Tayside

Tayside (Scottish Gaelic: Taobh Tatha) was one of the nine regions used for local government in Scotland from 16 May 1975 to 31 March 1996. The region was named for the River Tay.

Tayside
Taobh Tatha
Region
Tayside within Scotland
Area
2,903 sq mi (7519 km2)
Population
 • 1981397,055[1]
 • 1991392,500[1]
 • 2019416,080 (estimate)
History
 • Preceded byDundee Corporation
Perthshire County Council
Kinrosshire County Council
Angus County Council
 • OriginLocal Government (Scotland) Act 1973
 • Created16 May 1975
 • Abolished31 March 1996
 • Succeeded byDundee City Council
Perth & Kinross
Angus
GovernmentTayside Regional Council
 • TypeRegional council
 • HQTayside House, Dundee
Subdivisions
 • TypeDistricts
 • UnitsAngus, Dundee, Perth & Kinross

History

Tayside region was created in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which established a two-tier structure of local government across mainland Scotland comprising upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts, following recommendations made by the 1969 Wheatley Report. Tayside region covered the whole area of the counties of Angus, Dundee (which was a county of a city), Kinross-shire and most of Perthshire. Tayside region was divided into three districts: Angus, Dundee, and Perth and Kinross.[2]

Tayside region was abolished in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, which replaced regions and districts with unitary council areas. Each of Tayside's three districts became a separate council area, with some adjustments to boundaries around Dundee.[3]

Tayside Regional Council directly operated local bus services in the City of Dundee from 1975 until 1986, when bus deregulation under terms of the Transport Act 1985 was implemented. The restructured Tayside Buses became employee-owned in 1991, was sold to National Express in 1997, and today trades as Xplore Dundee.

Tayside continues to have a joint electoral, valuation, and health board. It retained its police and fire services until they were merged, on 1 April 2013, into bodies known as Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, which cover the whole of Scotland. Provision of healthcare across the region also continues via NHS Tayside.[4]

Angus Council, Dundee City Council and Perth and Kinross Council formed Tayside Contracts as their commercial arm and to provide shared services, such as road and housing maintenance, winter maintenance (snow clearing and gritting), catering and cleaning services across the former Tayside area. Tayside Contracts services are open to the public and all profits from the company are equally fed back into each of the three councils to bolster revenue to the local authorities to provide cash for services as a boost to central government and council tax income.[5]

Political control

The first election to the regional council was held in 1974, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until it came into its powers on 16 May 1975. Political control of the council from 1975 was as follows:[6]

Party in controlYears
No overall control1975–1978
Conservative1978–1986
No overall control1986–1996

Leadership

The leaders of the council were:

CouncillorPartyFromTo
Ian Mackie[7] Conservative16 May 19758 May 1986
Ron Tosh[8] Labour16 May 198623 Jun 1987
Chris Ward[9] Labour23 Jun 198714 Dec 1989
Bill Derby[10] Labour14 Dec 198913 May 1994
Lena Graham[11] SNP13 May 199425 Jul 1994
Ewan Dow[12] SNP25 Jul 199431 Mar 1996

Elections

Election results were as follows:[6]

Year Seats SNP Labour Conservative Liberal Democrats[lower-alpha 1] Independent / Other Notes
1974460152209
1978460152506
1982465122702
1986469201412
19904610181422
1994462216422
  1. Includes Liberal and Social Democratic Party prior to 1988, with the two parties having formed the SDP–Liberal Alliance between 1981 and 1988.

Premises
Tayside House

The regional council established its headquarters at Tayside House at 28 Crichton Street in Dundee. It was already under construction when the council was created, and the council started moving into the building in May 1976.[13] After the regional council's abolition, ownership of the building passed to the three successor councils. Dundee City Council bought out the other two councils' interests in the building in 1997 and used it as its own offices until 2011, after which the building was demolished.[14]

References
  1. Tay Region Research Observatory, University of Dundee
  2. "Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1973 c. 65, retrieved 3 January 2023
  3. "Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, 1994 c. 39, retrieved 3 January 2023
  4. "About Us". NHS Tayside. HHS Tayside. Retrieved 7 February 2016.
  5. "About Tayside Contracts". Tayside Contracts. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
  6. "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
  7. "Tired of squabble, says Tay Region chairman". Aberdeen Press and Journal. 28 June 1974. p. 25. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  8. "Labour win top posts, but denied committee power". The Courier. Dundee. 17 May 1986. p. 9. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  9. "Borthwick's convenership bid thwarted as SNP back Tosh". The Courier. Dundee. 24 June 1987. p. 7. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  10. "New posts for councillors in reshuffle". The Courier. Dundee. 15 December 1989. p. 9. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  11. "SNP take charge of Tayside". The Courier. Dundee. 14 May 1994. p. 8. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  12. "Tories demand meeting over SNP appointment of 22-year-old 'left wing republican' to lead Tayside". Perthshire Advertiser. Perth. 8 July 1994. p. 2. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  13. "Tayside House, Dundee". Strathearn Herald. Crieff. 8 May 1976. p. 1. Retrieved 24 April 2023.
  14. "Future of Tayside House and City Centre office accommodation" (PDF), Policy & Resources Committee - 8 September 2003, Dundee: Dundee City Council, 2003, retrieved 2 May 2013
  • Media related to Tayside at Wikimedia Commons

56°42′N 3°44′W

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