East Ayrshire Council

East Ayrshire Council was formed in April 1995 and combined the former Kilmarnock and Loudoun and Cumnock and Doon Valley District Councils, together with a part of Strathclyde Regional Council. The newly formed East Ayrshire Council adopted its own coat of arms consisting of three main sections, which amongst appearing on boundary signage to the area, also appear on the chains worn by the provost and depute provost. The top of the councils coat of arms features a black diamond which is to symbolise the areas history of coal mining. Next to the black diamond is a fir tree which represents the areas forestry, agriculture and rural landscape. Both components, the black diamonds and fir trees, were adopted from the former Cumnock and Doon Valley Coat of Arms. A red cog is situated next to the fir tree to symbolise the areas industry and industrial history.^[4]

The middle section of the main coat of arms was lifted directly from the Boyds of Kilmarnock Coat of Arms which feature blue wavy lines to symbolise the two river valleys within East Ayrshire - the Irvine Valley and the Doon Valley. The Campbells of Loudoun Coat of Arms was incorporated in the bottom section of the coat of arms of East Ayrshire Council. The coat of arms of East Ayrshire Council is supported by a red squirrel which was taken from the original Kilmarnock Coat of Arms, together with a lion rampant which was lifted from the Coat of Arms of the town of Cumnock. At the top features a coronet, a feature given to all landward councils in Scotland, whilst the councils motto, Forward Together, is featured at the bottom.^[5]

Together with the Leader of the Council, the council is represented by the provost and their depute. The provost is the civic head of East Ayrshire Council and is the equivalent of a mayor in other countries. The provost and depute provost represent the Council in the protocol party in regards to official or royal visits, and have the responsibility for arrangements which are implemented by the Lord Lieutenant. The incumbent provost of East Ayrshire Council is Councillor Claire Leitch, supported by her depute provost, John McGhee. They both assumed their respective offices on 31 October 2024.^[6]

The council's chief executive is Eddie Fraser, who was appointed to the role in January 2021,^[7] following the retirement of former Chief Executive, Fiona Lees in 2021 after having served as Chief Executive for the council since April 2004.^[8]

The Governance and Scrutiny Committee of East Ayrshire Council is tasked with examining, scrutinising, challenging and asking questions relating to matters regards delivery of services by the council, as well as having some powers over how the council conducts its affairs and business.^[9]

The first election to East Ayrshire Council was held in 1995, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new system came into force on 1 April 1996. Political control of the council since 1996 has been as follows:^[10]

The council has been under no overall control since 2007, with the Scottish National Party leading a variety of minority administrations since then. The next election is due in 2027. The council's civic head takes the title of provost. This is a largely ceremonial role, chairing council meetings and acting as the area's first citizen. Although an elected councillor, the provost is expected to be politically impartial.^[1] Political leadership is provided by the leader of the council, who has been Douglas Reid of the SNP since 2007.

The leaders of the council since 1996 have been:^[11]

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:^[10]

East Ayrshire Council have a number of committees that support its work in delivering services to the population of East Ayrshire. Some committees, such as the Ayrshire Shared Services Joint Committee, also have representatives from South Ayrshire and North Ayrshire attending.^[15]

The current committees of East Ayrshire Council are;^[16]

The council's main offices are at Council Headquarters on London Road, Kilmarnock. The building was built as the James Hamilton School, which was designed by William Reid, the Ayrshire county architect, and opened in 1933.^[17] The school relocated to a new site in 1977 and the buildings became the London Road Centre and were used for various purposes until they were converted to offices for East Ayrshire Council ahead of the new council's creation in 1996.^[18][19]

 

Since 2017 the area has divided into nine multi-member wards returning 32 members:^{[14][20][21][22]}

Ward Number	Ward Name	Location	Seats
1	Annick		4
2	Kilmarnock North		3
3	Kilmarnock West and Crosshouse		4
4	Kilmarnock East and Hurlford		4
5	Kilmarnock South		3
6	Irvine Valley		3
7	Ballochmyle		4
8	Cumnock and New Cumnock		4
9	Doon Valley		3

• East Ayrshire; the local authority area
• Local government in Scotland