tier of local government. Their role is defined as “to ascertain, co-ordinate and express to the local authorities for its area, and to public authorities, the views of the community which it represents.” [21]
Even this limited role has been partially undermined by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 2003. This empowers local authorities to take the lead in consulting communities directly as part of the process of ‘community planning’, in which community councils are reduced to mere consultees with no higher status than any other community group.
The boundaries of community councils often match those of the old civil parishes.[22] In Kinross-shire there is an almost exact match between the boundaries of community councils and the civil parish boundaries of 1845. In Perthshire the picture is a little less clear-cut. Although some community councils exactly match civil parish boundaries, others cover groups or parts of parishes.
Scotland’s community councils are not equivalent to and have fewer powers than the English Parish or Town Councils, which can generate local income to fund their activities through a supplementary charge (called a 'precept'). This is added to the council tax bill for the residents of their area. .
Since the First World War, parish councils in England have gradually acquired a wide range of powers, including[23]:
- The provision of allotments.
- Developing and improving knowledge of the arts and crafts.
- Provision of bars and laundrettes.
- Cemeteries, crematoria, maintenance of churchyards and the provision of mortuaries.
- Provision and maintenance of public clocks.
- Provision of any form of public entertainment and of any premises for giving entertainments; this includes maintaining bands or orchestras and providing for dancing.
- The provision of buildings for public meetings and functions, indoor sports, physical recreation, for clubs having recreation, social or athletic objectives.
- The provision and maintenance of footway lighting, which lights roads and pavements.
- The provision of litter bins and the support of anti-litter campaigns.
- The provision and maintenance of public open spaces, pleasure grounds and public walks, public lavatories, car parks, cycle parks, public parks and associated facilities.
- Maintenance of public footpaths and bridleways, planting and maintaining road side verges.
- Maintenance of public seats, shelters for general public use and particularly for bus passengers, erection of signs which warn of dangers, renounce a place name or indicate a bus stop.
- Provision of indoor or outdoor swimming pools or bathing places.
- Provision of facilities for conferences, the encouragement of recreation and business tourism.
- Powers to maintain a village or town green.
The introduction of a single tier system in 1996
Regional councils were accused of being too expensive, and too remote from ordinary people. In 1996 the regions were abolished in a process commonly known as ‘disaggregation’. The 53 district councils were replaced by 32 unitary councils (click here for map), and the number of councillors was reduced from 1,695 to 1,222. One common criticism of local government in Scotland is the low ratio of local authority councillors to voters, averaging 1:3,269. This means that it is very difficult for Scottish local authority councillors to really get to know their constituents..By contrast the ratio in the UK as a whole is 1:2,600, while in Sweden it is1:667, in Germany 1:250 and in France 1:115.
Conclusion
The history of Scottish local government is essentially the story of how the people of Scotland changed from feudal subjects, to democratic citizens, represented in municipal and national government.
1930 marked the beginning of a major divergeance between Scottish and English local government. While England retained its parish councils, in Scotland they were grouped together into district adminstrations (five in the county of Perthshire and Kinross-shire). In 1975 the powers of these districts, and of town/burgh councils, were transferred to the newly created district councils – such as Perth & Kinross District Council. The loss of burgh councils is seen by many as a retrograde step, denying people living in the smaller (former burgh) towns any meaningful say in the governance of their local communities.
Since the 1990s there has been a recognition that Scotland’s communities need more powers to govern themselves. However the actions that have been taken to achieve this have been characterised by vagueness that has made them ineffective. For example section 23 of the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994 required local authorities to institute a scheme of decentralisation. However the Act failed to explain what this should mean in practice, with the result that many local authorities did little more than carry out a few consultation exercises.
In 2009, as a pilot project, the Scottish Government selected three community councils to receive a grant of £15,000 each to see if they could put it to good use[25] – early signs are encouraging (watch this space). However as yet community councils have been offered no additional powers or specific responsibilities.
The statutory role of community councils, as it currently stands, is extremely vague, including:
- to promote the well-being of the community
- to ascertain, co-ordinate and express to the local authorities for its area, and to public authorities, the views of that community
- to take such action as appears in the interest of that community to be expedient and practicable.
Michael Gallagher,
With thanks to Hamish Robertson for his invaluable help with the pre-feudal history of Scotland.
[1] The Convention of the Baronage of Scotland, http://www.scotsbarons.org/
[2] McConnell, A Scottish Local Government Edinburgh University Press (2004), p44
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliament_of_Scotland
[4] Pryde, George S. Court Book of the Burgh of Kirkintilloch 1658-1694, xlvi
[5] Definition provided by the Dictionary of the Scots Language at http://www.dsl.ac.uk/getent4.php?plen=5853&startset=32614204&dtext=snd&query=REGALITY, accessed on 1 October 2012.
[6] Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliamentary_burghs, accessed on 26 June 2011
[7]Urquhart, R. M. (Roderick MacKenzie): The burghs of Scotland and the Police of Towns (Scotland) Act 1850 (13 & 14 Vict. c.33) [Winchester] : [The author], 1987. Available at Dundee University Law Library, catalogue number KP 790 U 79
[8] Scottish Archive Network, http://www.scan.org.uk/knowledgebase/gazetteer/counties.htm, accessed on 1 October 2012.
[9] ScottishHistory.com, http://www.scottishhistory.com/articles/early/thanes/sheriffs_page2.html, accessed on 1 October 2012
[10] Scottish Feudal Barony, page on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottish_feudal_barony, accessed 1 October 2012
[11] Counties of Scotland, page on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counties_of_Scotland, accessed 1 October 2012
[12] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commissioners_of_Supply
[13] Brown, Richard Society and Economy in Modern Britain 1700-1850 Routledge, 1991, page 16
[14] Local Government Scotland Act, page on Wikipedia at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Government_%28Scotland%29_Act_1889, accessed 1 October 2012
[15] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_council
[16] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_parish
[17] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_Government_(Scotland)_Act_1894
[18] http://www.answers.com/topic/burgh
[19] McConnell, A Scottish Local Government Edinburgh University Press (2004), p47
[20] Local Government Act 1973, s222
[21] Section 51, Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.
[22] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_parish
[23] Role of Parish Councils - http://www.whetstone.org.uk/page13.html
[24] The Role of Parish Councils - http://www.whetstone.org.uk/page13.html
[25] Community Council Pilot Schemes - http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/local-government/CommunityCouncils/CCPilotSchemes
[26] http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Government/local-government/CommunityCouncils