Whereas my 2020 version of this project had proposed a trans-Clyde, but not Strathclyde, region simply titled “Clyde”, this time around I’ve gone for a more dramatic solution, which treats the river as the natural dividing line it is after it emerges from Glasgow. The northern side of that divide here becomes the Lennox Region. The bulk of this is drawn from Dunbartonshire, in both its current and historical forms. It includes the whole of the current East and West Dunbartonshire Councils, with the East including portions of historic Lanarkshire (Bishopbriggs and Lenzie) or Stirling (Lennoxtown). It also restores some historical boundaries by stretching westwards to detach the Lomond area from Argyll and Bute and eastwards, new in this edition, to pull Cumbernauld out of North Lanarkshire (and the Lanarkshire Region I’d put it in last time.)

Rather than simply call the resulting region “Dunbartonshire”, I’ve opted to revive the more old fashioned name “Lennox”, which continues to have currency in the name of the local newspaper around the Vale of Leven and, more notably, in the name of Lennoxtown. That’s an attempt to reflect the inclusion of non-Dunbartonshire areas. In addition to those already mentioned those are Kilsyth, which had already been drawn into Clyde last time around, and Strathblane, which is newly added, both of which are historically in Stirling. Whilst the ancient Lennox didn’t quite cover all of the areas this modern region does, it covered enough of them it’s probably a better name than erasing the fact about a fifth of the population here lies outwith the pre-1973 Dunbartonshire.

I’ve very strongly resisted the idea of annexing neighbouring areas to Glasgow, even though many of the towns here form a contiguous settlement with it. Given Scotland has a huge problem with over-sized local government, expanding our largest city is hardly going to be part of the solution. Doing so with all the joined-up areas would also leave Dunbartonshire an awkward, sundered mess, something I’m unwilling to do both for reasons of locality and as a Dunbartonshire lad myself. I will acknowledge however this specific region, this time around, is deliberately provocative. Thinking about actual service delivery, and the fact I’d expect e.g. Health to be taken up by the regions, would this more geographically cohesive unit be administratively sensible? Given it represents perhaps as many as four separate spurs radiating from Glasgow, does it point too much to the city? Is connecting it worth effectively subordinating local attention to a Glasgow focus?

As you’d expect from a heavily urbanised part of Scotland, the SNP’s closest competitors in most of the region are Labour. However, the relative affluence of large parts of this region results one municipality having a Conservative lead, alongside a notably strong Lib Dem patch in the East Dunbartonshire area. The Greens also have a decent presence in most of the region. Note too the West Dunbartonshire Community Party, whose localised support in the Vale of Leven would also carry them onto the regional council.