The districts of England are a level of subnational division of England used for
the purposes of local government. As the structure of local government in England
is not uniform, there are currently four principal types of district-level
subdivision. There are a total of 326 districts made up of 36 metropolitan
boroughs, 32 London boroughs, 201 non-metropolitan districts, 55 unitary
authorities, as well as the City of London and the Isles of Scilly which are
also districts, but do not correspond to any of these categories. Some districts
are styled as boroughs, cities, or royal boroughs; these are purely honorific
titles, and do not alter the status of the district. All boroughs and cities,
and a few districts, are led by a mayor who in most cases is a ceremonial figure
elected by the district council, but – after local government reform – is
occasionally a directly elected mayor who makes most of the policy decisions
instead of the council. History
Prior to the establishment of districts in the 1890s, the basic unit of local
government in England was the parish overseen by the parish church vestry
committee. Vestries dealt with the administraction of both parochial and
secular governmental matters. Parishes were the successors of the manorial
system and historically had been grouped into hundreds. Hundreds once exercised
some supervising administrative function. However, these powers ebbed
away as more and more civic and judicial powers were centred English county
towns. From 1834 these parishes were grouped into Poor Law Unions, creating
areas for administration of the Poor Law. These areas were later used for
census registration and as the basis for sanitary provision. In 1894, based on
these earlier subdivisions, the Local Government Act 1894 created urban
districts and rural districts as sub-divisions of administrative
counties, which had been created in 1889. Another reform in 1900 created 28
metropolitan boroughs as sub-divisions of the County of London. Meanwhile, from
this date parish-level local government administraction was transferred to civil
parishes. The setting-down of the current
structure of districts in England began in 1965, when Greater London and its 32
London boroughs were created. They are the oldest type of district still in
use. In 1974, metropolitan counties and non-metropolitan counties were created
across the rest of England and were split into metropolitan districts and
non-metropolitan districts. The status of the London boroughs and metropolitan
districts changed in 1986, when they absorbed the functions and some of the
powers of the metropolitan county councils and the Greater London Council
which were abolished. In London power is now shared again, albeit on a different
basis, with the Greater London Authority.
During the 1990s a further kind of district was created, the unitary
authority, which combined the functions and status of county and district.
Metropolitan boroughs Metropolitan boroughs are a subdivision
of a metropolitan county. These are similar to unitary authorities, as the
metropolitan county councils were abolished in 1986. Most of the powers of
the county councils were devolved to the districts but some services are run by
joint boards and organisations. The districts typically have populations of
174,000 to 1.1 million. Non-metropolitan district
Non-metropolitan districts are second-tier authorities, which share
power with county councils. They are subdivisions of shire counties and the
most common type of district. These districts typically have populations of
25,000 to 200,000. In this two-tier system, county councils
are responsible for some local services, such as education, social services, and
roads, whilst district councils run other services, such as waste
collection, local planning, and council housing.
The number of non-metropolitan districts has varied over time. Initially there
were 296; after the creation of unitary authorities in the 1990s and late 2000s,
their numbers were reduced to 201. Unitary authorities
These are single-tier districts which are responsible for running all local
services in their areas, combining both county and district functions. They were
created in the mid-1990s out of non-metropolitan districts, and often
cover large towns and cities as this is deemed to be more efficient than a
two-tier structure. In addition, some of the smaller counties such as Rutland,
Herefordshire and the Isle of Wight are unitary authorities. There are a total
of 55 unitary authorities, including 9 introduced in 2009.
Unitary authorities are actually a slightly modified type of
non-metropolitan district; most are established as individual counties
containing a single district, with a district council but no county council.
Berkshire is unusual, being a non-metropolitan county with no county
council and six unitary authority districts. Cornwall, Durham, the Isle of
Wight, Northumberland, Shropshire and Wiltshire were established as counties
with a single district, but have non-metropolitan county councils with no
district council. In practice, these function in the same way as other
unitary authorities. London boroughs
The London boroughs are sub-divisions of Greater London. They 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.
When the GLC was abolished in 1986 they gained similar status to the unitary
authorities. In 2000 the Greater London Authority was established and a two-tier
structure was restored, albeit with a change to the balance of powers and
responsibilities. Map
See also List of English districts
List of English districts by population List of articles about local government
in the United Kingdom References