East Lothian Council

East Lothian Council

Comhairle Lodainn an Ear
Full council election every 5 years.
Coat of arms or logo
Coat of arms
Logo
East Lothian Council logo
Type
Type
History
Preceded byEast Lothian District Council
Leadership
John McMillan,
Labour
since 26 May 2017
Norman Hampshire,
Labour
since 16 November 2021
Monica Patterson
since 2020
Structure
Seats22
East Lothian Council composition
Political groups
Administration
  Labour (10)
Other parties
  SNP (6)
  Conservative (4)
  Green (1)
  Independent (1)
Elections
Single transferable vote
Last election
5 May 2022
Next election
2027
Meeting place
Council Chamber, Haddington Town House
Website
www.eastlothian.gov.uk

East Lothian Council (Scottish Gaelic: Comhairle Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 local government councils in Scotland covering the East Lothian area. Since the last boundary changes in 2017, 22 councillors have been elected from 6 wards.

History

East Lothian District Council had been created in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, as one of four districts within the Lothian region (along with Edinburgh, Midlothian and West Lothian, each having some differences from the territory of their corresponding historic counties). All four districts of Lothian became single tier local authorities in 1996, under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, when the council adopted its current name as East Lothian Council.[1]

Political control

The first election to the East Lothian District Council was held in 1974, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new system came into force on 16 May 1975. A shadow authority was again elected in 1995 ahead of the reforms which came into force on 1 April 1996. Political control of the council since 1975 has been as follows:[2]

East Lothian District Council

Party in control Years
Labour 1975–1996

East Lothian Council

Party in control Years
Labour 1996–2007
No overall control 2007–

Leadership

The leaders of the council since 2007 have been:[3]

Councillor Party From To
Paul McLennan SNP 2007 May 2012
Willie Innes[4] Labour 15 May 2012 24 Oct 2021
Norman Hampshire Labour 16 Nov 2021

Elections

Map of the area's single-member wards with the results of the 2003 East Lothian Council election, the last to use that system

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:[2]

Year Seats Labour SNP Conservative Green Liberal Democrats Independent / Other Notes
1995 18 15 0 3 0 0 0 Labour majority
1999 23 17 1 5 0 0 0 New ward boundaries.[5] Labour majority
2003 23 17 1 4 0 1 0 Labour majority
2007 23 7 7 2 0 6 0 New ward boundaries.[6] SNP / Lib Dem coalition
2012 23 10 9 3 0 0 1 Labour / Conservative coalition
2017 22 9 6 7 0 0 1 New ward boundaries.[7] Labour minority
2022 22 9 7 4 1 0 1[a] Labour minority

Premises

The council is based at John Muir House, Haddington, which forms a modern extension to the County Buildings, Haddington, which had been the headquarters of the pre-1975 East Lothian County Council. Council meetings are held at Haddington Town House.[8][9]

Wards

Ward
number
Ward name Location Seats
1 Musselburgh 4
2 Preston, Seton and Gosford 4
3 Tranent, Wallyford and Macmerry 4
4 North Berwick Coastal 3
5 Haddington and Lammermuir 4
6 Dunbar and East Linton 3
Total 22

Notes

  1. ^ Appeared on Ballot as Labour and currently sits as a Labour councilor

References

  1. ^ See also Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) website Archived 1 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine (OPSI home page Archived 18 April 2008 at the Wayback Machine)
  2. ^ a b "Compositions calculator". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  3. ^ "Council minutes". East Lothian Council. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  4. ^ "Death of Council Leader Councillor Willie Innes". East Lothian Council. 25 October 2021. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
  5. ^ "The East Lothian (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1998", legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives, SI 1998/2804, retrieved 22 December 2022
  6. ^ Scottish Parliament. The East Lothian (Electoral Arrangements) Order 2006 as made, from legislation.gov.uk.
  7. ^ Scottish Parliament. The East Lothian (Electoral Arrangements) Order 2016 as made, from legislation.gov.uk.
  8. ^ "£600,000 of work set to be carried out on Haddington Town House". East Lothian Courier. 15 June 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
  9. ^ "Council Meeting Agenda". East Lothian Council. 29 October 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=East_Lothian_Council&oldid=1167287518"