Lochaber

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Lochaber

Lochaber (Scottish Gaelic Loch Abar) is one of the 16 ward management areas of the Highland Council of Scotland

Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
and one of eight former local government

Local government of Scotland

Local government in Scotland is organised through 32 unitary authority consisting of councillors elected every four years by registered voters in each of the Council Areas of Scotland....
districts of the two-tier Highland

Highland (council area)

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Lochaber'

Start a new discussion about 'Lochaber'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

District of Lochaber 1975 to 1996

Highland council area shown as one of the council areas of Scotland

Lochaber (Scottish Gaelic Loch Abar) is one of the 16 ward management areas of the Highland Council of Scotland

Scotland

conventional_long_name = ScotlandAlba|common_name= Scotland|image_flag = Flag of Scotland.svg|flag_width = 130px...
and one of eight former local government

Local government of Scotland

Highland (council area)

The Highland Council areas of Scotland area is a local government area in the Scottish Highlands and the largest local government area in both Scotland and the United Kingdom as a whole....
region. There are also earlier senses of Lochaber as a district within the county of Inverness (Inverness-shire), as a district within the county of Argyll

Argyll

Argyll, archaically Argyle , is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part of ancient D?l Riata that was located on the island of Great Britain, and in a historical context can be used to mean the entire western seaboard between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath....
and as simply a district of Scotland. All senses of Lochaber refer to an area in the west of the Scottish Highlands

Scottish Highlands

The Scottish Highlands include the rugged and mountainous regions of Scotland north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east....
.

The ward management area is one of five comprising the Highland Council's Ross, Skye and Lochaber corporate management area, which is one of three Highland Council corporate management areas. The Ross, Skye and Lochaber area consists of six out of the 22 wards of the council area and the Lochaber area consists of two wards, the Caol and Mallaig ward, which elects three councillors, and the Fort William and Ardnamurchan ward, which elects four councillors. Each of the other wards of the corporate area is a separate ward management area.

There is also a Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency

Ross, Skye and Lochaber (UK Parliament constituency)

Ross, Skye and Lochaber is a United Kingdom constituencies of the United Kingdom House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislature in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories....
(at Westminster

Palace of Westminster

The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament or Westminster Palace, in London, is where the two Houses of the Parliament of the United Kingdom meet....
), but its boundaries are not exactly those of the council corporate management area. The constituency was created in 2005 with boundaries based on those of wards in use during the period 1999 to 2007.

History of local government

As statutory

Statute

A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a country, state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy....
local government areas, the Highland region and its districts were created in 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973

Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973

The Local Government Act 1973 is an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, that reformed local government of Scotland in Scotland, on May 16, 1975....
, and abolished in 1996. The 1973 legislation abolished local government counties

Counties of Scotland

The counties of Scotland were the principal subdivisions of Scotland of Scotland until 1975. Scotland's current Lieutenancy areas of Scotland and registration counties are largely based on them....
and burgh

Burgh

A Burgh is an Wiktionary:Autonomy corporate entity in Scotland, usually a town. This type of administrative division has existed since the 12th century, when David I of Scotland created the first Royal burghs....
s throughout Scotland and created a new system of nine two-tier regions and three islands council areas

Islands council areas of Scotland

There were three islands council areas of Scotland:* Orkney* Shetland* Na h-Eileanan SiarThe islands council areas were unitary council areas dating from 1975, created under the Local Government Act 1973 and notably the only unitary authorities created by the local government reforms of the 1970s in Great Britain; which generally appli...
. Each region consisted of a number of districts and the islands areas were created as unitary council areas.

The Lochaber district of the Highland region was created by merging the Ardnamurchan

Ardnamurchan

Ardnamurchan is a 50 square mile peninsula in Lochaber, Highland , Scotland, noted for being very unspoilt and undisturbed. It contains an abundance of wildlife....
district and the Ballachulish

Ballachulish

The village of Ballachulish in Lochaber, Scottish Highlands, Scotland, is centred around former slate quarries. The name Ballachulish was more correctly applied to the area now called North Ballachulish, to the north of Loch Leven , but was usurped for the quarry villages at East Laroch and West Laroch, either side of the...
and Kinlochleven

Kinlochleven

Kinlochleven is a village in Lochaber, Scottish Highlands, Scotland and lies at the eastern end of Loch Leven , a sea loch cutting into the western Scottish Highlands....
electoral divisions of the former county of Argyll

Argyll

Argyll, archaically Argyle , is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part of ancient D?l Riata that was located on the island of Great Britain, and in a historical context can be used to mean the entire western seaboard between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath....
with the burgh of Fort William and the district of Lochaber of the former county of Inverness. Therefore the boundaries of the district included North Lorne, Glen Coe

