Glenrothes - Governance

Governance

Further information: History of local government in Scotland

In the early years of the creation of the new town the Glenrothes Development Corporation (GDC) with input from the local authority, then Fife County Council, oversaw the governance of the new town. In the early 1990s the then Conservative UK Government established a wind-up order for all of the UK's new town development corporations. Responsibilities for the assets, management and governance of all of the new towns were to be transferred to either private sector companies or to the local authorities or other government organisations. The GDC was finally wound up in 1995 after which responsibility for Glenrothes was largely transferred to Fife Council.

Glenrothes is currently represented by a number of tiers of elected government. North Glenrothes Community Council and Pitteuchar, Stenton and Finglassie Community Council form the lowest tier of governance whose statutory role is to communicate local opinion to local and central government. Glenrothes now lies within one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. The town is headquarters of Fife Council which is the executive, deliberative and legislative body responsible for local governance. Council meetings take place in Fife House (formerly known as Glenrothes House) in the town centre. The west wing of the building was built by the Glenrothes Development Corporation (GDC) as their offices in 1969, which was later used as the headquarters of Fife Regional Council. Since the last Scottish election in 2012, Fife Council is governed by a minority Labour party, claiming a total of 35 seats, with the support of Conservative and Independent Councillors. Councillor Alex Rowley was elected leader of Fife Council and Jim Leishman has taken the role as Fife Council's Provost. The SNP and the other parties form the opposition.

Glenrothes forms part of the county constituency of Glenrothes, electing one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom by the first past the post system. Lindsay Roy of the Labour Party is the MP for Glenrothes. For the purposes of the Scottish Parliament, Glenrothes forms part of the Mid Fife and Glenrothes constituency following the 2011 Scottish elections. This newly formed constituency replaces the former Central Fife constituency taking in the Leven, Largo and Kennoway ward and excluding the Buckhaven, Methil and Wemyss Villages ward. Each constituency elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post system of election, and the region elects seven additional members to produce a form of proportional representation. The constituency is represented by Tricia Marwick, MSP and Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, formerly of the SNP.