Falkirk (council area)

Falkirk An Eaglais Bhreac (Scottish Gaelic) Fawkirk (Scots)
Council area
Coat of arms
Falkirk shown within Scotland
Coordinates: 55°58′34″N 3°47′49″W / 55.976°N 3.797°W / 55.976; -3.797
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	Scotland
Lieutenancy area	Stirling and Falkirk
Unitary authority	1 April 1996
Government [1]
• Type	Council
• Body	Falkirk Council
• Control	No overall control
• MPs	3 MPs Brian Leishman (L) Euan Stainbank (L) Kirsteen Sullivan (L)
• MSPs	2 MSPs Michelle Thomson (SNP) Michael Matheson (SNP)
Area [2]
• Total	115 sq mi (297 km2)
• Rank	22nd
Population  (2022)[2]
• Total	158,450
• Rank	11th
• Density	1,380/sq mi (533/km2)
Time zone	UTC+0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
ISO 3166 code	GB-FAL
GSS code	S12000014
Website	falkirk.gov.uk

Falkirk (/ˈfɔːlkɜːrk/ FAWL-kurk; Scots: Fawkirk [ˈfɔːkɪrk]; Scottish Gaelic: An Eaglais Bhreac) is one of 32 unitary authority council areas of Scotland. It was formed on 1 April 1996 by way of the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 from the exact boundaries of Falkirk District, one of three parts of the Central region created in 1975, which was abolished at that time. Prior to the 1975 reorganisation, the majority of the council area was part of the historic county of Stirlingshire, and a small part, namely Bo'ness and Blackness, was part of the former county of West Lothian.

The council area borders with North Lanarkshire, Stirling and West Lothian, and, across the Firth of Forth to the northeast, Clackmannanshire and Fife. The largest town is Falkirk; other settlements, most of which surround Falkirk within 6 miles (9.7 km) of its centre, include Bo'ness, Bonnybridge, Denny, Grangemouth, Larbert, Polmont, Shieldhill, Camelon and Stenhousemuir.

The council is led by the SNP which won 12 seats in the 2022 Council Election. The incumbent leader of is councillor Cecil Meiklejohn; the provost is Robert Bissett and the deputy provost is David Balfour.