Moray Council

Moray Council (Scottish Gaelic: Comhairle Mhoireibh) is the local government authority for Moray council area.

Moray Council Comhairle Mhoireibh
Coat of arms
Council logo
Type
Type	Unitary authority
History
Preceded by	Moray District Council (1975-1996)
Leadership
Civic Leader	John Cowe, Independent since 10 August 2022
Leader	Kathleen Robertson, Conservative since 18 May 2022[1]
Chief Executive (interim)	John Mundell since May 2024[2]
Structure
Seats	26 councillors
Political groups	Administration (10)   Conservative (10) Other parties (16)   SNP (7)   Independent (5)   Labour (3)   Green (1)
Elections
Voting system	Single transferable vote
Last election	5 May 2022
Next election	6 May 2027
Meeting place
Council Offices, High Street, Elgin, IV30 1BX
Website
www.moray.gov.uk

History

Moray District Council

Local government across Scotland was reorganised in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which replaced the counties and burghs with a two-tier structure of upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts. Moray became a district within the Grampian region. Under that system, the authority was named Moray District Council. Moray District covered the same area as the modern-day unitary authority.

Moray Council

Local government was reorganised again in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994, which abolished the regions and districts created in 1975 and established 32 single-tier council areas across Scotland, one being Moray.

Political control

The first election to Moray District Council was held in 1974, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new system came into force on 16 May 1975. A shadow authority was again elected in 1995 ahead of the reforms which came into force on 1 April 1996. Political control of the council since 1975 has been as follows:^[3]

Moray District Council

Party in control		Years
	Independent	1975–1988
	No overall control	1988–1996

Moray Council

Party in control		Years
	SNP	1996–1999
	No overall control	1999–2002
	Independent	2002–2007
	No overall control	2007–present

Leadership

Since 2012, political leadership has been provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since then have been:^[4]

Councillor	Party		From	To	Notes
Allan Wright		Conservative	9 May 2012	1 Jan 2015
Stewart Cree[5]		Independent	1 Jan 2015	May 2017
George Alexander		Independent	24 May 2017	13 Jun 2018
Graham Leadbitter		SNP	13 Jun 2018	18 May 2022
Neil McLennan[6]		Conservative	18 May 2022	11 Jul 2022	Joint leaders
Kathleen Robertson		Conservative
Kathleen Robertson		Conservative	11 Jul 2022

Composition

Following the 2022 election and subsequent changes up to November 2024, the composition of the council was:^[7][8]

Party		Councillors
	Conservative	10
	SNP	7
	Independent	5
	Labour	3
	Scottish Green	1
Total		26

One of the independent councillors describes themselves as a "non-aligned Conservative".^[9] The next election is due in 2027.^[10]

Elections

Main article: Moray Council elections

The council consists of 26 councillors elected for a five-year term from 8 wards. Since 2007 elections have been held every five years under the single transferable vote system, introduced by the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, replacing the first-past-the-post voting system.

The most recent full council election took place on 5 May 2022, in which no party won a majority of seats, as has been the case since the 2007 election. The Conservatives won 11 seats therefore overtaking the Scottish National Party, on 8 seats, as the largest party. Labour won 3 seats, whilst both the Liberal Democrats and the Greens won 1 seat each. Independents won 2 seats, a decline of 6, their worst result since the 1995 election.

The next full council election is due to take place on 6 May 2027. Election results since 1995 have been as follows:

Year	Seats	Conservative	SNP	Labour	Liberal Democrats	Green	Independent / Other	Notes
1995	18	0	13	3	1	0	2	SNP majority
1999	26	1	2	6	2	0	15	No overall control
2003	26	1	3	5	1	0	16	Independent majority
2007	26	3	9	2	0	0	12	No overall control
2012	26	3	10	3	0	0	10	No overall control
2017	26	8	9	1	0	0	8	No overall control
2022	26	11	8	3	1	1	2	No overall control

Council Annexe, 2–10 High Street, Elgin

Premises

The council meets at the Council Offices on High Street in Elgin. The older part of the building facing High Street was completed in 1952 adjoining Elgin Sheriff Court for the former joint Moray and Nairn County Council.^[11] Large extensions were later added to the south of the building, facing Greyfriars Street. In 2012 the council opened an additional annexe nearby at 2–10 High Street in a converted supermarket.^[12]

Wards

Map of the area's wards (2017)

The current multi-member ward system (8 wards, 26 seats) was introduced for the 2007 election:

Ward number	Name	Location	Seats
1	Speyside Glenlivet		3
2	Keith and Cullen		3
3	Buckie		3
4	Fochabers Lhanbryde		3
5	Heldon and Laich		4
6	Elgin City North		3
7	Elgin City South		3
8	Forres		4