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Caithness

District, 1975 to 1996

Caithness was a district of the Highland (council area)|Highland local government Regions of Scotland|region of Scotland from 1975 to 1996. When created, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, the district included the whole of the county plus Tongue, Highland|Tongue and Strathnaver|Farr areas of the neighbouring Sutherland|county of Sutherland. The boundary was soon changed, however, to correspond with that between the counties. Caithness was one of eight districts in the Highland region. The region was also created in 1975, as one of nine two-tier local government regions of Scotland. Each region consisted of a number of districts and both regions and districts had their own elected Local government|councils. The creation of the Highland region and of Caithness as a district involved the abolition of the two burgh councils in Caithness, Wick, Caithness|Wick and Thurso, as well as the Caithness county council. Wick, which had been the administrative centre for the county, became the administrative centre for the district. In 1996 local government in Scotland was again reformed, to create Council areas of Scotland|32 unitary council areas. The Highland region became the Highland unitary council area, and the functions of the district councils were absorbed by the Highland Council.

Management area and area committee, 1996 to 2007

In 1996, Caithness and the other seven districts of the Highland region were merged in to the unitary Highland Council areas of Scotland|council area, under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994. The new Highland Council then adopted the former districts as management areas and created a system of area committees to represent the management areas. Until 1999 the Caithness management and committee areas consisted of 8 out of the 72 Highland Council ward (politics)|wards. Each ward elected one councillor by the first past the post system of election. In 1999, however, ward boundaries were redrawn but management area boundaries were not. As a result area committees were named after and made decisions for areas which they did not exactly represent. The new Caithness committee area, consisting of ten out of the 80 new Highland Council wards, did not include the village of Reay, although that village was within the Caithness management area. For area committee representation the village was within the Sutherland committee area. New wards were created for elections this year, 2007, polling on 3 May and, as the wards became effective for representational purposes, the Highland Council's management and committee structures were reorganised. The Caithness management area and the Caithness area committee were therefore abolished.

Ward management area, from 2007

In 2007 an area similar to that of the Highland Council's Caithness management area was divided between three new wards electing councillors by the single transferable vote system of election, which is designed to produce a form of proportional representation. One ward elects four councillors. Each of the other two elects three councillors. Also, the council's eight management areas were abolished, in favour of three new corporate management areas, with Caithness becoming a ward management area within the council's new Highland Council|Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross operational management area, which covers seven of the council's 22 new wards. The boundaries of the Caithness ward management area are not exactly those of the former Caithness management area, but they do include the village of Reay. The ward management area is one of five within the corporate management area and consists of three wards, the Highland Council wards created in 2007|Landward Caithness ward, the Highland Council wards created in 2007|Thurso ward and the Highland Council wards created in 2007|Wick ward. Each of the other ward management areas within the corporate management area consists of a single ward.

Community councils, 1975 to present (2008)

Although created under ''local government'' legislation (the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973) community councils have no Statute|statutory powers or responsibilities and are not a tier of Local government in Scotland|local government. They are however the most local tier of statutory representation. Under the 1973 Act, district councils were obliged to implement community council schemes. A Caithness district scheme was adopted in 1975, dividing the area of the district between 12 community councils. Statutory status for community councils was continued under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994, and a Caithness scheme is now the responsibility of the Highland Council. The area of the former district of Caithness is now covered by 12 community council areas which are numbered and described as below in the Highland Council's ''Scheme for the Establishment of Community Councils in Caithness'', October 1997. Current community council names and contact details are given on a Highland Council website.''Community 03 March 2008'', Highland Council website, accessed 3 March 2008
- 1. Royal Burgh of Wick
- 2. Sinclair's Bay (including Keiss, Reiss and part of Wick)
- 3. Dunnet and Canisbay
- 4. Bower (excluding Gelshfield area)
- 5. Watten (including part of Bower i.e. Gelshfield area)
- 6. Wick south-east, Wick south-west and part of Clyth (i.e. Bruan) (Tannach & District)
- 7. Latheron, Lybster and remainder of Clyth (including Occumster, Roster and Camster)
- 8. Berridale and Dunbeath
- 9. Thurso
- 13. Halkirk south, Halkirk north-east, Halkirk north-west (excluding Lieurary, Forsie and Westfield area)
- 14. Castletown, Olrig, Thurso east (excluding area on west side of Thurso River)
- 15. Caithness West (that part on the west side of Thurso River only), Thurso West, Reay and part of Halkirk north-west (that part comprising Lieurary, Forsie and Westfield area)

