Area Managers
Aberdeenshire Council is too large to run as a single unit and Scottish Councils were required to bring forward proposals for decentralisation.
Aberdeenshire Council has established six areas within which local decisions will be taken locally by elected Members. Corporate and policy matters will decided at Council headquarters.
Aberdeenshire's six areas each have an Area Committee, an Area Manager and an Area Management Team.
| Banff and Buchan Area Karen Wiles (interim) Education and Children Services |
 Buchan AreaChris White Business Services |
 Formartine AreaElaine Brown Business Services |
 Garioch AreaMargaret-Jane Cardno Education and Children Services |
 Kincardine and Mearns AreaWilliam Munro Infrastructure Services |
 Marr AreaJanelle Clark Infrastructure Services |
The Area Manager's job, with the help of the Area Management Team, is to enable the Area Committee to make local decisions and to ensure that these decisions are carried out.
The Council will work with the communities in each area to prepare a Community Plan which reflects local needs and provides input for the Council's policies and programmes. A system of area budgets is under development. Area Committees already disburse local development grants of various kinds.
To ensure that the six areas do not become separate 'mini Councils' every elected Member is a member of an Area Committee and serves on corporate policy committees, and each Area Manager is a member of the Council's Senior Management Team. Each Area Manager is also part of a Council service team with 2 managers in Business Services, 2 in Education and Children Services and 2 in Infrastructure Services. Area Committees are therefore able to influence central policy making within the context of local grass roots requirements.