East Lothian Council

East Lothian Council is one of the 32 local government councils in Scotland covering the East Lothian area. Since the last boundary changes in 2017, 22 councillors have been elected from 6 wards.

East Lothian Council
Full council election every 5 years.
Coat of arms
East Lothian Council logo
Type
Type	Unitary authority
History
Preceded by	East Lothian District Council
Leadership
Provost	John McMillan, Labour since 26 May 2017
Leader	Norman Hampshire, Labour since 16 November 2021
Chief Executive	Monica Patterson since 2020
Structure
Seats	22
Political groups	Administration   Labour (10) Other parties   SNP (6)   Conservatives (4)   Green Party (1)   Independent (1)
Elections
Voting system	Single transferable vote
Last election	5 May 2022
Next election	2027
Meeting place
Council Chamber, Haddington Town House
Website
www.eastlothian.gov.uk

History

East Lothian District Council had been created in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, as one of four districts within the Lothian region (along with Edinburgh, Midlothian and West Lothian, each having some differences from the territory of their corresponding historic counties). All four districts of Lothian became single tier local authorities in 1996, under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, when the council adopted its current name as East Lothian Council.^[1]

East Lothian District Council contains twenty Community Councils.^[2] A Community Council is a voluntary organisation set up by statute by the Local Authority and run by local residents to act on behalf of its area as the most local tier of elected representation. The Association of East Lothian Community Councils (AELCC) is a representative forum for East Lothian District Council community councils.^[3] A list of Community Councils is maintained by the local authority.^[4]

Political control

The first election to the East Lothian District Council was held in 1974, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new system came into force on 16 May 1975. A shadow authority was again elected in 1995 ahead of the reforms which came into force on 1 April 1996. Political control of the council since 1975 has been as follows:^[5]

East Lothian District Council

Party in control		Years
	Labour	1975–1996

East Lothian Council

Party in control		Years
	Labour	1996–2007
	No overall control	2007–

Leadership

The leaders of the council since 1995 have been:^[6]

Councillor	Party		From	To
Norman Murray		Labour	May 1995	May 2007
Paul McLennan		SNP	May 2007	May 15 2012
Willie Innes[7]		Labour	15 May 2012	24 Oct 2021
Norman Hampshire		Labour	16 Nov 2021

Elections

Main article: East Lothian Council elections

Map of the area's single-member wards with the results of the 2003 East Lothian Council election, the last to use that system

Since 2007 elections have been held every five years under the single transferable vote system, introduced by the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004. Election results since 1995 have been as follows:^[5]

Year	Seats	Labour	SNP	Conservative	Green	Liberal Democrats	Independent / Other	Notes
1995	18	15	0	3	0	0	0	Labour majority
1999	23	17	1	5	0	0	0	New ward boundaries.[8] Labour majority
2003	23	17	1	4	0	1	0	Labour majority
2007	23	7	7	2	0	6	0	New ward boundaries.[9] SNP / Lib Dem coalition
2012	23	10	9	3	0	0	1	Labour / Conservative coalition
2017	22	9	6	7	0	0	1	New ward boundaries.[10] Labour minority
2022	22	9	7	4	1	0	1[a]	Labour minority

Premises

The council is based at John Muir House, Haddington, which forms a modern extension to the County Buildings, Haddington, which had been the headquarters of the pre-1975 East Lothian County Council. Council meetings are held at Haddington Town House.^[11][12]

Wards

Ward number	Ward name	Location	Seats
1	Musselburgh		4
2	Preston, Seton and Gosford		4
3	Tranent, Wallyford and Macmerry		4
4	North Berwick Coastal		3
5	Haddington and Lammermuir		4
6	Dunbar and East Linton		3
Total			22

Notes

1. Appeared on Ballot as Labour and currently sits as a Labour councilor