Inverclyde Council

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Inverclyde Council
Full council election every 4 years.
Coat of arms or logo
Type
Type
History
Preceded byInverclyde District Council
Leadership
Provost of Inverclyde
Cllr Martin Brennan, Labour
since 29 May 2017[1]
Leader of the Council
Cllr Stephen McCabe, Labour
since 29 May 2017[2]
Structure
Seats22
Inverclyde Council composition
Political groups
Administration
  Labour (8)
Other parties
  SNP (6)
  Independent (4)
  Conservative (2)
  Liberal Democrats (1)
  Alba Party (1)
Elections
Single transferable vote
Last election
5 May 2017
Next election
5 May 2022
Meeting place
Municipal Buildings
Municipal Buildings
Website
www.inverclyde.gov.uk

Inverclyde Council is one of the 32 local authorities of Scotland. Created in 1995, its administrative centre is based in Greenock and its territory covers the area of Inverclyde in the west of Scotland, taking over from the local government district of the same name and area which existed under the larger Strathclyde region, which was established in 1975. Prior to that, the territory was part of the historic county of Renfrewshire.

History[]

The council gained national notoriety in 2005 following harsh criticism from the Accounts Commission regarding poor leadership and accountability.[3] In November 2005 the council was given a 6-month deadline to reorganise and improve further, following the resignation of the council chief in September and organisational changes in the wake of the original report.[4]

Following this criticism, the Chief Executive of Inverclyde Council Robert Cleary stepped down and a new chief executive John Mundell was appointed. The position of Chief Executive commands an annual salary of £112,000. There was criticism over the benefits the outgoing chief executive received on leaving—he was given a six-figure severance payment and his pension will be approximately £50,000 per annum.[citation needed]

In June 2006, changes were still ongoing: Inverclyde Council altered its directorship structure by adding new corporate director positions and removing senior manager positions. It was expected that the £90,000 a year posts will mostly be filled by new applicants, although existing Council workers were able to apply.[5] There was some criticism with regards to the merging of council services; for instance, Education and Social Work merged and now share the same director. This was frowned upon as at the time the Director responsible for the two merged departments had an educational qualification, not a social work one.

Until 2006, Inverclyde was the only authority in the United Kingdom not to have named electoral wards: whilst the local authority reserved its right to name wards, it failed to supply any to the Local Government Boundary Commission. This was rectified in the 2006 review; however, the six multi-member wards created for the 2007 elections used only vague geographical descriptions ('Inverclyde North', 'Inverclyde East', 'Inverclyde South West' etc), in contrast to the majority of names for such wards introduced at the same time across the country.

The 2007 council elections took place at the same time as the Scottish Parliament elections. The Liberal Democrats lost nine seats; Labour gained two but fell short of a majority. The SNP and Conservatives both entered the council with five seats and one seat respectively, while an independent candidate also won a place. In 2014, one of the Labour councillors, Vaughan Jones, became an independent member after announcing support for Scottish independence.[6]

Composition[]

See also: Category:Inverclyde Council elections

Following the Council elections of 2017 and two defections in 2021, the current composition of Inverclyde Council is:

Party Members
Labour 8
SNP 5
Independent 4
Conservative 2
Liberal Democrats 1
Alba Party 2[7]

The election resulted in no overall control of the council.

Wards[]

Map of the council's ward boundaries as of 2017

Six multi-member wards (20 seats) were created for the 2007 election, replacing 20 single-member wards which had been in place since the 1980s. The representation was increased to 22 councillors across 7 seats for the 2017 election:[8]

Ward
number 		Ward name Seats Population
(2019)
1 Inverclyde East[a] 3 11,340[9]
2 Inverclyde East Central[b] 3 9,512[10]
3 Inverclyde Central[c] 3 11,926[11]
4 Inverclyde North[d] 4 13,759[12]
5 Inverclyde West[e] 3 10,411[13]
6 Inverclyde South West[f] 3 11,649[14]
7 Inverclyde South[g] 3 9,203[15]
Total 22 77,800
  1. ^ Inverclyde East is primarily Kilmacolm plus eastern Port Glasgow (Park Farm etc) and an extensive rural hinterland at Strathgryffe.
  2. ^ Inverclyde East Central covers the majority of Port Glasgow plus Gibshill.
  3. ^ Inverclyde Central covers eastern Greenock and a rural hinterland at Gryffe Reservoirs; created for the 2017 election.
  4. ^ Inverclyde North covers northern and central Greenock.
  5. ^ Inverclyde West covers Gourock.
  6. ^ Inverclyde South West is primarily Inverkip and Wemyss Bay plus south-western Greenock (Larkfield etc) and a rural hinterland at Loch Thom.
  7. ^ Inverclyde South covers southern Greenock.

References[]

  1. ^ https://www.inverclyde.gov.uk/news/2017/may/provost-appointed
  2. ^ https://www.inverclyde.gov.uk/news/2017/may/provost-appointed
  3. ^ "Council urged to tackle failings". BBC News. 2 June 2005. Retrieved 2006-07-08.
  4. ^ "Council given deadline to improve". BBC News. 30 November 2005. Retrieved 8 July 2006.
  5. ^ "Inverclyde starts big changes at the top". The Herald. 23 June 2006. Archived from the original on 1 July 2013. Retrieved 8 July 2006.
  6. ^ "Inverclyde Council leader tells of plans after councillor leaves party". Greenock Telegraph. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  7. ^ Both councillors were elected on an SNP ticket, then later defected to Alba.
  8. ^ "United Kingdom: Scotland | Council Areas and Electoral Wards". City Population. 30 June 2019. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
  9. ^ Electoral Ward: Inverclyde East, Scottish Government Statistics
  10. ^ Electoral Ward: Inverclyde East Central, Scottish Government Statistics
  11. ^ Electoral Ward: Inverclyde Central, Scottish Government Statistics
  12. ^ Electoral Ward: Inverclyde North, Scottish Government Statistics
  13. ^ Electoral Ward: Inverclyde West, Scottish Government Statistics
  14. ^ Electoral Ward: Inverclyde South West, Scottish Government Statistics
  15. ^ Electoral Ward: Inverclyde South, Scottish Government Statistics
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