Glen Coe

Glen Coe is a glen in the Scottish Highlands of Scotland. It lies in the southern part of the Lochaber committee area of Highland Council, and was formerly part of the Counties of Scotland of Argyll....
, Nether Lochaber

Nether Lochaber

Nether Lochaber in Lochaber, Highland , Scotland, is the modern name for the Parish of 'Ballachulish and Onich'. This Parish was formed, in 1911, out of the Quoad Sacra Parish of 'Ballachulish and Corran of Ardgour' which itself was formed, in 1829, out of the Parish of 'Kilmallie' when the Thomas Telford Parliamentary churches were built at...
, the western part of the Rannoch Moor

Rannoch Moor

Rannoch Moor is a large expanse of around 50 square miles of boggy moorland to the west of Loch Rannoch, in Perth and Kinross and Lochaber, Scottish Highlands, partly northern Argyll and Bute, Scotland....
, the Road to the Isles, Moidart

Moidart

Moidart is a district in Lochaber, Highland , Scotland to the west of Fort William, Highland; the area is very remote and Loch Shiel cuts off the south-west boundary of the district....
, Ardgour

Ardgour

Ardgour is a village on the western shore of Loch Linnhe, on the Ardnamurchan peninisula, Lochaber, Highland , Scotland.The village of Ardgour comprises the three distinct settlements of North Corran, Clovullin and Sallachan....
, Morvern

Morvern

Morvern is a peninsula in south west Lochaber, on the west coast of Scotland. The name is derived from the Scottish Gaelic language A' Mhorbhairn ....
, Sunart

Sunart

Sunart is a rural district and parish in south west Lochaber, Highland , Scotland, on the north shore of Loch Sunart. Today is often labelled as part of Ardnamurchan....
, Ardnamurchan

Ardnamurchan

Ardnamurchan is a 50 square mile peninsula in Lochaber, Highland , Scotland, noted for being very unspoilt and undisturbed. It contains an abundance of wildlife....
, and the Small Isles

Small Isles

Please note: there is also a group called "Small Isles" off south east Jura, ScotlandThe Small Isles are a small archipelago of islands in the Inner Hebrides, off the west coast of Scotland....
(Rùm

Rûm

R?m, also Roum or Rhum , is a very indefinite term used at different times in the Muslim world to refer to the Balkans and Anatolia generally, and for the Byzantine Empire in particular, for the Seljuk Sultanate of R?m in Asia Minor, and for Greeks inhabiting Ottoman Empire or modern Turkey territory as well as for Greek Cypriots....
, Eigg

Eigg

Eigg is one of the Small Isles, in the Scotland Inner Hebrides. It lies to the south of the Skye, and to the north of the Ardnamurchan peninsula....
, Muck

Muck, Scotland

Muck is the smallest of four main islands in the Small Isles, part of the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. It measures roughly 2.5 miles east to west and has a population of around 30, mostly living near the harbour at Port M?r....
and Canna

Canna, Scotland

Canna is the westernmost of the Small Isles archipelago, in the Scotland Inner Hebrides. It is linked to the neighbouring island of Sanday, Inner Hebrides by a road and sandbanks at low tide....
).

The 1994 legislation abolished regions and districts and established a system of 32 unitary council areas covering the whole of Scotland, and all of the Highland districts were merged into the new unitary Highland council area.

In 1996 the new Highland Council adopted the areas of the former districts as council management areas, and created area committee

Area committee

Many large local government Local government in the United Kingdom in the United Kingdom have a system of area committees, with responsibility for services in a particular part of the area covered by the council....
s to represent them. The Lochaber management area then consisted of eight out of the 72 wards of the council area, each electing one councillor

Councillor

A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council. Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman....
by the first past the post system of election. In 1999 ward boundaries were redrawn to create 80 new wards. Management area boundaries were not redrawn, however, and therefore area committees ceased to represent exactly the areas for which they were named and made decisions. The Lochaber committee continued to have eight members. The area manager throughout this period (1996 - 2007) was John Hutchison.

Ward boundaries were redrawn again this year, 2007, under the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004

Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004

The Local Governance Act 2004 is an Act of Parliament of the Scottish Parliament which provided, inter alia, for the election of Councillors to the local government in Scotland in Scotland by the Single Transferable Vote system....
, and the council abolished its eight management areas in favour of three new corporate management areas and 16 new ward management areas. Each of the 22 new wards elects three or four councillors by the single transferable vote

Single transferable vote

The Single transferable vote is a voting system of preferential voting designed to minimize wasted votes and provide proportional representation while ensuring that votes are explicitly expressed for individual candidates rather than for party lists....
system, a system designed to produce a form of proportional representation

Proportional representation

Proportional representation , sometimes referred to as full representation, is a category of voting systems aimed at a close match between the percentage of votes that groups of candidates obtain in elections and the percentage of seats they receive ....
, and the total number of councillors remains the same. Various ward management areas, including the Locahaber area, cover more than one ward.

