Inverclyde Council is one of the 32 local authorities of Scotland, covering the Inverclyde council area. In its current form the council was created in 1996, replacing the previous Inverclyde District Council which existed from 1975 to 1996. The council has been under no overall control since 2007, being led by a Labour minority administration. The council is based at the Municipal Buildings in Greenock, the area's largest town. History Prior to 1975 the area was the western part of the historic county of Renfrewshire. The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 replaced Scotland's counties, burghs and districts with a two-tier system comprising upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts. Inverclyde was created as one of nineteen districts within the Strathclyde region. Further reforms in 1996 under the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 saw the Strathclyde Regional Council abolished and Inverclyde become a council area, taking over the former regional council's roles in the area. In 2005, the council was criticised by the Accounts Commission for poor leadership and accountability. The chief executive resigned and various changes to the council's internal structures were made in response. Until 2007, Inverclyde was the last authority in the United Kingdom not to have named its wards; whilst the local authority reserved its right to name wards, it did not to supply any names to the Local Government Boundary Commission. This was rectified in the 2006 review leading to the new wards used for the 2007 election, although the six multi-member wards created then used only vague geographical descriptions ('Inverclyde North', 'Inverclyde East', 'Inverclyde South West' etc.), in contrast to the majority of wards in Scotland. Political control The first election to Inverclyde District Council was held in 1974, initially operating as a shadow authority alongside the outgoing authorities until the new system came into force on 16 May 1975. A shadow authority was again elected in 1995 ahead of the reforms which came into force on 1 April 1996. Political control of the council since 1975 has been as follows: Inverclyde District Council Inverclyde Council Leadership The leaders of the council since 1996 have been: Composition Following the Council elections of 2022, the current composition of Inverclyde Council is: The election resulted in no overall control of the council. Premises The council is based at the Municipal Buildings on Clyde Square in Greenock. The main building was built in 1886 for the former Greenock Town