56-477: Portsmouth Council may be: Portsmouth City Council , Hampshire, England City of Portsmouth city council , New Hampshire, United States Boy Scout councils Portsmouth Council , Virginia (historical) Portsmouth Council , New Hampshire (historical) Portsmouth Area Council , Virginia (historical) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
112-402: A local education authority , responsible for social services, libraries, and waste disposal. The council adopted a pledge in 2022, which it called the "Portsmouth Pledge", whereby it set out a number of commitments to look after children in its care. The council has been under no overall control since 2014. Following the 2018 election a minority Liberal Democrat administration formed to run
168-502: A "carve up", and demanding that the east/west split be retained. The resulting South Glamorgan was the only Welsh county council the Conservatives ever controlled (from 1977 to 1981). One of the effects of the Act was to confirm the area of Monmouthshire as part of Wales. Ambiguity as to the status of Monmouthshire had been introduced by legislation in the 16th and 17th centuries, and by
224-660: A Consultative Document in February 1971, at the same time as the English White Paper. The proposals were similar to the Labour proposals of 1968, except that the county boroughs were instead two-tier districts, and that Glamorgan was to be subdivided into West Glamorgan and East Glamorgan, making 7 counties and 36 districts. In the Bill as introduced Glamorgan had been split into three authorities: with East Glamorgan further subdivided into
280-514: A Mid Glamorgan covering the valleys and South Glamorgan. The decision to split East Glamorgan further left South Glamorgan with only two districts (one of which was the Conservative-controlled Cardiff , who had requested the split) and Mid Glamorgan one of the poorest areas in the country. The Labour-controlled Glamorgan County Council strongly opposed this move, placing adverts in newspapers calling for Glamorgan to be saved from
336-505: A civil parish council, its 'town council' which could act alone in some matters such as town twinning, whereas Welwyn Garden City did not and therefore had no separate representation. The Act introduced 'agency', where one local authority (usually a district) could act as an agent for another authority. For example, since road maintenance was split depending upon the type of road, both types of council had to retain engineering departments. A county council could delegate its road maintenance to
392-401: A district council combined. In its capacity as a district council, it is a billing authority , collecting council tax and business rates ; processing local planning applications; and it is responsible for housing , waste collection, Trading Standards , and environmental health . It functions as a Port Health Authority for its surrounding waters. In its capacity as a county council, it is
448-661: A division in the Lords on the inclusion of Weston-super-Mare in Avon, by 42 to 41. Two more metropolitan districts were created than were originally in the Bill: As passed, the Act would have included Charlwood and Horley in West Sussex , along with Gatwick Airport . This was reversed by the Charlwood and Horley Act 1974 , passed just before the Act came into force. Charlwood was made part of
504-453: A minority Liberal Democrat administration since 2018. The council meets at the Guildhall and has its main offices in the adjoining Civic Offices . Portsmouth was an ancient borough . Its earliest known charter was issued in 1194, although some sources suggest that replaced an earlier charter of 1106 which has since been lost. It was reformed in 1836 to become a municipal borough under
560-516: A system of single-tier unitary authorities for the whole of England, apart from three metropolitan areas of Merseyside , SELNEC (South East Lancashire and North East Cheshire, now known as Greater Manchester) and West Midlands ( Birmingham and the Black Country ), which were to have both a metropolitan council and district councils. This report was accepted by the Labour Party government of
616-468: Is the local authority of the city of Portsmouth , in the ceremonial county of Hampshire , England. Portsmouth has had a council since medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1997 the council has been a unitary authority , being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council ; it is independent from Hampshire County Council . The council has been under no overall control since 2014, being run by
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#1733092426166672-402: The Black Country . Most of the commission's recommendations, such as its proposals to abolish Rutland or to reorganise Tyneside , were ignored in favour of the status quo. It was generally agreed that there were significant problems with the structure of local government. Despite mergers, there was still a proliferation of small district councils in rural areas, and in the major conurbations
728-624: The Heath Government of 1970–74 . The Act took the total number of councils in England from 1,245 to 412 (excluding parish councils ), and in Wales to 45. Its pattern of two-tier metropolitan and non-metropolitan county and district councils remains in use today in large parts of England, although the metropolitan county councils were abolished in 1986, and both county and district councils have been replaced with unitary authorities in many areas since
