The History and Structure of Local Government in United Kingdom Sorbon Khalilov Mohammadreza Mazloumbilandi                                                  December 2017

Agenda 1. Structures 2. History 3. Literatures 1.1 Local Government Structures in 1.2 Functions of local government 1.3 Elections to local government 2. History 3. Literatures

1. Structure 1.1 Local Government Structures English local government: – county councils (the upper tier) – district (the lower tier) 2 tier County councils 27 District councils 201 Single tier Unitary authorities 55 Metropolitan districts 36 London boroughs 32 City of London 1 Isles of Scilly Total 353 In total there are 353 local authorities in England made up of 5 different types: county councils district councils unitary authorities metropolitan districts London boroughs

Wales has 22 unitary authorities ( also known as county councils or county borough councils) Scotland has 32 unitary authorities. Both Wales and Scotland contain “community councils” (roughly equivalent to parish and town councils in England) As of 2014, Northern Ireland has 11 “district councils”, but does not have an equivalent to parish and town councils –has never had

Unitary authorities They provide all local government services in their areas. These are mainly in the cities, urban areas and larger towns although there are now 6 shire county councils that are unitary (i.e have no district councils beneath them). London boroughs They provide nearly all the services in their area. However, the Greater London Authority (GLA) provides London-wide government, including special responsibility for police, fire, strategic planning and transport. County councils Providing services such as education, social services and waste disposal.

Metropolitan districts The counties of Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands, and West Yorkshire. Metropolitan districts are responsible for all services in their area, although certain conurbation wide services such as fire and civil defence, police, waste disposal and passenger transport are provided through joint authorities (the districts acting jointly). District councils In 2-tier areas, each county council area is subdivided into districts, for which there is an independent district council. There are 201 district councils. District councils are responsible for local services such as rubbish collection, housing and planning applications.

Parishes and Parish councils A very ancient unit of territorial administration, correspond in the past to the area served by one church. The power of parishes is limited to social issues, sport, culture, some local parks and social services. Their functions were defined in 1965 by the Royal Commision on Local government . Since 2011. the Cameron government, has given greater freedom of action to parishes, for reducing the role and cost of local government In many case Parish councils are largely run unpaid volunteers

1.2 Functions of Local Government Tier Arts and recreation County/ District Births, deaths, marriage registration C Building regulations D Children's services Burials and cremations Coastal protection Community safety Concessionary travel Consumer protection Council tax and business rates Economic development C / D Education, including special educational needs, adult education, pre-school Function Tier Elections and electoral registration D Waste collection and recycling Environmental health Housing Sports centers, parks, playing fields Street cleaning Libraries C Public health Waste disposal Trading standards Social services, elderly care and community Tourism C / D

1.3 Elections to Local Governments Local authorities in Scotland and Northern Ireland use the Single Transferable Vote with multi- member words. In England and Wales – the First Past the Post electoral system The 3 methods of holding elections to local councils in England are: By whole council ( all of the councilors are elected every 4 years) By halves (half of the councillors are elected every 2 years) By thirds (a third of the councilors are elected every year for 3 years, with no elections in the 4year) An electoral area (ward or division) may be represented by 1,2,3 councils

2. History ENGLAND Pre-1972 Elected county councils were established in by the Local Government Act 1888, and district councils by the Local Government Act 1894. A number of larger towns and cities were permitted to opt out from county government under the 1888 Act: these became ‘county boroughs’. The 1888 Act included criteria through which authorities could apply for county borough status in the future. The 1972-74 reforms The Local Government Act 1972 reorganized the whole of England (except London) into a two-tier structure, with 45 county councils as upper-tier authorities and 332 district councils as the lower tier. Six of the counties, and 36 of the districts, were ‘metropolitan counties’ and ‘metropolitan boroughs’ respectively On 1 April 1974, with a reorganization, , England had 46 county councils, 79 county boroughs, 32 London boroughs, 449 urban districts, 227 metropolitan boroughs, and 410 rural districts. The 1992 reforms The Local Government Act 1992 established a commission which recommended that many counties should be switched to completely unitary systems; some cities become unitary authorities, but the remainder of their parent counties remain two-tier; and that the status quo should remain in some counties.

Scotland Local Government (Scotland) Act 1947 created a whole new set of administrative areas called 'counties', 'counties of cities', 'large burghs' and 'small burghs'. The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 swept away the counties, burghs and districts established by Act 1947 and replaced them with a uniform two-tier system of regional and district councils except in islands. The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1994 created the current local government structure of 32 unitary authorities covering the whole of Scotland and abolished the two-tier structure of regions and districts created by the Act of 1973. The Act came into effect on April 1st 1995. Wales From 1889 to 1974, counties made up of administrative counties and county boroughs were used for local government purposes. The counties were created by the Local Government Act 1888

Northern Ireland The current pattern of 11 local government districts was established on 1 April 2015, as a result of the reform process that started in 2005. The previous pattern of local government in Northern Ireland, with 26 councils, was established in 1973 by the Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 and the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 to replace the previous system established by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898. From 1921 to 1973, Northern Ireland was divided into six administrative counties (subdivided into urban and rural districts) and two county boroughs.

1986 Abolition of the six metropolitan county councils and the Greater London Council, passing some of their functions to joint boards and some to borough councils in their areas 1994 Replacement of two-tier structure in Scotland and Wales with 32 and 22 unitary authorities respectively 1996-98 Creation of 46 new unitary authorities across England 2003-04 Proposals for unitary authorities in the North-East, Yorkshire & Humber and North-West regions, accompanying plans to introduce elected regional assemblies in the North of England. Neither plan succeeded. 2007-09 Creation of nine new unitary authorities across England, in an application-based process 2014-15 Merger of 26 district councils into 11 larger district councils in Northern Ireland. Proposals for the merger of 22 unitary authorities in Wales into 10-12 larger unitary authorities

3. Literature Sandford Marek (2017), Local government in England: structures, House of common library Geoffrey Hlkin and Crispin Moor (1997), Reflections on the local government review https://www.gov.uk/ https://warwick.ac.uk http://www.parliament.uk/commons-library https://www.britannica.com/place/England http://www.legislation.gov.uk https://about-britain.com http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk

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