Lochaber used to be known as Abria.

Hydroelectric scheme

The Lochaber hydroelectric scheme was a power generation project constructed in the western Scottish Highlands

Scottish Highlands

World War I

World War I, or the First World War , was a global military conflict which involved the Great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies of World War I and the Central Powers....
. Like its predecessor at Kinlochleven

Kinlochleven

Kinlochleven is a village in Lochaber, Scottish Highlands, Scotland and lies at the eastern end of Loch Leven , a sea loch cutting into the western Scottish Highlands....
, it was intended to provide electricity for aluminium

Aluminium

Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white and ductile member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al; its atomic number is 13....
production, this time at Fort William, a little further north. The scheme was initially designed by engineer

Engineer

An engineer is a person professionally engaged in a field of engineering. Engineers are concerned with developing economical and safe solutions to practical problems, by applying mathematics and scientific knowledge while considering technical constraints....
Charles Meik

Charles Meik

Charles Meik was an England engineer and part of a minor engineering dynasty. His father Thomas Meik was also an engineer, as was Charles' brother Patrick Meik....
but after his death in 1923, the scheme’s realisation was left to William Halcrow

William Halcrow

Sir William Halcrow was one of the most notable England civil engineers of the 20th century, particularly renowned for his expertise in the design of tunnels and for a host of wartime projects during the Second World War....
, by then a partner in the firm originally founded by Meik’s father Thomas Meik

Thomas Meik

Thomas Meik was a United Kingdom engineer, born in Duddingston, Midlothian. He was particularly associated with harbors and railways in Scotland and northern England, and fathered two prominent engineering sons: Patrick Meik and Charles Meik....
.

The project was finally sanctioned by Parliament in 1921, but construction did not start until 1924; the aluminium smelter was established in 1929 and took about 95% of the of power generated.

The scheme harnessed the headwaters of the Rivers Treig and Spean and the floodwaters of the River Spey

River Spey

The River Spey is a river in the northeast of Scotland, the second longest and the fastest flowing river in Scotland. It is important for salmon fishing and Scotch whisky production....
(plus a further eleven burn

Burn (stream)

In Scotland, North East England and some parts of Ireland and New Zealand, burn is a name for watercourses from large streams to small rivers. The term is also used in lands settled by the Scots and Northern English in other countries, notably in Otago, New Zealand, where much of the naming was done by Northumberland-born surveyor John Turnbu...
s along the way). The Laggan Dam

Laggan Dam

Laggan Dam is a dam located on the River Spean south west of Loch Laggan in the Scottish Highlands. The dam is 700 feet long and rises 170 feet above its foundations....
( long and high) contained the flow of the Spean in a reservoir (Loch Laggan

Loch Laggan

Loch Laggan is a freshwater loch situated east of Fort William, Highland, in Lochaber, Scottish Highlands, Scotland. The A86 road from Spean Bridge to Kingussie follows along its north bank....
). A tunnel

Tunnel

A tunnel is an underground passageway. The definition of what constitutes a tunnel is not universally agreed upon. However, in general tunnels are at least twice as long as they are wide....
then linked this body of water with another reservoir (Loch Treig

Loch Treig

Loch Treig is a 9 km freshwater loch situated in a steep-sided glen 20 km east of Fort William, Scotland, in Lochaber, Highland , Scotland. While there are no roads alongside the loch, the West Highland Line follows its eastern bank....
) contained by the Treig dam. From here, the main tunnel, until 1970 the longest water-carrying tunnel in the world, an enormous long and in diameter, was driven around the Ben Nevis

Ben Nevis

Ben Nevis is the highest mountain in the British Isles. It is located at the western end of the Grampian Mountains in the Lochaber area of Scotland, close to the town of Fort William, Highland....
massif. From the western mountainside, down five massive steel

Steel

Steel is an alloy consisting mostly of iron, with a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.14% by weight , depending on grade. Carbon is the most cost-effective alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten....
pipes, the water rushed towards the turbine

Turbine

A turbine is a rotary engine that extracts energy from a fluid flow. Claude Burdin coined the term from the Latin turbo, or vortex, during an 1828 engineering competition....
s in the power house at the smelting

Smelting

Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores....
plant.

Lochaber

History of local government

Hydroelectric scheme

Further reading

See also