Between 1975 and 1996 there were three island-only council areas of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

: * Orkney * Shetland *

Western Isles The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an island chain off the west coast ...

The islands council areas were the only unitary councils created under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which came into force in 1975. Notably, they were the only unitary authorities created by the local government reforms of the 1970s in Great Britain; which otherwise applied a two-tier structure. They did not form districts within the

regions of Scotland 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 ...

because their remoteness made it unviable.Hampton, W., ''Local Government and Urban Politics'', (1991) Single-tier council areas were not created throughout the rest of Scotland until 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 ...

, which came into force in 1996. In most of Scotland, from 1975 to 1996, local government areas consisted of regions and districts. The islands areas still exist, but have no special status. They are now simply classed as three of the 32

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-l ...

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 ...

, having identical powers and responsibilities as the mainland councils.

Pre-1975

The Orkney and Shetland areas were also the areas of

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

councils which were abolished in 1975. The Western Isles area combined areas which were previously within the county council areas of Ross and Cromarty and

Inverness-shire Inverness-shire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Nis) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. Covering much of the Highlands and Outer Hebrides, it is Scotland's largest county, though one of the smallest in popula ...

Pre-1975

References

See also