Regions of Scotland - Definition and Overview

The nine Regions of Scotland were established by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 as the uppermost tier of local government in Scotland. They bore no relation at all to the former administrative counties that had been used since 1889. Each region was divided into a number of districts, varying from three to nineteen.

The regions were based closely on the system proposed by the Wheatley Report produced by a Royal Commission into Scottish local government, in 1969.

The regions of Scotland were abolished on April 1, 1996 and replaced with the current unitary council areas of Scotland. Some of the specific regions were broken up into many council areas - others were retained as a single council area.

Apart from the Regions, there were three Island Councils, covering Shetland, Orkney, and the Western Isles (Outer Hebrides).