21-604: Aldridge-Brownhills was an urban district in Staffordshire , England from 1966 to 1974. The district was formed in accordance with a recommendation of the Local Government Commission for England on 1 April 1966. It was created by the amalgamation of the Aldridge and Brownhills urban districts, along with part of Lichfield Rural District , and small parts of the county boroughs of Birmingham and Walsall and
42-641: A result of subsequent legislation, all urban and rural areas in Wales are today covered by 870 communities as sub-entities of 22 unitary authorities (or principal areas ). Municipal Corporations Act 1835 The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 ( 5 & 6 Will. 4 . c. 76), sometimes known as the Municipal Reform Act , was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in
63-753: A slightly higher status and the right to appoint a mayor . Urban districts in the outer London area were absorbed into London Boroughs in 1965 as a consequence of the London Government Act 1963 . All remaining urban districts in England and Wales were abolished in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 , and replaced with a uniform system of larger districts – see Districts of England and Districts of Wales – which often covered both urban and rural areas. Many parish councils in England were created for towns previously covered by urban districts and, as
84-598: A uniform system of municipal boroughs , to be governed by town councils elected by ratepayers (termed 'burgesses'). The reformed boroughs were obliged to publish their financial accounts and were liable to audit. Each borough was to appoint a salaried town clerk and treasurer who were not to be members of the council. The Act reformed 178 boroughs. The Burgh Reform Act 1833 had already carried similar reforms in Scotland . Similar legislation would not be introduced in Ireland until
105-441: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Urban district (England and Wales) In England and Wales , an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected urban district council ( UDC ), which shared local government responsibilities with a county council . In England and Wales , urban districts and rural districts were created in 1894 by
126-419: Is felt to be a great grievance. The tendency of this principle is to maintain an exclusive system, to uphold local, political and religious party feelings, and is destructive of that confidence which ought always to be reposed in those who are intrusted with control, judicial or otherwise, over their fellow citizens… The committee are further led to infer that corporations, as now constituted, are not adapted to
147-582: The Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) as subdivisions of administrative counties . A similar model of urban and rural districts was also established in Ireland in 1899, which continued separately in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after 1921. They replaced the earlier system of urban and rural sanitary districts (based on poor law unions ) whose functions were taken over by
168-494: The Local Government Act 1929 saw a net decrease of 159 between 1932 and 1938. In many instances smaller urban districts were merged with their surrounding rural districts, with the result that new districts emerged covering rural as well as urban parishes. At the same time, a number of larger urban districts became municipal boroughs (as already created, in 1835 under the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 ): these had
189-502: The Municipal Reform Act 1840 . There remained more than 100 unreformed boroughs , which generally either fell into desuetude or were replaced later under the terms of the Act. The last of these was not reformed or abolished until 1886. The Act did not extend to the City of London which remains a sui generis authority. Many of the reformed boroughs had their municipal boundaries adjusted to match
210-522: The municipal borough of Sutton Coldfield . The urban district had a short existence, as it was abolished in 1974. In that year the Local Government Act 1972 reorganised local administration throughout England and Wales, and Aldridge-Brownhills became part of the new Metropolitan Borough of Walsall . There is still an Aldridge-Brownhills parliamentary constituency. 52°36′N 1°55′W / 52.60°N 1.92°W / 52.60; -1.92 This West Midlands location article
231-437: The 1894 Act came into force on 31 December 1894 there had been 753 urban districts, of which 692 had previously been local government districts , 30 had been improvement commissioners districts and 31 were places newly given urban powers in 1894. The number of urban districts initially increased after 1894 as more places sought urban powers, but implementation of the recommendations of a series of county reviews as established by
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#1732844216195252-471: The Act. The new corporations had annual elections, with a third of the councillors up for election each year. The council also elected aldermen to serve on the council, with a six-year term. Towns were divided into wards . The act also changed the enrollment of new freemen and burgesses in each of the boroughs, changing the criteria to be solely due to occupancy and payment of rates, and abolishing any previous criteria in earlier borough charters. The Act
273-405: The appointment of a royal commission , and that the country be divided into districts with a commissioner responsible for enquiring into boroughs in each district. The royal commission was appointed by letters patent passed under the great seal . The commission, which was dominated by Radicals , had eighteen members, with two assigned to each district or circuit: The commission's secretary
294-436: The corporations is defective in some case in consequence of the town having been extended beyond the limits of the ancient borough; and in other cases it is objectionable from extending to places that are distant, and more properly falling within the jurisdiction of the county magistrates. The principle which prevails of a small portion of corporators choosing those who are to be associated with them in power, generally for life,
315-526: The district councils. The district councils also had wider powers over local matters such as parks, cemeteries and local planning. An urban district usually contained a single parish , while a rural district might contain many. Urban districts were considered to have more problems with public health than rural areas, and so urban district councils had more funding and greater powers than comparable rural districts. Urban districts normally covered smaller towns, usually with populations of fewer than 30,000. When
336-501: The incorporated boroughs of England and Wales . The legislation was part of the reform programme of the Whigs and followed the Reform Act 1832 , which had abolished most of the rotten boroughs for parliamentary purposes. The government of Lord Grey , having carried out reform of parliamentary constituencies, turned its attention to local government. In February 1833 a select committee
357-522: The parliamentary boundaries which had been reformed three years earlier under the Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832 . The Act allowed unincorporated towns to petition for incorporation. The industrial towns of the Midlands and North quickly took advantage of this, with Birmingham and Manchester becoming boroughs as soon as 1838. Altogether, 62 additional boroughs were incorporated under
378-415: The present state of society… To make corporations instruments of useful and efficient local government, it seems to be essential that the corporate officers should be more popularly chosen…[and] that their proceedings should be open and subject to control of public opinion. The committee did not believe that they had sufficient powers to carry out a full review of the existing system. They instead recommended
399-549: Was Joseph Parkes . The commission issued its report in 1835. Altogether 285 towns had been investigated. The main conclusions of the report were: The commission concluded its report by stating that: ...the existing Municipal Corporations of England and Wales neither possess nor deserve the confidence or respect of Your Majesty's subjects, and that a thorough reform must be elected, before they can become, what we humbly submit to Your Majesty they ought to be, useful and efficient instruments of local government. The Act established
420-530: Was appointed "to inquire into the state of the Municipal Corporations in England, Wales, and Ireland; and to report if any, and what abuses existed in them, and what measures, in their opinion, it would be most expedient to adopt, with a view to the correction of those abuses". The committee made their report in June 1833, having inquired into a handful of boroughs. The committee found that: The jurisdiction of
441-480: Was repealed "subject to the exceptions and qualifications in this Act mentioned" by section 5 of, and Part I of the First Schedule to, the Municipal Corporations Act 1882 . The list shows the style by which the unreformed corporation was known, and the date of its governing charter. In most cases this was the last in a succession of charters granted by a number of monarchs. In a few cases boroughs had no charter, or
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