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 a higher level of sub-national government or the national government.
38-508: Flintshire County Council is the unitary local authority for the county of Flintshire , one of the principal areas of Wales . It is based at County Hall in Mold . Elections take place every five years. The last election was on 5 May 2022. Flintshire County Council was first created in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888 , which established elected county councils to take over
76-479: 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 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
114-452: A new county of Flintshire, which came into effect on 1 April 1996. The Flintshire County Council created in 1996 therefore covers a smaller area than the pre-1974 county, omitting the Rhuddlan district, which went to the new Denbighshire county, and omitting the pre-1974 exclaves, which form part of Wrexham County Borough . The council has been under no overall control since 2012. Following
152-681: 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
190-559: 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
228-605: Is a village and electoral ward in the community of Hawarden in Flintshire , Wales . It is situated close to the Flintshire / Cheshire sector of the Wales-England border . The A55 expressway passes through Ewloe and its most notable landmark is Ewloe Castle . The Ewloe electoral ward had a population at the 2011 Census of 5,420. The urban area of the village is contiguous with Hawarden , Buckley and Shotton . The Office for National Statistics deems Ewloe to form part of
266-603: 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
304-534: 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
342-651: 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
380-733: 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
418-451: The 2022 election and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to July 2024, the composition of the council was: As at July 2024, of the 36 independent councillors, 25 sit together as the 'Independent Group', five form the 'Flintshire People's Voice' group, four form the 'Eagle Group', and two are not aligned to any group. The next election is due in 2027. Since 2012, elections have taken place every five years. The last election
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#1733084736481456-601: 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
494-511: 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
532-751: 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
570-689: The elections in 2012 the council was governed by a coalition between Labour and a group of some of the Independents . Labour was the largest political group within the council with 34 members, followed by the Independent Alliance (14), Conservatives (6), Independents (6), the Liberal Democrats (5), and the New Independents (5). The council is based at County Hall on Raikes Lane in Mold, which
608-619: The 'St David's Hotel' just off the A55 road network in Ewloe. The St David 's Park housing estate was built in the 1990s and is known as being a prestigious estate popular with young professionals and families respectively. Increasing numbers of new property and the resulted increase to population in Ewloe led to the opening of a new Co-op supermarket on the St David's Park road, with Ewloe now boasting two Co-op stores around 835 metres apart. A chain super pub
646-405: The 2022 election Labour formed a minority administration with informal support from the Liberal Democrats. The first election to the new council was held in 1995, initially operating as a shadow authority before coming into its powers on 1 April 1996. Political control of the council since 1996 has been held by the following parties: The leaders of the council since 1996 have been: Following
684-536: The 2022 elections, the county has been divided into 45 wards , returning 67 councillors . Few communities in Flintshire are coterminous with electoral wards. The following table lists the wards as existed prior to 2022 along with the communities and associated geographical areas. Communities with a community council are indicated by *: Unitary authority Typically unitary authorities cover towns or cities which are large enough to function independently of
722-533: The Buckley built-up area, which covers much of Deeside . Ewloe grew rapidly during the late 1990s and early 2000s and is now the home of the internet based Moneysupermarket.com and construction company Redrow . Flintshire County Council has one of its main offices at Ty Dewy Sant on St David's Park, a building which had previously been occupied by Unilever and before them by the former Alyn and Deeside District Council . The Village Hotels chain of hotels hosts
760-698: 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
798-878: The United States are also independent of any county government : Baltimore, Maryland , St. Louis, Missouri , and Carson City, Nevada . There are also several consolidated cities where the county government and municipal government are unified. San Francisco and Philadelphia are two examples, wherein the city and county are coterminous and have one singular governing body. The District of Columbia has had no lower tiers of government since 1871. Arlington County and Alexandria, Virginia , were returned to Virginia in 1847. The District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871 abolished all local governments including single remaining county and its two municipalities, Washington and Georgetown . Ewloe Ewloe ( / ˈ juː l oʊ / ; Welsh : Ewlo , [ˈɛʊlɔ] )
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#1733084736481836-746: 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
874-540: 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
912-509: The administrative functions of the quarter sessions . That county council and the administrative county of Flintshire were abolished in 1974, when the area merged with neighbouring Denbighshire to become the new county of Clwyd . Flintshire was unusual in retaining exclaves right up until the 1974 reforms. The contiguous part of the county was split to become three of the six districts of Clwyd: Alyn and Deeside , Delyn , and Rhuddlan . The county's exclaves of Maelor Rural District and
950-698: 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.
988-461: The front part of the building which includes the council chamber and some office space. County Hall therefore continues to serve as the council's official headquarters and meeting place, but many of the council's staff are now based at Ty Dewi Sant. The council also has an area office at Chapel Street in Flint called County Offices (formerly Delyn House) which it inherited from Delyn Borough Council. Since
1026-558: 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
1064-482: The parish of Marford and Hoseley both went to the Wrexham Maelor district. Under the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 , Clwyd County Council and the county's constituent districts were abolished, being replaced by principal areas , whose councils perform the functions which had previously been divided between the county and district councils. The two districts of Alyn and Deeside and Delyn were merged to become
1102-403: 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
1140-505: 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
1178-704: 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
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1216-513: 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
1254-535: Was 5 May 2022. Party with the most elected councillors in bold. Coalition agreements in notes column. By the May 2017 elections the Labour Group held 34 seats on the council and held the same number after the election results came in, though they had gained seats in some wards (for example Llanfynydd) and lost in others (e.g. Bagillt East). Fourteen (13 Lab & 1 Ind) of the seventy seats were elected unopposed. Following
1292-467: Was built in 1967 for the original Flintshire County Council. Between 1974 and 1996 the building had been the headquarters of Clwyd County Council. When Flintshire was re-established as an administrative area in 1996 the new council inherited County Hall and the relatively new offices (built 1992) of Alyn and Deeside Borough Council at St David's Park in Ewloe in the community of Hawarden . The building at Ewloe
1330-546: Was built in St Davids Park, which then opened in September 2010, but was damaged in an arson attack early morning on 6 February 2011. It has since reopened. Two primary schools exist within the Ewloe and Ewloe Green wards. These are Penarlag CP School and Ewloe Green Primary School. Secondary students from Ewloe are mostly educated at Hawarden High School in adjacent Hawarden. At the lowest level of local government, Ewloe
1368-470: 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 ' )
1406-405: 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
1444-410: Was leased to Unilever for some years and was renamed Unity House. By 2018, County Hall was proving very costly to maintain, while Unilever's lease of Unity House had ended and the council had tried to sell it without success. The council therefore decided to move several departments to Unity House, which it renamed Ty Dewi Sant . The rear wings of County Hall were then demolished in 2020, retaining only
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