Misplaced Pages

#583416

48-465: On 1 April 2023, the county council and 6 district councils were abolished. In their place two new councils were created, with local government functions transferred to the two new unitary authorities : Cumberland Council and Westmorland and Furness Council. Carlisle Archive Centre was officially opened in 1962, although archives had been collected before that date and archive staff had been appointed from c.1944 onwards. For many years, it operated from

96-526: A non-metropolitan district council, which elsewhere in England provide two tiers of local government. Unitary authorities are constituted under the Local Government Act 1992 , which amended the Local Government Act 1972 to allow the existence of non-metropolitan counties that do not have multiple districts. Most were established during the 1990s , with more created in 2009 and 2019–23 . The size of

144-452: A county council. It thus is not a unitary authority as those are such authorities created under the Local Government Act 1992 . The 36 metropolitan borough councils are also the sole elected local government units in their areas (except for parish councils in a few locations), but share strategic functions with joint boards and arrangements. On the other hand, the City of London Corporation and

192-448: A high degree of autonomy as counties corporate . Some smaller settlements also enjoyed some degree of autonomy from regular administration as boroughs or liberties . The Local Government Act 1972 created areas for local government where large towns and their rural hinterlands were administered together. The concept of unitary units was abandoned with a two-tier arrangement of county and district councils in all areas of England, except

240-446: A higher level of sub-national government or the national government. Typically unitary authorities cover towns or cities which are large enough to function independently of a council or other authority. An authority can be a unit of a county or combined authority . In Canada, each province creates its own system of local government, so terminology varies substantially. In certain provinces (e.g. Alberta , Nova Scotia ) there

288-524: A number of multiple member wards from which councillors are elected in the same way as in two-tier district council elections. The exceptions, which are divided into electoral divisions as in county council elections, are Cornwall, County Durham, the Isle of Wight, Northumberland, Shropshire and Wiltshire. Districts are usually named after a town, city, geographical area or county (historic and or ceremonial). With no effect on powers or functions, districts can have

336-631: A single tier of local government with some functions shared between groups of adjacent authorities. A single-tier system has existed in Northern Ireland since 1973. For many years the description of the number of tiers in UK local government arrangements has routinely ignored any current or previous bodies at the lowest level of authorities elected by the voters within their area such as parish (in England and Wales) or community councils; such bodies do not exist or have not existed in all areas. Northern Ireland

384-490: A structure based on unitary authorities is called 'restructuring'. The Secretary of State responsible for local government invites proposals from local areas to restructure into unitary authorities, and the Secretary decides whether or not the change should be implemented. The restructuring is carried out by an Order. There are no examples in the UK of councils restructuring back into a two-tier system. Unitary authorities combine

432-683: Is only one level of local government in that province, so no special term is used to describe the situation. British Columbia has only one such municipality, Northern Rockies Regional Municipality , which was established in 2009. In Ontario the term single-tier municipalities is used, for a similar concept. Their character varies, and while most function as cities with no upper level of government, some function as counties or regional municipalities with no lower municipal subdivisions below them. They exist as individual census divisions , as well as separated municipalities . In Germany, kreisfreie Stadt ( lit.   ' circle-free city ' )

480-559: Is a territorial collectivity, with legal personality and fiscal autonomy. In New Zealand , a unitary authority is a territorial authority (district, city or metropolitan area) that also performs the functions of a regional council (first-level division). There are five unitary authorities, they are (with the year they were constituted): Gisborne District Council (1989), Tasman District Council (1992), Nelson City Council (1992), Marlborough District Council (1992), and Auckland Council (2010). The Chatham Islands , located east of

528-603: Is divided into eleven districts for local government purposes. In Northern Ireland local councils have no responsibility for education, road building or housing (though they do nominate members to the advisory Northern Ireland Housing Council ). Their functions include waste and recycling services , leisure and community services, building control and local economic and cultural development. Since their reorganisation in 2015 councils in Northern Ireland have also taken on responsibility for planning functions. The collection of rates

SECTION 10

#1732863080584

576-534: Is handled by the Land and Property Services agency. Local authorities in Scotland are unitary in nature but not in name. The Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 created a single tier of local government throughout Scotland. On 1 April 1996, 32 local government areas, each with a council , replaced the previous two-tier structure , which had regional, islands and district councils. Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (formerly

