Administrative counties of England
The division into counties is one of the larger divisions of England. Counties are usually divided into several districts, each with its own separate administration (districts may be called Boroughs in some cases).
Some counties consist of only one district, and these are called unitary authorities.
Note: some traditionalists claim the term 'county' unadorned means the historic counties (which matched the administrative counties in about 1200). For the purposes of this article, and in every day usage (including that of the government), it does not.
There are 34 counties that have separate county and district councils:
Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cornwall, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Durham, East Sussex, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Sussex, Wiltshire, Worcestershire
Additionally, there is one administrative county that has had its county council abolished: Berkshire.
The metropolitan counties were created in 1974, except for Greater London, which was created in 1965.
They area Greater London, Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands and West Yorkshire.
The county councils of these were abolished in 1986 by the Thatcher government for largely political rather than practical reasons, but they still exist legally. They are used for some administrative and geographic purposes, and are still ceremonial counties also. Most of the powers that they used to have have devolved to their metropolitan boroughs, which are now in effect unitary authorities, however some functions such as emergency services, civil defence, and public transport are still run jointly on a metropolitan county wide basis.
Greater London now has the Greater London Authority, but as a region not a metropolitan county.
Bath and North East Somerset, Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Brighton and Hove, Bristol, Derby, Darlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, Halton, Hartlepool, Herefordshire, Isle of Wight, Kingston upon Hull, Leicester, Luton, Medway Towns, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, North Somerset, Nottingham, Peterborough, Plymouth, Poole, Portsmouth, Redcar and Cleveland, Rutland, Southampton, Southend-on-Sea, South Gloucestershire, Stockton-on-Tees, Stoke-on-Trent, Swindon, Telford and Wrekin, Thurrock, Torbay, Warrington, York
The districts of Berkshire are unitary authorities, but not granted county status.
The Isles of Scilly are not part of Cornwall for administrative purposes, but neither do they constitute a county.
See Subdivisions of England for the full list of unitary authorities.
Amendations to this original set started almost at once with towns being made counties in their own right.
In 1888 the government, led by the Tory Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil decided to reaffirm the urban counties, calling them county boroughs and created lots more of them. Additionally it created a County of London which covered the area today known as Inner London.
The shire counties were two-tier, with various divisions under them, called Urban Districts, Rural Districts and Municipal Boroughs.
List
Shire counties
Metropolitan Counties
Unitary Authorities
These are counties with only one district and no county council. Of these there are 40.Brief History
Administrative counties (though not under that name) were established in England in the late 13th century, and they were used for various local government purposes.1888 : County Councils
Throughout the next century, debates took place about what should be done about local government in respect of the increasing urbanisation of the country. Proposals to expand or change county boroughs or to create larger urban counties were discussed, but nothing happened until 1965. Harold Wilson's government implemented a minor reform. The County of London was expanded and renamed Greater London, and consumed nearly all of Middlesex - the remaining parts being ceded to Surrey and Hertfordshire. Some other changes took place, such as the Soke of Peterborough and Huntingdonshire being merged into Peterborough and Huntingdonshire, and the merger of the original Cambridgeshire county council and the Isle of Ely County Council.
There was a major reform of local government in 1974.
1974 : Metropolitan counties
In 1972, the Local Government Act was passed by Edward Heath's government to reform the counties, making them into two-tier systems of county and district. This actually repealed the 1888 Act, which created the 'administrative counties', and their replacements were called simply 'counties'.
The Act abolished county boroughs and mostly gave them back to their original counties. It created several new counties - the metropolitan ones, Greater Manchester, West Midlands, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Merseyside and Tyne and Wear - and others - Avon, Humberside and Cleveland, focused on the old county boroughs of Bristol, Kingston-upon-Hull, and Teesside.