784-539: The Local Government Act 1972 . It kept the same boundaries, which had last been expanded in 1932, but the council became a lower-tier district council, with Hampshire County Council providing county-level services in the city for the first time. Portsmouth's borough and city statuses and its lord mayoralty were transferred to the reformed district and its council. Portsmouth regained its independence from Hampshire County Council on 1 April 1997. The way this change
840-478: The Mole Valley district and Horley part of Reigate and Banstead . Gatwick Airport was still transferred. Although willing to compromise on exact boundaries, the government stood firm on the existence or abolition of county councils. The Isle of Wight (originally scheduled to be merged back into Hampshire as a district) was the only local campaign to succeed, and also the only county council in England to violate
896-529: The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 , which standardised how most boroughs operated across the country. It was then governed by a body formally called the 'mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Portsmouth', generally known as the corporation, town council or borough council. When elected county councils were established in 1889, Portsmouth was considered large enough for the existing borough council to also take on county council functions. It
952-467: The ceremonial county of Hampshire for the purposes of lieutenancy . The local authority derives its powers and functions from the Local Government Act 1972 and subsequent legislation. For the purposes of local government, Portsmouth is within a non-metropolitan area of England. As a unitary authority , Portsmouth City Council has the powers and functions of both a non-metropolitan county and
1008-527: The 1990s. In Wales, too, the Act established a similar pattern of counties and districts , but these have since been entirely replaced with a system of unitary authorities . Elections were held to the new authorities in 1973, and they acted as "shadow authorities" until the handover date. Elections to county councils were held on 12 April, for metropolitan and Welsh districts on 10 May, and for non-metropolitan district councils on 7 June. Elected county councils had been established in England and Wales for
1064-456: The 250,000 minimum for education authorities. The government bowed to local demand for the island to retain its status in October 1972, moving an amendment in the Lords to remove it from Hampshire, Lord Sanford noting that "nowhere else is faced with problems of communication with its neighbours which are in any way comparable". Protests from Rutland and Herefordshire failed, although Rutland
1120-564: The Act came into force at midnight on 1 April 1974. Elections to the new councils had already been held, in 1973, and the new authorities were already up and running as "shadow authorities", following the example set by the London Government Act 1963 . The Act specified the composition and names of the English and Welsh counties, and the composition of the metropolitan and Welsh districts. It did not specify any names of districts, nor indeed
1176-414: The English counties were designated as metropolitan counties. The new English counties were based clearly on the traditional ones, albeit with several substantial changes. The thirteen historic counties of Wales were abandoned entirely for administrative purposes and eight new ones instituted. The Act substituted the new counties "for counties of any other description" for purposes of law. This realigned
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#17330924261661232-557: The Leeds or Wakefield districts. (Rothwell had been planned for Wakefield, but an amendment at report stage was proposed by local MP Albert Roberts and accepted by the government, then overturned by the Lords.) Instead, the Wakefield district gained the town of Ossett , which was originally placed in the Kirklees district, following an appeal by Ossett Labour Party. The government barely won
1288-619: The Local Government Bill into Parliament soon after the start of the 1971–1972 session. In the Commons it passed through Standing Committee D, who debated it in 51 sittings from 25 November 1971 to 20 March 1972. The Act abolished previous existing local government structures, and created a two-tier system of counties and districts everywhere. Some of the new counties were designated metropolitan counties , containing metropolitan boroughs instead. The allocation of functions differed between
1344-588: The Middle Ages or even earlier; industrialisation had created new and very large urban areas like the West Midlands, Liverpool and Manchester which spanned traditional county boundaries and were now often bigger than and far from their traditional county towns. The Local Government Commission was wound up in 1966, and replaced with a Royal Commission (known as the Redcliffe-Maud commission ). In 1969 it recommended
1400-503: The Redcliffe-Maud report, and its findings that the division of functions between town and country had been harmful, but that some functions were better performed by smaller units. The White Paper set out the proposed division of functions between districts and counties, and also suggested a minimum population of 40,000 for districts. The government aimed to introduce a Bill in the 1971/72 session of Parliament for elections in 1973, so that
1456-594: The act was substantially different in Wales. The Redcliffe-Maud Commission had not considered Wales, which had been the subject of the Welsh Office proposals in the 1960s. A White Paper was published in 1967 on the subject of Wales, based on the findings of the 1962 report of the Local Government Commission for Wales . The White Paper proposed five counties, and thirty-six districts. The county boroughs of Swansea , Cardiff and Newport would be retained, but
