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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. 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 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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 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 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.

11. 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 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 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

12. 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 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 From 1921 to 1973, Northern Ireland was divided into six administrative counties (subdivided into urban and rural districts) and two county boroughs.

13. 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
Creation of 46 new unitary authorities across England
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.
Creation of nine new unitary authorities across England, in an application-based process
Merger of 26 district councils into 11 larger district councils in Northern Ireland. Proposals for the merger of 22 unitary authorities in Wales into larger unitary authorities

14. 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

15. THANK YOU