624-651: Is not subdivided into cantons , but its 20 districts are considered equivalent. The department councils of the two departments of Corsica and of the region merged into a unitary authority, officially a collectivité territoriale . Its area of competence covers the whole administrative region and the two administrative departments (which were kept at state level with their two prefectures and their respective subprefectures for state-managed services). The overseas departements and regions were all proposed to merge their single departmental council ( conseil départemental ) coexisting with their regional council ( conseil régional ) on

672-733: Is the equivalent term for a city with the competences of both the Gemeinde (municipality) and the Kreis (district, literally circle ) administrative level. The directly elected chief executive officer of a kreisfreie Stadt is called Oberbürgermeister (literally Superior Burgomaster , in English "Chief Mayor" or "Lord Mayor"). The British counties have no directly corresponding counterpart in Germany. This German system corresponds to statutory cities in Austria and in

720-489: The 2024 general election , and in her Autumn budget statement , Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves outlined that a forthcoming English Devolution Bill would include plans for "working with councils to move to simpler structures that make sense for their local areas", suggesting that a new round of local government reorganisation could be likely. The process of changing from a two-tier local government to

768-454: The Bishop of Carlisle . A specialist unit for the conservation and repair of records operates from within the archive centre at Petteril Bank House, Carlisle. Unitary authorities of England The unitary authorities of England are a type of local authority responsible for all local government services in an area. They combine the functions of a non-metropolitan county council and

816-601: The Council of the Isles of Scilly or any other single-tier authority formed under the older legislation and not since given the status of a unitary authority. This is distinct from the two-tier system of local government which still exists in most of England, where local government functions are divided between county councils (the upper tier) and district or borough councils. Until 1996 two-tier systems existed in Scotland and Wales , but these have now been replaced by systems based on

864-630: The Isles of Scilly where the small size and distance from the mainland made it impractical. In 1986 a broadly unitary system of local government was introduced in the six metropolitan counties and Greater London , where the upper-tier authorities were abolished and their functions were split between central government, the borough councils and joint boards. A review in the 1990s was initiated to select non-metropolitan areas where new unitary authorities could be created. The resulting structural changes were implemented between 1995 and 1998. Bristol, Herefordshire,

912-511: The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 as " principal councils ", and their areas as principal areas . Various other legislation (e.g. s.91(1) Environment Act 1995 ) includes the counties and county boroughs of Wales within their individual interpretations of the phrase "unitary authority" as an interpretive not a definitive description. In s.2 of the Act each council formed for a county is allocated

960-751: The South Island , have a council with its own special legislation, constituted (1995) with powers similar to those of a regional authority. In Poland , a miasto na prawach powiatu , or shortly powiat grodzki ( city with powiat rights , or urban county in short) is a, typically big, city which is also responsible for district (poviat) administrative level, being part of no other powiat (e.g. Kraków , Łódź , Wrocław , Poznań ). In total, 65 cities in Poland have this status. Most cities in Taiwan , in contrast to counties , have only one tier of local government. Unlike

1008-415: The 'bigger is better' assumption and highlight that larger councils breed mistrust of councillors and reduction in public engagement and voter turnout. Outside the UK, multi-level local government is the prevailing system, with major towns normally having a local authority. The average size of a local authority in England is 170,000, three times that of Europe. Most unitary authority areas are divided into

SECTION 20

#1732863080584

1056-509: The 32 London borough councils, although they have a high degree of autonomy, share strategic functions with the directly elected Mayor of London and London Assembly . Unitary authorities should not be confused with another formation in English local government, the combined authority . Unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by

1104-598: The Alma Block within the grounds of Carlisle Castle . It moved to newly converted premises at Petteril Bank House, on the south side of the city and about two miles from its centre, in 2011. Important collections include family and estate records of the Earls of Lonsdale from the 12th-20th centuries. The staff provide administrative assistance for the Egremont Estate Office at Cockermouth Castle . Kendal Archive Centre

1152-698: The Czech Republic . Until 1 January 2007, the municipalities of Copenhagen , Frederiksberg and Bornholm were not a part of a Danish county . The city of Paris works like a department council and a municipal council. Administratively at state level, it is both a department with a single departmental arrondissement (not to be confused with the 20 city districts of Paris, or arrondissements municipaux , which are local subdivisions existing in very populated municipalities, including Paris, Lyon and Marseille, with their own arrondissement councils and arrondissement mayors also elected during municipal elections), however

