East Lothian Council is one of the 32 local government councils in Scotland covering the

East Lothian East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921. In 1975, the his ...

area. Since the last boundary changes in 2017, 22

councillor A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

s have been elected from 6 wards.

History

East Lothian District Council had been created 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 ...

, as one of four districts within the

Lothian region Lothian (; sco, Lowden, Loudan, -en, -o(u)n; gd, Lodainn ) is a region of the Scottish Lowlands, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills and the Moorfoot Hills. The principal settlement is the Scott ...

(along with

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Midlothian Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east- central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinbu ...

and

West Lothian West Lothian ( sco, Wast Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Iar) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and was one of its historic counties. The county was called Linlithgowshire until 1925. The historic county was bounded geographically by the A ...

, 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.

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: East Lothian District Council East Lothian Council

Leadership

The leaders of the council since 2007 have been:

Elections

Since 2007 elections have been held every five years under 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, introduced by the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004. Election results since 1995 have been as follows:

Premises

The council is based at John Muir House, Haddington, which forms a modern extension to the

County Buildings, Haddington County Buildings is a municipal structure in Court Street, Haddington, East Lothian, Scotland. The structure, which was the headquarters of East Lothian County Council and was also used as a courthouse, is a Category B listed building. History ...

, which had been the headquarters of the pre-1975 East Lothian County Council. Council meetings are held at Haddington Town House.

Wards

References

{{Wards of East Lothian Local authorities of Scotland Politics of East Lothian Organisations based in East Lothian Haddington, East Lothian