Dunfermline - Governance

Governance

Dunfermline obtained royal burgh status until this was abolished in 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 in favour of a three-tier regions and districts. The royal burgh merged into Dunfermline District, which was one of three districts within the Fife region serving the town and West Fife from Kincardine to Aberdour. The district council was abolished in 1996, under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994, when the region became a unitary council area. The new unitary Fife Council, adopted the areas of the former districts as council management areas, and created area committees to represent each.

Today, Dunfermline is represented by several tiers of elected government. Abbeyview, Bellyeoman, Carnock and Gowkhall, Central Dunfermline, Izatt Avenue & Nethertown and Touch and Garvock Community Councils form the lowest tier of governance whose statutory role is to communicate local opinion to local and central government. Fife Council, the unitary local authority for Dunfermline is based in Glenrothes who are the executive, deliberative and legislative body responsible for local governance. Dunfermline has retained some importance as an administrative centre with the Council's principle west Fife office based at New City House. Councillor meetings, including the City of Dunfermline Area Committee, take place in the Dunfermline City Chambers.

Dunfermline forms part of the county constituency of Dunfermline and West Fife. The Dunfermline and West Fife UK (or Westminster) constituency, created in 2005 when the previous seats Dunfermline East and Dunfermline West were abolished, elects a Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system. The seat was won at the 2010 general election by Thomas Docherty of the Labour Party. Previously, the seat had been held by Willie Rennie for the Liberal Democrats since the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election in 2006. For the purposes of the Scottish Parliament, Dunfermline forms part of the Dunfermline constituency. The Dunfermline Scottish Parliament (or Holyrood) constituency created in 2011, following a review of Scottish Parliament constituency boundaries is one of nine within the Mid Scotland and Fife electorical region. Each constituency elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post system of election. The seat was won at 2011 Scottish Parliament elections by Bill Walker for the SNP.

At EU level, Dunfermline is part of the pan-Scotland European Parliament constituency which elects seven Members of the European Parliament (MEP)s using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation. Scotland returned two Labour MEPs, two SNP MEPs, one Conservative and Unionist MEP and one Liberal Democrat MEP, to the European Parliament.