Frequently Asked Questions

About the Commission

What is the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland?
The Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland is a public body which is responsible for determining ward and local authority boundaries for Scotland. There's more information on the home page of the Commission's website. It makes recommendations to the Scottish Ministers, who are responsible for putting those recommendations into practice. The Commission's job is defined by the law surrounding its work.

Who is on the Commission?
The Commission is made up of a Chairman, Deputy Chairman and up to 4 other Commissioners. There are details of who the Commissioners are on the website. The Commission is supported by a Secretariat made up of a small number of staff. The website has contact details for the Commission and the Secretariat at the bottom of each page.

When do you review local authority areas?
We are required to review local authority areas periodically. The interval between reviews is set in legislation, and can be modified by Scottish Ministers. We will also consider any request that we receive to review a particular local authority area boundary. The current legislation and the current Directions from Ministers are on the Legislation section of this website.

When do you review electoral wards?
We are required to review electoral ward boundaries every 8 to 12 years. We can also carry out a review of ward boundaries at other times if the need arises. The legislation about electoral ward reviews is on the Legislation section of this website.

Who funds the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland?
The Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland is funded by the Scottish Government.

What about other parts of the United Kingdom?
The Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland only works in Scotland. There are similar Commissions for England, for Wales and for Northern Ireland. There are links to the websites of each of those organisations on this website.

What's the Boundary Commission for Scotland, and is it anything to do with you?
The Boundary Commission for Scotland is a separate body which is responsible for reviewing constituency boundaries in Scotland. Full details are available on the Boundary Commission for Scotland website. The Secretariat supports both Commissions, and so the address and phone numbers for both Commissions are the same.

Councils and Wards

How many wards and councillors are there?
There are a total of 1222 councillors elected from 353 wards in Scotland's 32 local authorities - each ward returns either 3 or 4 councillors. You can get a lot more information from the publications page of this website, including a full list of the wards and the number of councillors returned for each local authority, the reports of the Commission's Fourth Statutory Review of Electoral Arrangements which led to those ward boundaries, and Information Papers that describe the electoral arrangements for local authorities since 1973.

Does the Commission decide how many councillors there are for a local authority?
As part of an electoral review of a local authority, the Commission will make a recommendation on how many councillors there should be for that local authority. As with all of the Commission's recommendations, Scottish Ministers decide how to implement that recommendation.

What's the structure of Scottish local authority areas?
The current local authority structure in Scotland of 32 single-tier (or unitary) local authorities was introduced in 1995. There are Information Papers that describe how the boundaries of local authority areas have been defined since 1973 on the publications page of this website.

Where is Na h-Eileanan an Iar?
Na h-Eileanan an Iar is the local authority area covering the Western Isles, and its Council's name is Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Comhairle is Gaelic for Council). The local authority was established in 1996 under the name Western Isles, but changed that to Na h-Eileanan an Iar shortly afterwards. Since na h- is a form of the definite article ("the" in English), we put Na h-Eileanan an Iar under "E" in alphabetical lists.

Can you tell me the current number of electors in a ward?
The Commission does not hold current electorate figures for wards. These can be obtained from the relevant page of the General Register Office for Scotland website: http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/publications-and-data/electoral-statistics/index.html.

Do you define the areas of community councils?
No. Community councils and their areas of responsibility are defined by local authorities. The legislation allows the Commission to be consulted by a local authority or by Scottish Ministers when deciding on community council boundaries, but this only happens infrequently. If you want more information about community councils, you should contact the local authority responsible for the area that you are interested in.

Postcodes

Can I find out what ward a postcode is in?
We have a Your Area section on this website which allows you to find out what council area and ward corresponds to a postcode, and download maps of those areas.

How can I find out all the postcodes that are in a ward?
The General Register Office for Scotland creates and maintains products which tabulate postcodes against other geographic areas, including wards. You can contact them to ask about obtaining these products through their website at http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/geography-enquiries.html. The Your Area section on this website allows you to find out the ward for a postcode, but not to create a list of all postcodes for a ward.

What does the Your area search do when a postcode crosses a local authority or ward boundary?
Where a postcode crosses a local authority boundary, the Your Area search will return two results, one for each local authority. Where a postcode crosses a ward boundary, the Your Area search will return the ward that contains the central point (mathematically, the centroid) of the area covered by the postcode.

Do local authorities or wards contain whole postcodes?
Not always. Postcodes are designed by Royal Mail for the delivery of mail. As a result, their boundaries are not generally suitable as ward boundaries, and are ill-defined in areas with sparse postal delivery points. Postcodes are not a factor which the Commission takes into account when making recommendations for boundaries.

The process of reviews

What is the process for your reviews?
The process that we follow for a review is largely defined by the law, and can be summarised as:

the Commission decides whether to conduct a review
the Commission forms its proposals
the Commission informs the affected local councils of its proposals, and considers any response from those councils
the proposals are published for public consultation
the Commission considers all representations made, holds local inquiries and produces revised recommendations if necessary
the Commission submits its report to Scottish Ministers.

There is more detail of the Stages of a review on the Reviews in Progress section of the website.

