Inverclyde

Inverclyde (Inbhir Chluaidh, ) is one of 32 council areas used for local government in Scotland. Together with the East Renfrewshire and Renfrewshire council areas, Inverclyde forms part of the historic county of Renfrewshire, which currently exists as a registration county and lieutenancy area - located in the west central Lowlands. It borders on to the North Ayrshire and Renfrewshire council areas, and is otherwise surrounded by the Firth of Clyde.

Inverclyde District was one of nineteen districts within Strathclyde Region, from 1975 until 1996. Prior to 1975, Inverclyde was governed as part of the local government county of Renfrewshire, comprising the burghs of Greenock, Port Glasgow and Gourock, and the former fifth district of the county. Its landward area is bordered by the Kelly, North and South Routen burns to the south west (separating Wemyss Bay and Skelmorlie, North Ayrshire), part of the River Gryfe and the Finlaystone Burn to the south-east.

It is one of the smallest in terms of area (29th) and population (27th) out of the 32 Scottish unitary authorities. Along with the council areas clustered around Glasgow City it is considered part of Greater Glasgow in some definitions, although it is physically separated from the city area by open countryside and does not share a border with the city.

The name derives from the extinct barony of Inverclyde (1897) conferred upon Sir John Burns of Wemyss Bay and his heirs.

Towns and villages
‡ Taken from Inverclyde Ward 1 figure, minus Kilmacolm settlement population.

Council
Until recently, Inverclyde was the only authority in the United Kingdom not to have named electoral wards: whilst the local authority reserved its right to name wards, it failed to supply any to the Local Government Boundary Commission. This was rectified in the 2006 review.

Composition
Following the Council elections of 2012, the current composition of Inverclyde Council is:

• denotes coalition parties

The election resulted in no overall control of the council.

Recent history
The council gained national notoriety in 2005 following harsh criticism from the Accounts Commission regarding poor leadership and accountability. In November 2005 the council was given a 6 month deadline to reorganise and improve further, following the resignation of the council chief in September and organisational changes in the wake of the original report.

Following this criticism the Chief Executive of Inverclyde Council Robert Cleary stepped down and a new chief executive John Mundell was appointed. The Position of Chief Executive commands a salary of £112,000 Per Annum. There was criticism over the pension benefits the outgoing chief executive received once leaving, he was given six figure severance pay and his pension will be approximately £50,000 per annum.

As of June 2006, changes were still ongoing: Inverclyde Council altered its directorship structure by adding new corporate director positions and removing senior manager positions. It was expected that the £90,000 p/a posts will mostly be filled by new applicants, although existing Council workers were able to apply. There was some criticism with regards to the merging of council services; for instance, Education and Social Work merged and now share the same director. This was frowned upon as at the time the Director responsible for the two merged departments had an educational qualification, not a social work one.

The 2007 council elections took place at the same time as the Scottish Parliament elections. The Liberal Democrats lost nine seats; Labour gained two, but fell short of a majority. The SNP and Conservatives both entered the council with five and one seats respectively, while an independent candidate also won a place.

Places of interest

 * Ardgowan Estate
 * Arts Guild Theatre
 * The Bogal Stone
 * Cappielow
 * Castle Levan
 * Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park
 * Cornalees Bridge Centre
 * Custom House Quay and Museum
 * Duchal House
 * Finlaystone House
 * Gourock Outdoor Pool
 * Granny Kempock Stone
 * Loch Thom
 * Lunderston Bay
 * McLean Museum and Art Gallery
 * Newark Castle
 * Waterfront Leisure Complex

Education
The county of Inverclyde has numerous primary schools serving all areas of its settlements. These are connected to several Secondary schools which serve Inverclyde as follows...
 * Inverclyde Academy, serving South and East Greenock as well as the villages of Inverkip and Wemyss Bay
 * Clydeview Academy, serving the West End of Greenock and the town of Gourock
 * Port Glasgow High School, serving Port Glasgow and Kilmacolm
 * Notre Dame High School, serving Greenock
 * St. Columbas High School, Gourock/Greenock, serving Gourock, Inverkip and Wemyss Bay
 * St. Stephen's High School, serving Port Glasgow, Kilmacolm and the East End of Greenock

Demography
According to research by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, Inverclyde residents enjoy the second-lowest life expectancy in the UK, with only Glasgow City having a shorter projected lifespan per resident. The average Inverclyde male lives for 70.3 years, with females living 78.1 years. There are large health disparities between settlements in Inverclyde with many health indicators being above the Scottish average in certain areas, whilst considerably below in others.