Districts of England

The Districts of England are the lowest level of local government in England except for civil parishes. England is first divided into governmental regions, then administrative counties. Counties are then subdivided into districts.

Status

Most districts can be categorised as London boroughs, metropolitan districts and non-metropolitan districts. Non-metropolitan districts can be further subdivided into shire districts and unitary authorities.

Districts can have the honorific titles of borough, city, or royal borough; these are shown.

Where a county and district are coterminous, or where a non-metropolitan county council has been abolished; the districts are marked as Unitary. Where the council for a district is styled 'County Council', the district is marked as a county, although this can be held to be inaccurate.

There are in total 36 metropolitan districts, 32 London boroughs, 284 non-metropolitan districts (if the Isle of Wight is counted as a district), the Isles of Scilly, and the City of London, making a total of 354 district-level authorities.

The number of non-metropolitan districts has varied over time. Initially there were 296. This fell due to mergers in the 1990s.

Types

This is a brief description of the different types of district:

Non-metropolitan district

These are a subdivision of a shire county (ie non metropolitan county) and are the most common type of district. In the shire counties a two-tier system of government exists, with both county and district councils responsible for different functions:

The county councils are responsible for: Education, transport, the fire service, consumer protection, waste disposal, social services, libraries and strategic planning.

The district councils are responsible for: local planning, local highways, housing, environmental health, markets and fairs, refuse collection , cemeteries and crematoria, leisure services, parks and tourism.

Unitary authorities

see unitary authority

These are districts which are a single tier of government, and are responsible for running all services in their areas. Many large towns and cities are administered as UA's as this is deemed to be more efficient than a two-tier structure. In addition in some small English counties such as Rutland and Herefordshire, the county council is a unitary authority, and has no districts.

Metropolitan district/borough

see metropolitan district

Metropolitan districts (or metropolitan boroughs) are a type of sub division of a metropolitan county. These are effectively the same thing as the unitary authorities, as the metropolitan county councils were abolished in 1986, with most of their powers devolved to the districts. Although they run some services jointly with other metropolitan districts within their counties.

London boroughs

see London Borough

These are sub-divisions of Greater London. These were established in 1965. Between 1965 and 1986 a two-tier structure of government existed in Greater London, and the boroughs shared power with the Greater London Council (GLC), however when the GLC was abolished in 1986 they became effectively unitary authorities.

However in 2000 a new Greater London Authority was established , and the two-tier structure was restored.

List A-D

List E-K

List L-R

List S-Z

Former districts

The current pattern of districts was introduced in 1974 throughout England and Wales, replacing an older system of urban districts, rural districts and county boroughs.

In England, several changes have taken place, but only within the framework created then. However in Wales the Welsh districts have been replaced entirely with new unitary counties and county boroughs of Wales.

Former English districts are as follows

Most these districts were merged to form unitary authorities, which are indicated in the right.

The exceptions were Malvern Hills and Leominster, which were both split between the new district of Herefordshire and a new district of Malvern Hills.

New districts

Districts created post-1974 are

Renamings

Under section 74 of the Local Government Act 1972, the council of a district, county or London borough (or county borough in Wales) may unilaterally change its name, providing the resolution to do so gains two-thirds of the votes at a special meeting.

Several English districts have done this

Additionally, one English county has been renamed. Shropshire was originally formally known as 'Salop'. Its name was changed effective April 1, 1980.

Trivia

• Only one district (Cambridge) is entirely surrounded by another (South Cambridgeshire). There used to be two others - Bath was entirely surrounded by Wansdyke, and Hereford by South Herefordshire.
• Only one district, Stockton-on-Tees is split for ceremonial purposes
• Several non-unitary districts are comparable in size to counties. For example, Tynedale is larger than Nottinghamshire.

See also