1512-519: The areas during the Bill's passage through Parliament were: In the Bill as published, the Dorset/Hampshire border was between Christchurch and Lymington. On 6 July 1972, a government amendment added Lymington to Dorset, which would have had the effect of having the entire Bournemouth conurbation in one county (although the town in Lymington itself does not form part of the built-up area, the borough
1568-496: The borders had been set before the pattern of urban development had become clear. For example, in the area that was to become the seven boroughs of the metropolitan county of West Midlands , local government was split between three administrative counties ( Staffordshire , Warwickshire , and Worcestershire ), and eight county boroughs ( Birmingham , Coventry , Dudley , Solihull , Walsall , Warley , West Bromwich , and Wolverhampton ). Many county boundaries reflected traditions of
1624-491: The borders of the non-metropolitan districts in England – these were specified by Statutory Instrument after the passing of the Act. A Boundary Commission, provided for in the Act, had already begun work on dividing England into districts whilst the Bill was still going through Parliament. In England there were 45 counties and 332 districts (excluding Greater London and the Isles of Scilly), in Wales there were 8 and 37. Six of
1680-454: The boroughs, responded to Redcliffe-Maud by putting forward a scheme where England outside London would be divided into 13 provinces, with 132 main authorities below that. The AMC argued that the Redcliffe-Maud units would be too far removed from the people they served, and suggested units that in some places were much smaller in size. The Times gave the example of Kent, which under Redcliffe-Maud would have consisted of two unitary authorities,
1736-451: The boundaries of ceremonial and judicial counties used for lieutenancy , custodes rotulorum , shrievalty , commissions of the peace and magistrates' courts to the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties. The Act also extended the rights of the Duchy of Lancaster to appoint Lord-Lieutenants for the shrunken Lancashire along with all of Greater Manchester and Merseyside . Before
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1792-579: The composition of the council was: The next election is due in May 2026. Since the last boundary changes in 2002, the council has comprised 42 councillors representing 14 wards , with each ward electing three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, with a third of the council (one councillor for each ward) elected each time for a four-year term of office. The council meets at Portsmouth Guildhall , in Guildhall Square. The building
1848-587: The concept of unifying estuaries, through the creation of the county of Humberside on the Humber Estuary , and the inclusion of Harwich and Colchester in Suffolk to unify the Stour Estuary . The latter was removed from the Bill before it became law. Proposals from Plymouth for a Tamarside county were rejected. The Bill also provided names for the new counties for the first time. The main amendments made to
1904-415: The council, which remains in office following the 2024 election . Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms has been as follows: Lower tier non-metropolitan district Unitary authority The role of Lord Mayor of Portsmouth is largely ceremonial. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council . The leaders since 1994 have been: Following the 2024 election
1960-690: The country. Many of the new boundaries proposed by the Redcliffe-Maud report were retained in the White Paper. The proposals were in large part based on ideas of the County Councils Association, the Urban District Councils Association and the Rural District Councils Association. The White Paper outlined principles, including an acceptance of the minimum population of 250,000 for education authorities in
2016-481: The county boundaries found in the Bill). A further eighteen districts were added in the final proposals of November 1972, which were then ordered. The splits were as follows (in most cases the splits were not exact, and many other changes to the borders of the districts took place at this time) The new district in Suffolk was necessitated by the decision to keep Newmarket in Suffolk; which would otherwise have become part of
2072-443: The district council if it was confident that the district was competent. Some powers were specifically excluded from agency, such as education. The Act abolished various historic relics such as aldermen . The office previously known as sheriff was retitled high sheriff. Many existing boroughs that were too small to constitute a district, but too large to constitute a civil parish , were given charter trustees . Most provisions of
2128-555: The exception of Clwyd (which was named after the River Clwyd ) the names of the counties were taken from ancient British kingdoms. Welsh names were also used for many of the Welsh districts. There were no metropolitan counties and, unlike in England, the Secretary of State could not create future metropolitan counties there under the Act. After much comment, the proposals were introduced as
2184-400: The first time in 1888, covering areas known as administrative counties. Some large towns, known as county boroughs , were politically independent from the counties in which they were physically situated. The county areas were two-tier, with many municipal boroughs , urban districts and rural districts within them, each with its own council. Apart from the creation of new county boroughs,
