Local government structure

Local Government Structure

Local government in England operates under either a one tier system - unitary
authorities, or a two tier system - county and district councils.

There are five types of local authority in England: county councils, district councils,
unitary authorities, metropolitan districts and London boroughs.

County councils
County councils cover the whole of the county and provide the majority of public
services in their particular area.
County councils are responsible for: education, highways, transport planning,
passenger transport, social care, libraries, waste disposal and strategic planning.

District councils
Each county is divided into several districts. District councils, which may also be called
borough councils or city councils if the district has borough or city status, cover a much
smaller area and provide more local services.
District Councils are responsible for housing, leisure and recreation, environmental
health, waste collection, planning applications and local taxation collections.

Unitary authorities
Many large towns and cities and some small counties are unitary authorities; i.e. they
have only one tier of local government. Unitary authorities can be city councils, borough
councils, county councils, or district councils.
Unitary authorities are responsible for: education, highways, transport planning,
passenger transport, social care, housing, libraries, leisure and recreation,
environmental health, waste collection, waste disposal, planning applications, strategic
planning and local taxation collection.

Metropolitan districts
Metropolitan districts are unitary authorities; they can be called metropolitan district
councils, metropolitan borough councils or metropolitan city councils.
Metropolitan districts are responsible for: education, highways, transport planning,
passenger transport, social care, housing, libraries, leisure and recreation,
environmental health, waste collection, waste disposal, planning applications, strategic
planning and local taxation collection.

London boroughs
Each London borough is a unitary authority. However, the Greater London Authority
(GLA) provides London-wide government and shares responsibility for certain services.
London boroughs are responsible for: education, highways, transport planning, social
care, housing, libraries, leisure and recreation, environmental health, waste collection,

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waste disposal, planning applications, strategic planning, local taxation collection.
The GLA is responsible for highways, transport planning, passenger transport and
strategic planning.

Town and parish councils

Some parts of England have a third tier of local government. Town and parish councils
are responsible for smaller local services such as parks, community centres, allotments
and war memorials.

In both Wales and Scotland there is a single tier system of local government providing
all local government services. In Northern Ireland there are elected local borough, city
and district councils which provide services such as waste disposal, street cleaning and
recreation; however the majority of services are the responsibility of other organisations.

Background

Local government in England has been the subject of a constant re-structuring process
over several centuries and continues to be so.

Although various forms of local government existed in Saxon and Medieval times, the
kind of local government in existence today really began to evolve in the 19th century.
The Local Government Act 1888 provided for the creation of 66 county councils and a
London County Council. These county councils were to be run by elected councillors
and comprise a chairman, aldermen and councillors.

The Act transferred from the Quarter Sessions (local courts) to the county councils the
administrative and financial business of their counties. This included maintenance of
roads, bridges and county buildings, assessment and levying of rates, appointment,
dismissal and setting of salaries of county officers and the organisation of parliamentary
elections. The Act also allowed county boroughs to be created: large boroughs with a
population in excess of 50,000 could become an administrative county.

The Local Government Act 1894 provided for elected parish councils to be established
in rural areas and for the creation of urban district councils and rural district councils
with elected councillors. Much of the legislation of the 1888 and 1894 Acts was
subsequently consolidated under the Local Government Act of 1933.

London saw a major structural change to local government in the 1960s. The County of
London and the London County Council were abolished and the new area of Greater
London was created from the County of London and sections of other surrounding
counties. The Greater London Council (GLC) became the local government
administrative body for this area together with the 32 newly created London boroughs.

By the latter half of the 20th century local government in England had developed into an
intensely complex system in desperate need of simplification and reform. Consequently

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a radical overhaul was undertaken with plans for a simple country-wide two tier system
outlined in the Local Government Act 1972.

Under these changes, which came into effect in April 1974, all existing local government
areas, with the exception of Greater London and the Isles of Scilly, were abolished; that
included all administrative counties, county boroughs, urban districts, rural districts,
urban parishes and municipal boroughs. In their place new metropolitan and non-
metropolitan counties were created and these counties were in turn divided into
districts. Each county was administered by a County Council and each district by a
District Council.

In 1986 changes were made once again to London local government. The Greater
London Council was abolished together with the six metropolitan counties, effectively
leaving the London boroughs as single tier administrations. Then in 2000 the Greater
London Authority was created to provide a directly elected strategic administration for
the whole of Greater London. The GLA shares responsibility for some local government
services with the 32 London boroughs and the City of London Corporation.

In the rest of the country, despite hopes that the radical reforms of 1974 had at last
created a simple, uniform system of local government, less than 20 years later these
reforms were being questioned and yet again further changes were called for. A review
carried out by the Local Government Commission for England, established in 1992,
recommended that some counties should retain their two-tier structure, but that others
should change to one-tier unitary authorities (UAs). Subsequently several UAs were
created in 25 counties between 1995 and 1998.

In 2009, further local government re-organisation saw 10 new unitary authorities

created; however, following the election of the Coalition government in May 2010, plans
to create two new UAs in Exeter and Suffolk were revoked by Parliament in 2011.

Controversies

Plans by the previous Labour government to devolve more power to the regions by
creating eight regional assemblies in England attracted much controversy. A
referendum held in November 2004 on a proposed assembly for the North East resulted
in a resounding 'no' vote and consequently the plans were dropped.

The Coalition government elected in May 2010 introduced the Local Government Act
which revoked the orders that created unitary councils for the cities of Exeter and
Norwich - a move which was strongly criticised by the Labour opposition. The Act also
prevents the implementation of further unitary proposals.

The new government also pledged to promote decentralisation, saying it believed

central government had become "too big, too interfering, too controlling and too
bureaucratic." The Localism Act passed in November 2011 contains a number of

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measures designed to strengthen the role of local government.

Statistics

There are 353 councils in England.

Two tier: 27 county councils (not including Isle of Wight unitary); 201 district councils
Single tier: 33 London boroughs (including City of London); 36 metropolitan districts; 55
unitaries (including all county unitary authorities); 1 Isles of Scilly

Source: Department for Communities and Local Government – 2012

More than two million people are employed by local authorities. These include school
teachers, social services, the police, firefighters and many other office and manual
workers. Education is the largest locally provided service.

Source: Directgov - 2012

Quotes

"Localism, localism, localism"

"The Government is overseeing a fundamental shift of power away from Westminster to

councils, communities and homes across the nation. A radical localist vision is turning
Whitehall on its head by decentralising central government and giving power to the
people."

Department for Communities and Local Government - 2012