THE NUMBER of civil partnerships taking place in Dundee dropped by two thirds in a year.

Figures released by the Office of National Statistics yesterday showed that there has been a substantial drop in the number of homosexual couples choosing to legally ratify their relationships.

In 2006, the first full year civil partnerships could take place, there were 922 civil partnerships in Scotland but this fell by 34% to just 688 last year.

The number of civil partnerships taking place in England and Wales fell by 47%.

In Dundee, the fall in same-sex couples entering into civil partnerships was even greater.

Although there were 22 civil partnerships in 2006 there were only seven last year and just three so far this year.

Civil partnerships were introduced at the end of 2005 and Dundee city registrar Grant Law said there would be a high demand for civil partnership ceremonies in the immediate aftermath of legislation being introduced.

“Once the legislation was introduced there were a lot of couples who had been planning their ceremonies for a couple of years, so we did expect a large demand in the first year,” he said.

“Now people are just planning them annually. We’ve only had three so far this year, but we do have another two booked.”

The number of ceremonies performed in Fife last year dropped by over 50%.

Fife Council also attributed the drop to the fact that 2006 was the first time such partnerships became legal.

A spokesman for Perth and Kinross Council said, “In 2006, Perth and Kinross Registrars registered 28 civil partnerships. In 2007, 14 civil partnerships were registered.

“While we would not want to speculate on the reasons for the reduction in numbers between 2006 and 2007, it could reasonably be anticipated that in 2006 there would be a larger number of couples looking to register their partnerships.”

Despite the national drop, gay couples in Angus appear to be bucking the Scottish trend.

A spokesperson for Angus Council revealed that in 2007 there were eight civil partnerships registered, the same number as in the previous year.