Argyll and Bute (Scottish Gaelic: Earra-Ghaidheal agus Bòd pronounced [ɛrˠəˈɣɛːəlˠ̪ akəs̪ pɔːtʲ]) is both one of 32 unitary authority council areas; and a Lieutenancy area in Scotland. The administrative centre for the council area is located in Lochgilphead.

Argyll and Bute covers the second largest administrative area of any Scottish council.

The council area adjoins those of Highland, Perth and Kinross, Stirling and West Dunbartonshire. Its border runs through Loch Lomond.

The present council area was created in 1996, when it was carved out of the Strathclyde region, which was a two-tier local government region of 19 districts, created in 1975. Argyll and Bute merged the existing Argyll and Bute district and one ward of the Dumbarton district. The Dumbarton ward, called 'Helensburgh and Lomond', included the burgh of Helensburgh and consisted of an area to the west of Loch Lomond, north of the Firth of Clyde and mostly east of Loch Long.

The council area can be described also by reference to divisions of the counties which were abolished in 1975. The council area includes most of the county of Argyll (Argyll minus the Morvern area, north of Mull, which became part of the Highland region in 1975), part of the county of Bute (the Isle of Bute) and part of the county of Dunbartonshire (the Helensburgh and Lomond ward).

Argyll and Bute is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. It is also one of eight constituencies in the Highlands and Islands electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the eight constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Electoral region

The Argyll and Bute constituency is part of the Highlands and Islands electoral region; the other seven constituencies are Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Inverness and Nairn, Moray, Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Orkney, Shetland and Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch.

The region covers most of Argyll and Bute council area, all of the Highland council area, most of the Moray council area, all of the Orkney Islands council area, all of the Shetland Islands council area and all of Na h-Eileanan Siar.

Constituency boundaries and council area

Coordinates: 55°55′59″N 5°20′56″W / 55.933°N 5.349°W / 55.933; -5.349

Argyll and Bute is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 1983 general election, merging most of Argyll with some of Bute and Northern Ayrshire. A similar constituency, also called Argyll and Bute, is used by the Scottish Parliament.

Boundaries

When created in 1983, the constituency covered the area of the Argyll district of the Strathclyde region. In 2005 it was enlarged to cover the Argyll and Bute council area, which had been created in 1996. Thus Helensburgh, already included within the new council area, was included in the constituency.

Helensburgh had been within the Dunbarton district until 1996, and within the Dumbarton constituency until 2005.

Politics

Argyll and Bute was one of the few four-way marginal constituencies in Britain. The Liberal Democrats held the seat from 1987, when they took it from the Conservatives, until 2015 when the SNP won the seat. The equivalent seat to Argyll and Bute in the Scottish Parliament was lost to the SNP in 2007, and was again taken by the SNP in 2011.

Argyll (/ɑːrˈɡaɪl/), archaically Argyle (Earra-Ghàidheal in modern Gaelic pronounced [ˈaːr̴əɣɛː.əɫ̪]), is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of ancient Dál Riata, which was located on the island of Great Britain. In a historical context, Argyll can be used to mean the entire western coast between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath. At present, Argyll (sometimes anglicised as Argyllshire) is also one of the registration counties of Scotland. Argyll was also a medieval bishopric with its cathedral at Lismore, as well as an early modern earldom and dukedom, the Dukedom of Argyll.

Between 1890 and 1975, Argyll was a county for local government purposes.

There was an Argyllshire constituency of the Parliament of Great Britain until the mid-20th century.

Etymology

The name derives from Old Gaelic airer Goídel (border region of the Gaels). The early thirteenth-century author of De Situ Albanie explains that "the name Arregathel means margin (i.e., border region) of the Scots or Irish, because all Scots and Irish are generally called Gattheli (i.e. Gaels), from their ancient warleader known as Gaithelglas."

Argyllshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1800 and of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 until 1950, when it was renamed Argyll. The constituency was replaced in 1983 with Argyll and Bute.

It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) using the first-past-the-post voting system.

Local government areas

Until Scottish counties were abolished, for most purposes, in 1975, the constituency represented the county of Argyll, except that constituency boundaries may not have coincided at all times with county boundaries, and any parliamentary burgh within the county would have been outside the constituency.

In 1975 most of the county plus the Isle of Bute became the Argyll district of the Strathclyde region. A northern area of the county became part of the Highland region. Until 1975 the Isle of Bute had been part of the county of Bute.

In 1996, 13 years after the abolition of the Argyll constituency and creation of the Argyll and Bute constituency, the Argyll district, plus a portion of the Dumbarton district of Strathclyde, became the Argyll and Bute unitary council area.

Argyll is a residential neighbourhood in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, located on the south side of the city between the two branches of the Mill Creek Ravine. It is bounded by the ravine on the west and north east sides, and by Argyll Road on the south and south east sides. On the other side of Mill Creek Ravine are the residential neighbourhoods of Avonmore and Hazeldean. On the other side of Argyll Road is the industrial subdivision of Coronet Addition Industrial. The Argyll Sports Centre is located in the neighbourhood.

Most residential construction (93%) in the neighbourhood occurred between the end of World War II and 1970. Almost all the residences in the neighbourhood are single-family dwellings. The majority (83%) of residences are owner-occupied.

Demographics

In the City of Edmonton's 2012 municipal census, Argyll had a population of 7002853000000000000♠853 living in 7002354000000000000♠354 dwellings, a 5% change from its 2009 population of 7002812000000000000♠812. With a land area of 0.36 km² (0.14 sq mi), it had a population density of 7003236940000000000♠2,369.4 people/km² in 2012.