Publication Scheme - Information About North Lanarkshire & North Lanarkshire Council

The Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 divides Scotland into 32 local government areas. One of those 32 areas is North Lanarkshire.

North Lanarkshire is home to around 321,000 people – just over 6% of the Scottish population – and, in terms of population, it is the fourth largest local authority area in Scotland. North Lanarkshire lies at the very centre of Scotland and covers an area of over 47,000 hectares bounded by the Kilsyth hills on the north, the M74 motorway to the south, the Lothians to the east and Glasgow to the west. North Lanarkshire's main towns are Airdrie, Bellshill, Coatbridge, Cumbernauld, Kilsyth, Motherwell and Wishaw, and its location – and excellent transport links to the rest of Scotland and beyond – makes North Lanarkshire an ideal location in which to live and work.

Major economic restructuring has taken place in recent years as the older industries of steel and heavy engineering have declined or closed, making way for newer industries attracted to the enterprise zones, business parks and business centres in the area. Plans are under way for the regeneration of the former Ravenscraig Steel Works site into a major housing, retail, leisure and business development. As well as the urban areas and towns, North Lanarkshire has many attractive green spaces and parks including Strathclyde Country Park, Drumpellier Country Park, Colzium Estate and Palacerigg Country Park.

Section 2 of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 provides that, for each local government area, there shall be a Council consisting of a Convener (in North Lanarkshire the Provost) and Councillors. Section 5 of that Act provides for each local government area to be divided into electoral wards and for each ward to elect one Councillor. North Lanarkshire is divided into 70 wards and North Lanarkshire Council is made up of 70 Councillors, one from each of those wards. Each of those 70 Councillors is entitled to attend and vote at all meetings of the Council.

By statute, ordinary elections of Councillors take place at the same time as ordinary general elections to the Scottish Parliament. Most recently, those elections were held on 1 May 2003 and Councillors were elected then to hold office until the next elections – which are due to be held on 1 May 2007.

North Lanarkshire Council has a wide range of functions – at the end of this Publication Scheme is an A-Z directory containing details of these functions – and it would not be feasible for all decisions regarding those functions to be taken by the whole Council. Section 56 of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 recognises this and gives the Council power to arrange for the discharge of their functions – with some exceptions – by a Committee of the Council, by a Sub-Committee of the Council, by an officer of the Council or by any other local authority in Scotland. The Council has used this power and delegated to Committees and Sub-Committees authority to take decisions on behalf of the Council. With the exception of the Education Committee, all members of those Committees and Sub-Committees are Councillors. The Education Committee consists of thirty-seven Councillors, three religious representatives and two teachers representatives. All of this is set out in the Scheme of Administration approved by the Council.

Following the elections held in 2003, 54 of North Lanarkshire's Councillors are members of the Labour Group, 11 are members of the SNP Group and 5 are Independents. Following these elections, Councillors were appointed to positions of responsibility. Details of current appointments are available in terms of this Publication Scheme.

The Council has also appointed officers – details of Chief Officer appointments are available in terms of this Publication Scheme – and has approved a Scheme of Delegation authorising officers to take some decisions on behalf of the Council.