gd, Comhairle Cathair Obar Dheathain , native_name_lang = , other_name = , image_skyline = Town House, Municipal Offices and Court Houses in Aberdeen.jpg , image_caption =

Aberdeen Town House Aberdeen Town House is a municipal facility in Castle Street, Aberdeen, Scotland. The town house, which is the headquarters of Aberdeen City Council, is a Category A listed building. History After rapid population growth in the first half of t ...

, image_flag = , image_shield = Aberdeen-arms.png , image_blank_emblem = Aberdeen City Council logo.svg , blank_emblem_type = , image_map = Aberdeen City in Scotland.svg , map_caption = , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Sovereign State , subdivision_name = , subdivision_type1 = Constituent Country , subdivision_name1 = , subdivision_type2 = , subdivision_name2 = , seat_type = Admin HQ , seat =

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, government_footnotes = , governing_body = Aberdeen City Council , leader_title = Control , leader_name = No overall control: SNP- LD coalition , leader_title1 = Lord Provost , leader_name1 = Cllr David Cameron , leader_title2 = Council co-leaders , leader_name2 = Cllr Alex Nicoll
Cllr Ian Yuill , leader_title3 = MPs , leader_name3 =

Kirsty Blackman Kirsty Ann Blackman (; born 20 March 1986) is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician serving as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Aberdeen North since 2015. Blackman was re-elected in 2017 and 2019 and currently serves as the SNP Spok ...

Richard Thomson
Stephen Flynn , leader_title4 =

MSPs Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; gd, Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, BPA; sco, Memmer o the Scots Pairliament, MSP) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament. Electoral system The ad ...

, leader_name4 =

Jackie Dunbar Jackie Dunbar is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. She has served as the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Aberdeen Donside since May 2021. Dunbar was born in Peterhead and educated in Elgin. She was elected to the N ...

Kevin Stewart

Audrey Nicoll Audrey Elizabeth Nicoll ( née Gibb; born 1961) is a Scottish politician who has been the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Aberdeen South and North Kincardine since 2021. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), she has repr ...

, unit_pref = Imperial , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = , area_rank = Ranked , population_footnotes = , population_total = , population_as_of = , population_rank = Ranked , population_density_km2 = auto , area_code_type = ONS code , area_code = S12000033 , iso_code = GB-ABE , website = , footnotes = Aberdeen City Council represents the Aberdeen City

council area {{Unreferenced, date=May 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) A council area is one of the areas defined in Schedule 1 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 and is under the control of one of the local authorities in Scotland created by that Act. ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. The

was created in 1996, under the

Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 The Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 (c. 39) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which created the current local government structure of 32 unitary authorities covering the whole of Scotland. It abolished the two-tie ...

. However, a sense of Aberdeen as a

city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...

, with its own city council, can be traced back to 1900, when the

county of the city A county corporate or corporate county was a type of subnational division used for local government in England, Wales, and Ireland. Counties corporate were created during the Middle Ages, and were effectively small self-governing county-empowere ...

of Aberdeen was created. From 1900 to 1975 the area and its administrative body were called ‘The County of the City of Aberdeen’ but unofficially either as ‘Aberdeen Corporation’, ‘Corporation of the City of Aberdeen’ or (more rarely) ‘Aberdeen City Council’. In 1975, under the

Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 (c. 65) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered local government in Scotland on 16 May 1975. The Act followed and largely implemented the report of the Royal Commission on Local Gove ...

, counties of cities were abolished. The area of the former county of a city was combined with

Bucksburn Bucksburn is an suburb of the city of Aberdeen, Scotland, named after the stream that flows through it. The stream is called Bucks Burn. Bucksburn was formerly a market village before being swallowed up by the spread of the city. The area is bo ...

Dyce Dyce ( gd, Deis) is a suburb of Aberdeen, Scotland, situated on the River Don about northwest of the city centre. It is best known as the location of Aberdeen Airport. History Dyce is the site of an early medieval church dedicated to the 8 ...

, Newhills, Old Machar,

Peterculter Peterculter ( sco, Petercouter), also known as Culter (Scots: ''Couter''), is a suburb of Aberdeen, Scotland, about inland from Aberdeen city centre. Peterculter is on the northern banks of the River Dee, near the confluences with Crynoch ...

and the Stoneywood areas of the

county of Aberdeen Aberdeenshire or the County of Aberdeen ( sco, Coontie o Aiberdeen, gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is a historic county and registration county of Scotland. The area of the county, excluding the city of Aberdeen itself, is also a lieutenancy ...

, and the Nigg area of the county of Kincardine, (including

Cove Bay Cove Bay, known locally as Cove, is a suburb on the south-east edge of Aberdeen, Scotland. Today Cove is home to around 8,000 people. It is a popular residential location owing to its village-like status. It is a quiet suburb at the Southern ed ...

) to form the Aberdeen district of the

Grampian Grampian ( gd, Roinn a' Mhonaidh) was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. The region to ...

