Dumbarton (district)


Dumbarton was a local government district in the Strathclyde region of Scotland from 1975 to 1996, lying to the north-west of the regional capital Glasgow.

Local Government

As its name suggests, the district was centred around the town of Dumbarton, capital of the historic county of Dunbartonshire, although its boundaries extended far beyond the town. In the Local Government Act 1973 leading to its creation, the district's desired composition was described as:
Other than Dumbarton and the Vale of Leven settlements just to its north, plus the town of Helensburgh and neighbouring coastal villages on the Firth of Clyde further west, the terrain was increasingly mountainous and sparsely populated. The middle of Loch Long was the western boundary and the middle of Loch Lomond the eastern boundary, excepting everything south of the Endrick Water which belonged wholly to Dumbarton. Much of the rest of the eastern border was with Stirling district in Central region, while the smaller Clydebank district in Dunbarton was to the south-east.
The Local Government etc. Act 1994 abolished all of the districts and regions. The eastern, more populated part of the Dumbarton district was merged with the Clydebank district to form the West Dunbartonshire unitary council area, with the Dumbarton district offices continuing as the headquarters for WDC. The western part of the district was allocated to Argyll and Bute following a referendum on the matter in 1994, while a small rural area at Croftamie went to Stirling Council.