Subdivisions of England

Subdivisions of England

For local government purposes, England is divided into three types of areas - non-unitary authorities, unitary authorities, and London boroughs.

Non-unitary authorities are administrative counties with a two-tier structure, consisting of a county council and a number of district councils. The two levels have different sets of responsibilities; for example, education is administered at the county level, local planning at the district level.

Unitary authorities are single-tier authorities, combining the functions of county and district councils. They are defined either as administrative counties consisting of a single district, or districts of a county (such as Berkshire or the metropolitan counties) that has no county council. The Isle of Wight is the exception, being a county council with no districts. The council of a unitary authority is referred to as a "district council", "borough council", "county council", "city council", "metropolitan borough council" or "council", depending upon various factors.

In Greater London, the 32 London borough councils have a similar status to the unitary authorities, although the Greater London Authority exists to coordinate their activities across the county.

England is also divided into governmental regions: Greater London, South East England, South West England, East of England, East Midlands, West Midlands, North West England, Yorkshire and the Humber and North East England.

This is a list of top-level councils. It is ordered according to legal definition: counties with county and district councils; the three types of unitary authorities: counties with a single council, metropolitan districts and non-metropolitan districts; and London boroughs.

Table of contents

1 Administrative counties with County and District Councils
2 Unitary Authorities

2.1 Administrative counties
2.2 Metropolitan districts
2.3 Non-metropolitan districts

3 London Boroughs
4 References
5 See also

Administrative counties with County and District Councils

Unitary Authorities

Main article: Unitary Authority

Administrative counties

These are defined as legal counties with a county council and no districts.

Isle of Wight

These are defined as legal counties with one district and no county council.

Metropolitan districts

These are defined as districts of a metropolitan county, which has had its county council abolished.

Non-metropolitan districts

These are districts of a non-metropolitan county (Berkshire) which has had its county council abolished.

London Boroughs

Main article: London Boroughs

References

CIA World Fact Book 2002 (Note however data used in the CIA's article on Great Britain is older than the publication date, updated information is recorded here)