the trend in recent decades has been for councils to close their architects departments. as of 2015 there were 237 council architects in england, 159 in scotland and 24 in wales. the biggest employers are hampshire (44), glasgow (18), the highland council (13) and lancashire (11). despite their predecessors having one of the largest and most active architects departments in the country, no london borough now employs more than five council architects.