1200-641: The Furness estate office of the Duke of Buccleuch . Whitehaven Archive and Local Studies Centre was officially opened within specially converted premises in August 1996. It collects archives mainly from the south and west portions of the former county of Cumberland. All four archive centres are recognised by the Lord Chancellor as places of deposit for public records. They are also designated as diocesan record offices by

1248-489: The Isle of Wight and Rutland were established as counties of a single district; the district councils of Berkshire became unitary; the counties of Avon , Humberside and Cleveland were broken up to create several unitary authorities; and a number of districts were split off from their associated counties. The changes caused the ceremonial counties to be defined separately, as they had been before 1974. The review caused 46 unitary authorities to be created. A further review

1296-481: The Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, proposed structural changes to local government in Northamptonshire . These changes would see the existing county council and district councils abolished and two new unitary authorities created in their place. One authority, West Northamptonshire , would consist of the existing districts of Daventry , Northampton and South Northamptonshire and

1344-746: The Western Isles Council) uses the alternative Gaelic designation Comhairle . While the phrase "unitary authority" is not used in Scottish legislation (whether from the Scottish Parliament or the UK Parliament), the term can be encountered (used either descriptively or erroneously) in a few official publications and in (usually erroneous) use by United Kingdom government departments. Local authorities in Wales are unitary in nature but are described by

1392-540: The administrative department (which is still subdivided into two subprefectures, one of which includes the métropole). So the metropole is not a unitary authority, and no longer an EPCI (like other French metropoles), but it has a specific status, considered equivalent to a department council, except that its seats are elected during the municipal French elections (at the same time as its municipal councils in each member commune ), and that (like departments and regions, but unlike other French EPCI's including other metropoles) it

1440-475: The areas governed by unitary authorities varies greatly; the authorities created in the 1990s were generally created from single districts and covered a single large town or city, while those created since 2009 often cover entire non-metropolitan counties. The term " unitary authority " was first used in the Redcliffe-Maud Report in 1969 in its current sense of a local government authority which combines

1488-494: The building on 30 September 2024, and the Centre will then be closed to the public for an indeterminate period. Important collections include Appleby Castle estate records (containing papers relating to Lady Anne Clifford , 1590-1676), and the business records of Thomas Mawson , landscape architect, 19th-20th centuries. Barrow Archive Centre was opened in purpose-built premises in 1979 (following local government reorganisation and

Cumbria Archive Service - Misplaced Pages Continue

1536-698: The collective term 'unitary administration' to describe all local government areas which operate as unitary authorities. In England , "unitary authorities" are those local authorities set up in accordance with the Local Government Changes for England Regulations 1994 made under powers conferred by the Local Government Act 1992 to form a single tier of local government in specified areas and which are responsible for almost all local government functions within such areas. While outwardly appearing to be similar, single-tier authorities formed using older legislation are not unitary authorities thus excluding e.g.

1584-631: The creation of the new county of Cumbria ). Records had been collected locally in temporary premises at Dalton-in-Furness since 1975 and the new office also absorbed records from the Furness Collection, gathered from 1948 onwards by the Central Library in Barrow. Following building extensions the record office joined with the local studies library in 1998 to provide a unified service within a joint search room. Important collections include records from

1632-535: The functions of a county council and a district council. Strictly speaking, the term does not necessarily mean a single level of local government within an area, because in some cases there are also parish councils in the same area. Although the term was not applied to them, county boroughs between 1889 and 1974 were effectively unitary authority areas, that is, single-tier administrative units. Before 1889, local government authorities had different powers and functions, but from medieval times some cities and towns had

1680-558: The municipalities (known as New England towns ) are the only governing tier below the state government, though the former counties still exist in the ceremonial sense. In some areas, the reverse is true; for example, Howard County, Maryland and Arlington County, Virginia , are examples of counties that, despite being densely developed, have no municipalities and are thus the only tier of general-purpose local government. In Virginia, all municipalities with city status are, by definition, independent from any county. Three other cities across

1728-514: The non-metropolitan districts of Aylesbury Vale , Chiltern , South Bucks , and Wycombe in Buckinghamshire were replaced by a single unitary authority known as Buckinghamshire Council on 1 April 2020. The existing unitary authority of Milton Keynes was not affected; from 1 April 2020, therefore, the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire has been composed of two unitary authority areas. In March 2018, an independent report commissioned by

