Tayside

Tayside (Scottish Gaelic: Taobh Tatha) was one of the nine regions used for local government in Scotland from 15 May 1975 to 31 March 1996. The region was named for the River Tay.

Tayside Taobh Tatha
Region
Area
2,903 sq mi (7519 km2)
Population
• 1981	397,055[1]
• 1991	392,500[1]
History
• Preceded by	Dundee Corporation Perthshire County Council Kinrosshire County Council Angus County Council
• Origin	Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973
• Created	15 May 1975
• Abolished	31 March 1996
• Succeeded by	Dundee City Council Perth & Kinross Angus
Government	Tayside Regional Council
• Type	Regional council
• HQ	Tayside House, Dundee
Subdivisions
• Type	Districts
• Units	Angus, Dundee, Perth & Kinross

It was created by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, following recommendations made by the 1969 Wheatley Report which attempted to replace the mishmash of counties, cities, burghs and districts, with a uniform two-tier system of regional and district councils. Since the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, the former Tayside has been divided into the council areas of Angus, the City of Dundee and Perth and Kinross, which had previously been the region's districts.

Tayside Regional Council directly operated local bus services in the City of Dundee from 1975 until 1986, when bus deregulation under terms of the Transport Act 1985 was implemented. The restructured Tayside Buses became employee-owned in 1991, was sold to National Express in 1997, and today trades as Xplore Dundee.

Continued use

Tayside continues to have a joint electoral, valuation, and health board. It retained its police and fire services until they were merged, on 1 April 2013, into bodies known as Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, which cover the whole of Scotland. Provision of healthcare across the region also continues via NHS Tayside.

Angus Council, Dundee City Council and Perth and Kinross Council formed Tayside Contracts as their commercial arm and to provide shared services, such as road and housing maintenance, winter maintenance (snow clearing and gritting), catering and cleaning services across the former Tayside area. Tayside Contracts services are open to the public and all profits from the company are equally fed back into each of the three councils to bolster revenue to the local authorities to provide cash for services as a boost to central government and council tax income.[2]

Electoral history

Election		Control	Administration
	1974	No overall control	Conservative
	1978	Conservative	Conservative
	1982	Conservative	Conservative
	1986	No overall control	Labour
	1990	No overall control	Labour
	1994	No overall control	SNP

References

1. Tay Region Research Observatory, University of Dundee
2. "About Tayside Contracts". Tayside Contracts. Retrieved 12 March 2014.