Everything about Falkirk totally explained
» Falkirk is also the name of the Scottish council area centred on the town, see Falkirk (council area).
Government and politics
From the middle of the 17th century to 1859, the affairs of the burgh of Falkirk were managed by the Stentmasters, a body elected by the trades of the town and latterly also by districts of Falkirk. Their duties, while largely financial, included repairs to the market place, the streets, water pipes, cisterns and wells, the Town Steeple; and the prevention of encroachments on the public streets by any of the inhabitants or others. They also had the duty of appointing a billeting master and a town drummer, and were responsible for the management of the general policy of the town and also for the laying of assessments on the corporations and inhabitants according to the apparent ability of the persons assessed to pay them. The Stentmasters continued to exist side by side with the Town Council for some years, the first Falkirk Town Council having been elected in the Red Lion Inn in November 1838. The number of members then composing the Town Council was twelve.
Notable past Falkirk councillors include industrialist
Thomas W. Howie and current
Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling.
Today, like all towns in Scotland, Falkirk has a well-defined structure of governance from
local government down to representation at
European Union (EU) level.
In terms of local government the town sits at the heart of Falkirk Council area, one of the
32 Unitary Authorities of Scotland formed by the
Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994. The headquarters of the council are located in the Municipal Buildings, adjacent to Falkirk Town Hall, on West Bridge Street in the centre of town. The Council is run by a
Scottish National Party (SNP), independent and
Conservative alliance as of early 2007.
Falkirk is located within the
Scottish parliamentary constituency of
Falkirk West which elects one
Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) under the
first past the post system. The current MSP is
Michael Matheson, who won the 2007 Scottish Parliament General Election by a margin of just 3%, less than the number of spoilt ballot papers, narrowly defeating his rival, Dennis Goldie, former Provost and well-known for his refusal to back the Labour Party's pro-gay rights stance. The previous MSP,
Dennis Canavan, who sat as an
Independent, was elected with the largest majority in the Scottish parliament representing Falkirk's electorate's displeasure with
New Labour, but stepped down in 2007 for family reasons. The constituency of Falkirk West also sits in the
Central Scotland Scottish Parliament electoral region which returns seven MSPs under the
additional member system used to elect Members of the Scottish Parliament.
Minor fringe parties (on both sides of the political spectrum) are relatively popular in Falkirk compared with the rest of Scotland. In the 2007 elections, Falkirk had the highest proportion (though it was still very small) of
British National Party voters anywhere in Scotland. Parties right of the Conservative Party won 6.2% of the vote in Central Scotland in total (including the
Scottish Christian Party,
United Kingdom Independence Party and others). Left of Labour parties won 5.9% in total (including the
Scottish Green Party, the
Scottish Socialist Party,
Solidarity and others). None of these parties won a seat, however. Five seats were won by the SNP, one by the Conservatives and one by the Liberal Democrats.
In the
Parliament of the United Kingdom, the town is entirely contained within the UK parliamentary constituency of
Falkirk which elects one member to the
House of Commons under the
plurality system. The constituency also takes in surrounding villages and is currently represented by the
Labour Member of Parliament (MP)
Eric Joyce. Currently, Scotland returns two Labour MEPs, two
Conservative and Unionist MEPs, two SNP MEPs and one
Liberal Democrat MEP, to the
European Parliament. The flagship retailer
Marks and Spencer opened a store in Falkirk in 1936.1989. A number of supermarkets including
Tesco,
ASDA,
Morrisons and
Scottish Co-op have developed on peripheral sites surrounding the town centre in recent years.
The Public sector and public services also have a foothold in the Falkirk area. Falkirk Council is one of the largest employers in this sphere, with a workforce of over 7,000, many based at the Council headquarters in the town centre. Similarly the
National Health Service (NHS) and
Department for Work and Pensions have a presence in the town and employ local residents.
Many Falkirk residents are also employed within the
petrochemicals sector based in the neighbouring town of
Grangemouth where there's an
agglomeration of such industries underpinned by the
Ineos (formerly
BP) oil refinery located there.
Alexander Dennis, one of the world's largest bus manufacturers, is headquartered in Falkirk with the operations plant located nearby.
The
United Kingdom Census 2001 identified the town as having a total resident population of 32,379 with 2004 estimates placing the total population at 32,890. Unemployment in the Falkirk area is low at 2.5%, below the Scottish average, however average household income and gross weekly pay are below the comparative Scottish and UK averages. showed the majority of the population claim to belong to one of the Christian denominations
with 48% of these being
Church of Scotland, 12% being
Roman Catholic, and 5% belonging to
Other Christian
denominations. A significant percentage of people (29%) belong to no religion, about 1% above the
national figure. Only about 5% of residents didn't answer this question.
Twin towns
Falkirk is twinned with:
Quimper, France
Creteil, France
Odenwald, Germany
San Rafael, California, USA
Infrastructure
Health
The Falkirk and District Royal Infirmary (FDRI) is the principal public hospital serving the town of Falkirk and the surrounding area and is administered by NHS Forth Valley. In recent years the accident and emergency services at the hospital have been downgraded with major A&E facilities having been consolidated to the Stirling and District Royal Infirmary. However, the FDRI continues to have a Minor Injury Unit, to treat emergency cases of a non life threatening nature.
Falkirk also has a Hockey team, Falkirk GHG Hockey Club, which was formed from the merger of Graeme High School Former Pupils Hockey Club and Grangemouth Hockey Club in 1999. It now has five men's teams which play in various leagues, with their first team playing in the national league.
Famous people
George Forrest was born in Falkirk on March 13th 1873, died in 1932. He was responsible for bringing back over 30,000 specimens of 10,000 plants mostly from the Yunnan Province of China over a period of 17 years.
Rangers FC player David Weir resides from Falkirk, and went to Woodlands High School in Falkirk. He grew up in Shieldhill. Falkirk FC player Jack Ross also resides in Falkirk, and went to Falkirk High School, he grew up in Camelon.
Tommy Douglas, the Canadian social democratic politician, who is often cited as "father" of Canada's Medicare public health insurance system and was voted The Greatest Canadian, was born in Falkirk.
Michael Absalom was born in Falkirk but moved to different areas in his life.
Notes and citations
Further Information
Get more info on 'Falkirk'.
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