Constituency

The Buteshire and Caithness (UK Parliament constituencies)|Caithness constituency of the British House of Commons|House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain (1708 to 1801) and the Parliament of the United Kingdom (1801 to 1918) represented essentially the county from 1708 to 1918. At the same time however, the county town of Wick, Highland|Wick was represented as a component of Tain Burghs (UK Parliament constituency)|Tain Burghs until 1832 and of Wick Burghs (UK Parliament constituency)|Wick Burghs until 1918. Between 1708 and 1832 the Caithness constituency was one of the Buteshire and Caithness (UK Parliament constituencies)|Buteshire and Caithness ''alternating constituencies'': one constituency elected a Member of Parliament (MP) to one parliament and then the other elected an MP to the next. Between 1832 and 1918 it was a separate constituency, electing an MP to every parliament. In 1918 the Caithness constituency and Wick were merged into the then new constituency of Caithness and Sutherland (UK Parliament constituency)|Caithness and Sutherland. In 1997 Caithness and Sutherland was merged into Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (UK Parliament constituency)|Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross. The Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (Scottish Parliament constituency)|Scottish Parliament constituency of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross was created in 1999 and now has boundaries slightly different from those of the House of Commons constituency. The modern constituencies may be seen as more sub-divisions of the Highland area than as representative of counties (and burghs). For its own purposes, however, the Highland Council uses more conservative sub-divisions, with names which refer back to the era of district councils and, in some cases, county councils. In the Scottish Parliament Caithness is represented also as part of the Highlands and Islands (Scottish Parliament region)|Highlands and Islands Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions|electoral region.

Local media

Newspapers

''The John O'Groat Journal'' and ''The Caithness Courier'' are weekly newspapers published by Scottish Provincial Press LimitedScottish Provincial Press Limited website trading as North of Scotland NewspapersNorth of Scotland Newspapers (John O'Groat Journal in association with the Caithness Courier) website, accessed 6 March 2008 and using offices in Union Street, Wick (Highland)|Wick (but with public reception via Cliff Road.) and Olrig Street, Thurso. News coverage tends to concentrate on the former counties of Caithness and Sutherland. ''The John O'Groat Journal'' is normally published on Fridays and ''The Caithness Courier'' is normally published on Wednesdays. Historically, they have been independent newspapers, with the ''Groat'' as a Wick-centred paper and the ''Courier'' as a Thurso-centred paper. Even now, the ''Groat'' is archived in the public library in Wick, while the ''Courier'' is similarly archived in the library in Thurso. The Courier was printed, almost by hand, in a small shop in High Street, Thurso until the early 60's by Mr Docherty and his daughter. The Courier traditionally covers that week's sheriff court cases.

Radio

Caithness FM has been broadcasting since 1993.Caithness FM website

Websites

Various community organisations, including Caithness Arts,Caithness Arts website, accessed 4 March 2008 Castletown, Highland|Castletown and District Community Council,Castletown and District Community Council website Castletown Heritage Society,Castletown Heritage Society website, accessed 6 March 2008 and Dunnet and Canisbay Community Council,Dunnet and Canisbay Community Council website, accessed 4 March 2008 Caitness Moto Cross Club, maintain their own websites, as do the trusts that run the Castle of MeyCastle of Mey website and Castle Sinclair Girnigoe.Castle Sinclair Girnigoe

Watsonian vice-county

Caithness, with the boundaries of the former local government county, is one of the Watsonian vice-counties, subdivisions of Great Britain|Britain and Ireland which are used largely for the purposes of biological recording and other scientific data-gathering. The vice-counties were introduced in Hewett Cottrell Watson who first used them in the third volume of his ''Cybele Britannica'' published in 1852. He refined the system somewhat in later volumes, but the vice-counties remain unchanged by subsequent local government reorganisations, allowing historical and modern data to be more accurately compared. They provide a stable basis for recording using similarly-sized units, and, although grid-based reporting has grown in popularity, they remain a standard in the vast majority of ecological surveys, allowing data collected over long periods of time to be compared easily.

References

External links

- Caithness Community Website
- Caithness Dialect
- Community Caithness forum
- Thurso Community Website Category:Caithness| Category:Lieutenancy areas of Scotland

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Sources: StartLearningNow, Wikipedia | Usage license: GNU FDL

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