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

. The title of the administrative body was then "City of Aberdeen District Council." This district became the now existing

unitary council area A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

in 1996. On 9 May 1995, by resolution under section 23 of the

, the City of Aberdeen Council changed the name of the local government area of "City of Aberdeen" to "Aberdeen City".Scottish Statutory Instrument 2011 No. 443
/ref> and the administrative body's title to "Aberdeen City Council."

Composition

Aberdeen City Council currently comprises 45 councillors, who represent the city's wards, and is headed by the Lord Provost. Prior to the 2012 council election there were 43 members of Aberdeen City Council. Between 2003 and 2007, the council was under the control of a

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties See also *Liberal democracy *Lib ...

and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

coalition, holding 23 of the 43 seats on the council. Prior to the 2003 election, the council had been considered a

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

stronghold. Following the May 2007 election, contested for the first time using a system of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

, the Liberal Democrats and

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

(SNP) formed a coalition to run the council, holding 27 of the 43 seats (following an SNP by election gain from the Conservatives on 16 August 2007, the coalition held 28 of the 43 seats). Two Liberal Democrat councillors became independents during this period due to personal controversies, while the four strong Conservative group split in August 2010, with two councillors forming the Scottish Conservative Group and two others the Aberdeen Conservative Group. After the May 2012 election, the control of the council shifted back to the Labour Party, supported in a coalition by three Conservative and three Independent councillors, giving the administration 23 seats. The Labour/Conservative/Independent coalition continued after the 2017 election, but with a change in the balance of power within the coalition. Labour were reduced to nine councillors (subsequently suspended from membership by the Scottish Labour Party for forming a coalition with the Conservatives), whilst the Conservatives had eleven councillors elected. These Conservative and suspended "Aberdeen Labour" councillors were joined in coalition by three Independent councillors, one of who had left the Liberal Democrats just days after the council election. In December 2019 a councillor elected as a Conservative became an Independent following his conviction for sexual assault.Daily Record, 14th December 2019
/ref> This led to the ruling coalition becoming a minority administration comprising only 22 of the 45 councillors. Between 2017 and 2021 the council had Co-Leaders Douglas Lumsden (Conservative) and Jenny Laing (“Aberdeen Labour”) as a result of the coalition agreement. Following Douglas Lumsden's election to the Scottish Parliament in May 2021 Jenny Laing became sole Leader of the council. Political composition (as at December 2021): *

: 19 councillors ** Leader: Alex Nicoll *

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

; 10 councillors ** Leader: Ryan Houghton * So-called ''Aberdeen Labour'': 9 councillors ** Leader: Jenny Laing *

Scottish Liberal Democrats The Scottish Liberal Democrats ( gd, Pàrtaidh Libearal Deamocratach na h-Alba, sco, Scots Leeberal Democrats) is a liberal, federalist political party in Scotland, a part of the United Kingdom Liberal Democrats. The party currently holds 4 o ...

: 3 councillors ** Leader: Ian Yuill * Independent Alliance: 3 councillors *

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

: 1 councillor Following the council elections on 5th May 2022 the political composition of Aberdeen City Council became: * Scottish National Party: 20 * Labour: 11 * Conservatives: 8 * Liberal Democrats: 4 * Independent: 2 After negotiations, the Scottish National Party and Liberal Democrats agreed to form a partnership to lead the Council for the next five years. At the Council’s statutory meeting on 18th May 2022 SNP councillor David Cameron was elected Lord Provost and Liberal Democrat Councillor Steve Delaney was elected Depute Provost. SNP Group Leader Alex Nicoll and Liberal Democrat Group Leader Ian Yuill became Co-Leaders of the Council. Officers: * Council Co-Leaders: Alex Nicoll and Ian Yuill * Lord Provost of Aberdeen: David Cameron * Chief Executive: Angela Scott * Director of Resources: Stephen Whyte * Chief Officer - Governance: Fraser Bell

Council Structure

Before May 2007, councillors represented 43 single-member wards election on a

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

basis. On 3 May 2007, the

single transferable vote Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...

system was used for the first time and multi-member

ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

s were introduced, each ward electing three or four councillors. The

Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland Boundaries Scotland is an independent body in Scotland created as the Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. According to its website, it is responsible for: carrying out reviews of boun ...

completed its final recommendations for new wards for all the

council areas of Scotland For local government purposes, Scotland is divided into 32 areas designated as "council areas" ( gd, comhairlean), which are all governed by single-tier authorities designated as "councils". They have the option under the Local Government (Ga ...

. Aberdeen is divided into 13 multi-member wards, electing a total of 45 councillors. This system was introduced as a result of the

Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 The Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 (asp 9) is an Act of the Scottish Parliament which provided, amongst other things, for the election of councillors to the local authorities in Scotland by the single transferable vote system. The Commissi ...

, and is designed to produce a form of

Current multi-member ward system

As of 4 May 2017, the current wards and representative numbers are: Aberdeen UK ward map 2017 numbered

Election results

2022

2017

2012

2007

References

External links

* {{Authority control Politics of Aberdeen Local authorities of Scotland Organisations based in Aberdeen