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Argyll and Bute

Council area of Scotland

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Argyll and Bute covers the second-largest administrative area of any Scottish council. The council area adjoins those of Highland, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire.

History

The County of Bute and the County of Argyll were two of the historic counties of Scotland. They were both "shires" (context; the area controlled by a sheriff) in the Middle Ages. From 1890 until 1975 both counties had individual separate elected county councils.

In 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, Scotland's counties, burghs and landward districts were abolished and replaced with upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts. The Strathclyde region was created covering a large part of western Scotland. Strathclyde was divided into nineteen districts, one of which the 1973 Act called "Argyll", covering most of the former county of Argyll, but also including the Isle of Bute from the County of Bute. The shadow authority elected in 1974 requested a change of name to "Argyll and Bute", which was agreed by the government before the new district came into being on 16 May 1975.

As created in 1975, the Argyll and Bute district covered the whole area of fourteen of Argyll's sixteen districts and part of a fifteenth, plus two from the County of Bute's five districts, which were all abolished at the same time:

From the County of Argyll:

  • Campbeltown Burgh
  • Cowal District
  • Dunoon Burgh
  • Inveraray Burgh
  • Islay District
  • Jura and Colonsay District
  • Kintyre District
  • Lochgilphead Burgh
  • Mid Argyll District
  • Mull District
  • North Lorn District: the Lismore and Appin, and Ardchattan electoral divisions only, rest (Ballachulish and Kinlochleven electoral divisions) went to Lochaber district of Highland
  • Oban Burgh
  • South Lorn District
  • Tiree and Coll District
  • Tobermory Burgh

From the County of Bute:

  • Bute District
  • Rothesay Burgh

The two County of Bute districts together corresponded to the whole Isle of Bute. The rest of the County of Bute, being the Isle of Arran and the Cumbraes, went to Cunninghame district. The Ardnamurchan district from Argyll went to the Lochaber district of Highland. The new district was made a single Argyll and Bute lieutenancy area.

Local government was reformed again in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, which abolished the regions and districts created in 1975, replacing them with unitary council areas. Argyll and Bute became one of the new council areas, but had its territory enlarged to include the town of Helensburgh and surrounding rural areas, which had been in the Dumbarton district prior to 1996, and had formed part of the county of Dunbartonshire prior to 1975. The Helensburgh area had voted in a referendum in 1994 to join Argyll and Bute rather than stay with Dumbarton.

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