How do I find out what is going on?
We publish information about our current work on our website through the News and Reviews in Progress sections. We also produce News Releases which appear in newspapers. We also place formal "Statutory Notices" in newspapers at key stages of any review. At the public consultation stages of reviews, maps and other information about our proposals are available for inspection at locations such as public libraries and council offices.

What is the overall objective of the Commission's work?
The Commission is responsible for making recommendations "in the interests of effective and convenient local government" by means of alteration, constitution or abolition of a local government area, or by making changes in the electoral ward boundaries of a local government area. Details of the legislation are available on the website.

What are the rules for designing wards?
The rules for designing wards are set out in the law, and include:

the aim to produce wards where the electorate for each councillor is as close to the average as practical,
the need to fix boundaries which are and will remain easily identifiable, and
consideration of any local ties which would be broken by fixing any particular boundary.

Details of the legislation that sets those rules are available on the website.

Can I have a say?
Yes. The public consultation process is designed to allow everyone to express their view, for or against, on the Commission's proposals. You can do this by letter or email, using the contact details for the Commission given on each page of the website. Views in support of the Commission's proposals are as important as those against.

What determines if a local inquiry is held?
A local inquiry is held depending on the comments received during a consultation. The Commission makes the decision as to whether there should be a local inquiry.

How can I complain if I feel the Commission has not acted correctly?
The Commission follows the Scottish Government's complaints procedure which is explained on the Scottish Government website at http://www.scotland.gov.uk/About/Contacts/Have-Your-Say/Making-Complaints, and which sets out the process for making a complaint.

Maps

Can I buy a map of a local authority area?
Not from us. Ordnance Survey publishes paper maps showing local authority boundaries. The Landranger (1:50,000 scale) and Explorer (1:25,000 scale) series of maps show local authority boundaries, and are available through a wide variety of shops. The Administrative Boundary Map series concentrates on local authority boundaries and is available through Ordnance Survey's specialist distributors called Mapping and Data Centres. Mapping and Data Centres may also be able to produce a customised map that is suitable for your requirements. Details of Mapping and Data Centres are available on the Ordnance Survey website at http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/partnerships/mdc/stockist.html.

Have you got maps of current local authorities and wards?
There are PDF maps of all current local authority areas and all current wards available from the Maps section of this website - those wards resulted from the Commission's Fourth Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements. Some of the PDF files are large, so have a look at the questions in the Technical section of these Frequently Asked Questions for advice on how to download and view them.

Are there other online sources of maps?
Another source on the Web of maps showing wards and local authority areas is Ordnance Survey's Election Maps website (www.election-maps.co.uk) which is designed to help the understanding of the electoral geography of the United Kingdom. Users can select from a variety of administrative and electoral boundaries that can be overlaid on a mapping background. The mapping background can be made very detailed, showing individual street names.

Have you got maps of wards from the past?
There are PDF files of maps of the wards from the Commission's Third Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements available from the Maps section of this website. Those wards were used for local authority elections in 1999 and 2003. We do not have maps available of earlier wards, but there is a lot of textual information available for those wards in the Past Reviews section of this website.

Can I republish or reuse one of the maps on your website?
The maps on our website are joint copyright between the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland and Ordnance Survey. The Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland is content for any of the maps to be reproduced without charge, and requires that any reproduced map should contain the acknowledgement "© Crown Copyright. Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland, [[year]]." Before doing so, you will also need to get agreement from Ordnance Survey for the use of its material. Ordnance Survey has a helpline on 08456 05 05 05 and customerservices@ordnancesurvey.co.uk who will be able to advise on how to do this.

Technical

How can I download files and information from the website?
Most of our files and information are available in PDF format. Many computers are set up to handle PDF files automatically. If you need assistance, read the questions below.

How do I use PDF files on my computer?
To read PDF files, your computer needs to have the appropriate software installed. The usual software for handling PDF files is Adobe Reader (sometimes also known as Acrobat Reader) which is distributed free of charge by Adobe. If you do not have Adobe Reader software, click on the logo on the right to download a copy from the Adobe web site.

Why does it take a long time to view a PDF map?
Many of our maps contain a lot of detail, and so are very large files. With large files, there may be a considerable delay while the file is downloaded to your computer before anything appears. Sometimes the file does not display at all - see the next question for help with this.

Why does a PDF map appear in a new window?
Large PDF files often do not appear successfully within a Web browser. Therefore, we have set up our website so that PDF files are opened in a new window, which is much more reliable. Alternatively, you can download a file and then open it:

right click on the PDF icon for the map you wish to view
select Save Target As ... (Internet Explorer) or Save Link As (Firefox or Netscape) or Download Link to Disk (Macintosh users) from the drop-down menu
choose a convenient location to save the file locally
click save and wait for the file to fully download
navigate to the saved file, and open it.

I am using Adobe Reader version 8. I have tried to download maps using the method above without success. Can you help?
Users of Adobe Reader 8 who are experiencing difficulty in viewing maps may wish to try the following:

Open Adobe Reader
Select the Edit menu
Select Preferences
Under Categories on the left hand side, select Internet
Uncheck the 3 boxes
- "Display PDF in Browser"
- "Allow fast Webview"
- "Allow speculative downloading in the background"
Select the relevant connection speed for your machine
Click OK - you will then be asked to reboot your machine