Dundee City Council

History

Dundee Corporation

It is not known exactly when Dundee was made a burgh, but it is believed to have been sometime between 1181 and 1195. It was then governed by a corporation until 1975. It was elevated to the status of a royal burgh in 1292. The corporation was also known as the town council until 1889, when Dundee was awarded city status, after which the corporation was also known as the city council.

From the fifteenth century, the corporation was led by a provost. In 1892 the post was given the additional honorific title of lord provost.

The city was part of Angus (then called Forfarshire) until 1894, but the functions affecting the city which operated at county level were relatively few, largely being limited to judicial functions and lieutenancy. When elected county councils were created in 1890 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, Dundee Corporation was deemed capable of running county-level local government functions, and so the city was excluded from the area administered by Forfarshire County Council. In 1894, Dundee was made a county of itself, removing it from Forfarshire for judicial and lieutenancy purposes as well.

The burgh's boundaries were enlarged on numerous occasions, notably in 1831, 1913 (when it absorbed the neighbouring burgh of Broughty Ferry plus other areas), 1922, 1932, 1939 and 1946.

City of Dundee District Council

Local government across Scotland was reorganised in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which replaced the counties, burghs and landward districts with a two-tier system of regions and districts. One of the districts was called 'City of Dundee', which formed part of the Tayside region. The City of Dundee district covered a larger area than the pre-1975 city, taking in the burgh of Monifieth and most of the landward district of Monifieth (covering a number of villages north of Dundee) from Angus, and the parish of Longforgan (which included Invergowrie) from Perthshire.

Dundee City Council

Local government was reorganised again in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, which abolished the regions and districts created in 1975 and established 32 single-tier council areas across Scotland, one being the city of Dundee. The council area created in 1996 was smaller than the district which had existed between 1975 and 1996, being similar in extent to the pre-1975 city. Monifieth and the villages north of Dundee were transferred to Angus, and an area approximately matching the old parish of Longforgan was transferred to Perth and Kinross. The 1994 Act named the new council area 'City of Dundee', but this was changed to 'Dundee City' by a council resolution on 29 June 1995, before the new council area came into force, allowing the new council to take the name 'Dundee City Council'. In terms of area, it is the smallest of Scotland's council areas.

Political control

The council has been under Scottish National Party majority control since 2022.

The first election to the City of Dundee District Council was held in 1974, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing corporation 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:

Leadership

The role of Lord Provost of Dundee is largely ceremonial. They chair full council meetings and act as the council's civic figurehead. Political leadership is provided by the leader of the council. The first leader following the 1996 reforms, Kate Maclean, had been the leader of the old City of Dundee District Council since 1992. The leaders of Dundee City Council since 1996 have been:

Composition

Following the 2022 election and subsequent changes of allegiance up to August 2025, the composition of the council was:

The next election is due in 2027.

Elections

Main article: Dundee City Council elections

Since the last boundary changes in 2007 the council has comprised 29 councillors representing eight wards, with each ward electing three or four councillors under the single transferable vote system. Elections are held every five years.

Wards

Main article: Wards of Dundee

Premises

Council meetings are held at Dundee City Chambers in City Square, built in 1933, although most meetings have been held remotely since the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2020. The council's main offices are at Dundee House at 50 North Lindsay Street. The front part of the building was built as a factory in 1911 and was later used as a printing works for DC Thomson. A modern office extension was built behind the 1911 frontage, opening as the council's main offices in 2011 to replace Tayside House which the council had inherited from the Tayside Regional Council on local government reorganisation in 1996.

Notes

References

References

1. (1990). "The Dundee Book". Mainstream Publishing.
2. (26 January 2024). "Dundee celebrates 135 years as Scotland's oldest city - and here's why". The Courier.
3. "Royal Authority to use the title 'Lord Provost'".
4. (1892). "Guide to local government in parishes, counties and burghs". Royal College of Physicians.
5. (1890). "The County Council Magazine". F. Warne and Company.
6. "Dundee Corporation Act 1894 (57 & 58 Vict. c.lxxiv)". The National Archives.
7. "Dundee Burgh Extension Act 1831". The National Archives.
8. "Dundee Boundaries Act 1913". The National Archives.
9. "Dundee Scottish County of City". GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth.
10. "Quarter-inch Administrative Areas Maps: Scotland Sheet 7, 1970". Ordnance Survey.
11. {{cite legislation UK. (1973)
12. {{cite legislation UK. (1994)
13. {{London Gazette. (7 July 1995)
14. "Compositions Calculator". University of Exeter.
15. (27 March 1996). "The changing face of Scotland". The Scotsman.
16. (16 May 1999). "Dundee West: Kate MacLean". Scotland on Sunday.
17. (21 March 2009). "Julie Sturrock". The Herald.
18. (4 July 2003). "Councils welcome Holyrood windfall for regeneration". Aberdeen Press and Journal.
19. (30 April 2007). "The battle for Tayside". The Guardian.
20. "Council minutes, 24 May 2007".
21. (31 March 2009). "New council leader's jobs pledge". BBC News.
22. (29 April 2017). "Council election 2017: The Ferry (Ward 8)". The Courier.
23. (12 May 2017). "SNP to form administration with Independent on Dundee City Council". BBC News.
24. (9 August 2024). "Dundee City Council leader stepping down". BBC News.
25. (13 August 2024). "SNP Westminster leader's dad is new leader of Dundee council". BBC News.
26. "Dundee". Thorncliffe.
27. "The Dundee City (Electoral Arrangements) Order 2006". The National Archives.
28. (30 June 2019). "United Kingdom: Scotland {{!}} Council Areas and Electoral Wards".
29. "Committee minutes".
30. "Dundee, 50 North Lindsay Street, Dundee House". Historic Environment Scotland.