1776-844: The other authority, North Northamptonshire would consist of Corby , East Northamptonshire , Kettering and Wellingborough districts. This was confirmed in May 2019, with the new councils being created in April 2021. In July 2021 the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced that in April 2023, the non-metropolitan counties of Cumbria , North Yorkshire and Somerset would be reorganised into unitary authority areas. The new authorities, Cumberland , Westmorland and Furness , North Yorkshire Council and Somerset Council were first elected in May 2022 and formally assumed their powers on 1 April 2023. The Labour Party returned to power following

1824-508: The powers and functions that are normally delivered separately by the councils of non-metropolitan counties and non-metropolitan districts. These functions are housing, waste management, waste collection, council tax collection, education, libraries, social services, transport, planning, consumer protection, licensing, cemeteries and crematoria. The breakdown of these services is as follows: Unitary government has been criticised for damaging local democracy. Opponents to unitary authority criticise

1872-403: The prefecture of Paris is split between the prefecture of police of Paris (which covers the three other surrounding departments in the first ring) and the department prefecture (which is also the region prefecture, whose competence on police does not cover the four departments of Paris and the small ring). As the department of Paris has no department council elected during departmental elections, it

1920-561: The respective English and Welsh descriptions of " County Council " or " Cyngor Sir ", each council formed for a County Borough is allocated the respective descriptions of "County Borough Council" or " Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol "; in all cases the shorter alternative forms "Council" or "Cyngor" can be used. There are several types of single-tier governments in the United States. In the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and much of Massachusetts , county government has been abolished, and

1968-704: The same territory (at state level they are unified as DROM for their prefectures) into a collectivité unique . The proposal was rejected by local referendum in Guadeloupe and in Réunion , but this occurred in Martinique and French Guiana whose former departemental and regional councils were merged into a single unitary authority named assemblée , elected during departmental elections. Mayotte with its newer status of department chose to keep this designation for its unitary authority, named departmental council (no regional council

Cumbria Archive Service - Misplaced Pages Continue

2016-416: The status of royal borough , borough or city . A district having a charter is dependent on the charter's wording: as a charter trustee to a place in the district; having joint charter to the place and district or to the district itself. Notes The Council of the Isles of Scilly is a sui generis single-tier authority, created in 1890 and since 1930 has held the "powers, duties and liabilities" of

2064-513: The three county-administered cities ( Chiayi , Keelung , and Hsinchu ), they are independent of their surrounding county. Special municipalities , with the exception of a few mountain indigenous districts within them, are also unitary. Each of the four countries of the United Kingdom uses a different term to describe their unitary authorities. However, the Office for National Statistics uses

2112-493: Was "minded to approve the proposals" and a final decision to implement the two unitary authority model was confirmed in February 2018. Statutory instruments for the creation of two unitary authorities, to be named Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council and Dorset Council , have been made and shadow authorities for the new council areas were formed ahead of their creation on 1 April 2019 . Buckinghamshire County Council and

2160-504: Was also established in 1962 under a joint archives committee for the former counties of Cumberland and Westmorland and the City of Carlisle. Few archives other than local authority records had been collected before this date. As at 2024 the office operates from the County Offices in the town, but the long-term use of this 1930s building is uncertain, as the new unitary authority will close

2208-405: Was ever created), but which also has the competence of a regional council (plus a few specific competences transferred from the state like other French overseas). The Métropole de Lyon was created as a metropole from an earlier EPCI ( public establishment of intercommunal cooperation ) but gained the competences of the departmental council. The departmental council of Rhône only covers the rest of

2256-516: Was initiated in 2007 and was enacted in 2009. The review established Cornwall and Northumberland as counties of a single district; established unitary authorities in County Durham , Shropshire and Wiltshire covering the part of the county that was not already split off in the 1990s review; and divided the remainder of Bedfordshire and Cheshire into two unitary authority areas. The review caused nine unitary authorities to be created. In 2017, it

2304-416: Was proposed that two unitary authority areas be formed to cover the ceremonial county of Dorset . One of the authorities would consist of the existing unitary authorities of Bournemouth , Poole and the non-metropolitan district of Christchurch , the other would be composed of the remainder of the county. In November 2017, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid stated that he

#583416