Central region was created in 1975 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, which established a two-tier structure of local government across mainland Scotland comprising upper-tier regions and lower-tier districts.

Central region covered the whole area of the county of Clackmannanshire, most of Stirlingshire and parts of Perthshire and West Lothian, which were all abolished for local government purposes at the same time.

Central region was divided into three districts, called Clackmannan, Falkirk, and Stirling.

[5] There continue to be electoral, valuation, and health boards for the area; the latter is called NHS Forth Valley.

Political control of the council from 1975 was as follows:[7] At the time of the local government reorganization of 1975, there was discussion on where the new region should be based – the options being Falkirk or Stirling, the latter of which was chosen as the county council had just finished construction of a new office building at Viewforth in the town in 1972.