The smallest county, Rutland was merged into Leicestershire as a district. Herefordshire and Worcestershire were merged into Hereford and Worcester. The new county of Cumbria was formed from Westmorland, Cumberland and part of Lancashire. Other boundary adjustments took place, including the cession of the Vale of White Horse from Berkshire to Oxfordshire, Bournemouth from Hampshire to Dorset and the annexation of Peterborough and Huntingdonshire by Cambridgeshire.
At this time the ceremonial counties were also reformed and matched to the administrative counties.
In 1986 the county councils of the metropolitan counties were abolished by Margaret Thatcher's government following disputes with central government, but the counties themselves remained legally in existence.
The 1990s led to the restoration of county boroughs under a new name, unitary authorities, which radically changed the administrative map of England. The changes were carried out in several waves.
On April 1, 1995, the Isle of Wight became a single unitary authority. It had previously had a two-tier structure with an Isle of Wight County Council; and a Medina Borough Council and a South Wight Borough Council.
On April 1, 1996, the unpopular counties of Avon, Humberside and Cleveland were abolished and their districts turned into unitary authorities. Also at this time, the City of York was expanded and separated from North Yorkshire.
On April 1, 1997, the districts of Bournemouth, Darlington, Derby, Leicester, Luton, Milton Keynes, Poole, Portsmouth, Rutland and Southampton became unitary authorities. Also, the districts of Brighton and Hove were merged to form the new unitary authority of Brighton and Hove.
On April 1, 1998, Blackpool, Blackburn with Darwen, Halton, Medway Towns, Nottingham, Peterborough, Plymouth, Swindon, Stoke-on-Trent, Southend-on-Sea, Telford and Wrekin, Torbay, Thurrock and Warrington became unitary authorities. Also, Hereford and Worcester was abolished and replaced by the unitary authority of Herefordshire and the shire county of Worcestershire. Berkshire was split into six unitary authorities.
The Local Government Commission's original report recommended Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire to be broken up as well, and retaining the status quo in most counties.
The government then referred the case of various districts to the Commission for reconsideration. These included Halton, Blackburn, Medway, Warrington.
The cases for Basildon, Broxtowe, Dartford, Exeter, Gedling, Gloucester, Gravesham, Huntingdonshire, Northampton, Norwich, Rushcliffe, and Spelthorne were rejected.
The incoming Labour government under the leadership of Tony Blair had made it a campaign pledge to establish some form of local government for all London, whilst being keen to stress that it was not going to be a resurrection of the Greater London Council. The Greater London Authority has an elected Mayor and an Assembly with scrutinizing powers.
The boundary committee is currently undertaking a review of what should happen - in Yorkshire and the Humber, North-East England and North West England - to the remaining two-tier counties (Cheshire, Cumbria, Durham, Lancashire, North Yorkshire, and Northumberland), if
regional assemblies are introduced. [1]
It published a draft recommendation in 2003, which suggests several possible options for each region. The options generally consist of one unitary authority for the entire county, and division into two of three. It is recommended that ceremonial counties be left untouched.
Suggestions include a South Cumbria and Lancaster unitary authority (possibly to be named Morecambe Bay), and if North Yorkshire is split, then Selby is expected to be annexed to the East Riding of Yorkshire, and the North Riding of Yorkshire may make a reappearance as an administrative county. Also Blackpool might expand. Any expansion of the metropolitan counties to cover more of their urban area is likely to be minimal.
These reforms will only be implemented in a region if the referendum to establish a regional assembly is positive, and the referendum will also allow voters to decide which of the recommendations they wish to see implemented.
There may also be another round of creation of unitary authorities in the rest of England at some point, which might include places like Oxford (formerly a county borough), Huntingdonshire, and Spelthorne, the rump part of Middlesex which has been a reluctant part of Surrey since 1965.
1986 : Break-up of Metropolises
1996-1998 : Unitary Authorities
''April 1, 1996 to April 1, 1997
''April 1, 1997 to April 1, 1998
''April 1, 1998 onwards
2000 : London
The future
See also
External Link