The district was created in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which established a two-tier structure of local government across mainland Scotland comprising upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts. Clydebank was one of nineteen districts created within the region of Strathclyde. The district covered parts of two former districts from the historic county of Dunbartonshire, which were abolished at the same time:[3]
Clydebank was one of the smallest districts by area. The main urban area was Clydebank, but the district also included the settlements of Duntocher, Faifley, Hardgate and Old Kilpatrick, along with the Kilpatrick Hills rising steeply to the north, The River Clyde was the district's southern boundary. The urban area of Glasgow lay to the south-east, and there was a tract of farmland to the north-east on the border with Bearsden and Milngavie. To the west was the Dumbarton district.
The district was abolished in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 which replaced regions and districts with unitary council areas. The Clydebank area merged with much of neighbouring Dumbarton district to become the West Dunbartonshire council area. The 1994 act originally named the new district "Dumbarton and Clydebank", but the shadow authority elected in 1995 requested a change of name to "West Dunbartonshire", which was agreed by the government before the new council area came into force.[4][5][6]
Political control
The first election to the district council was held in 1974, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until it came into its powers on 16 May 1975. Political control of the council from 1975 was as follows:[7]
The council was initially based at Clydebank Town Hall, which had been built in 1902 for the former Clydebank Town Council. Shortly after the new district's creation it built a new headquarters called Council Offices at the junction of Rosebery Place and Kilbowie Road, which was completed in 1979.[8][9] After the council's abolition the Council Offices initially served as additional office space for West Dunbartonshire Council, which had its headquarters in Dumbarton. The Clydebank Council Offices were subsequently demolished in 2017.[10]