2240-449: The gradual cultural anglicisation of some eastern parts of the county. By the late 19th century the area was often treated in legislation as one with Wales, using the terminology "Wales and Monmouthshire", although it remained legally part of England. Apart from the new Glamorgan authorities, all the names of the new Welsh counties were in the Welsh language , with no English equivalent. With
2296-511: The metropolitan and the non-metropolitan areas (the so-called " shire counties ") – for example, education and social services were the responsibility of the shire counties, but in metropolitan areas was given to the districts. The distribution of powers was slightly different in Wales than in England, with libraries being a county responsibility in England—but in Wales districts could opt to become library authorities themselves. One key principle
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2352-651: The most significant change since 1899 (and the establishment of metropolitan boroughs in the County of London ) had been the establishment in 1965 of Greater London and its 32 London boroughs , covering a much larger area than the previous county of London . A Local Government Commission for England was set up in 1958 to review local government arrangements throughout the country, and made some changes, such as merging two pairs of small administrative counties to form Huntingdon and Peterborough and Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely , and creating several contiguous county boroughs in
2408-589: The new authorities could start exercising full powers on 1 April 1974. The White Paper made no commitments on regional or provincial government, since the Conservative government preferred to wait for the Crowther Commission to report. The proposals were substantially changed with the introduction of the Bill into Parliament in November 1971: The Bill as introduced also included two new major changes based on
2464-427: The passing of the Act, there were a total of 1,210 councils in England (excluding Greater London councils and the Isles of Scilly). This was made up of 1,086 rural and urban districts (including non-county boroughs), 79 county boroughs and 45 counties. The Act reduced the total number of councils outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly to 377 (45 counties and 332 districts). Most of the new districts were groups of
2520-406: The small county borough of Merthyr Tydfil would become a district. The proposed counties were as follows Implementation of reform in Wales was not immediate, pending decisions on the situation in England, and a new Secretary of State, George Thomas , announced changes to the proposals in November 1968. The large northern county of Gwynedd was to be split to form two counties (creating Gwynedd in
2576-454: The smaller having a population of 499,000 (as of 1968), while the AMC proposal would divide the same area into seven local authorities, ranging in population from 161,000 to 306,000. The incoming government's proposals for England were presented in a White Paper published in February 1971. The White Paper substantially trimmed the metropolitan areas, and proposed a two-tier structure for the rest of
2632-563: The time despite considerable opposition, but the Conservative Party won the June 1970 general election on a manifesto that committed it to a two-tier structure. The new government made Peter Walker and Graham Page the ministers, and quickly dropped the Redcliffe-Maud report. They invited comments from interested parties regarding the previous government's proposals. The Association of Municipal Corporations, an advocacy group representing
2688-503: The title Portsmouth Council . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Portsmouth_Council&oldid=1232207189 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Portsmouth City Council Portsmouth City Council
2744-399: The west and Clwyd in the east) with various alterations to the districts. The Redcliffe-Maud report led to a reconsideration of the plans, especially with respect to Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, and a March 1970 White Paper proposed three unitary authorities for South Wales, based on Cardiff, Swansea and Newport. After the 1970 general election , the new Conservative government published
2800-811: The whole areas of former districts, although 64 rural districts were split between new districts, and there were eleven urban districts or boroughs which saw their territory split between new districts: Teesside County Borough , Whitley Bay Municipal Borough, Ashton-in-Makerfield Urban District, Billinge and Winstanley Urban District , Golborne Urban District, Lakes Urban District , Queensbury and Shelf Urban District , Ramsbottom Urban District , Seaton Valley Urban District , Thurrock Urban District , and Turton Urban District . A list of non-metropolitan districts can be found at List of English districts . The Local Government Boundary Commission originally proposed 278 non-metropolitan districts in April 1972 (still working with
2856-456: Was able to secure its treatment as a single district despite not meeting the stated minimum population of 40,000 for districts. Several metropolitan boroughs fell under the 250,000 limit, including three of Tyne and Wear 's five boroughs ( North Tyneside , South Tyneside and Gateshead ), and the four metropolitan boroughs that had resulted from the splitting of the proposed Bury / Rochdale and Knowsley / St Helens boroughs. The background of
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#17330924261662912-664: Was completed in 1890 for the old borough council. The council's main offices are the Civic Offices , which were erected to the east of the guildhall and completed in 1976. Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by
2968-429: Was implemented was to create a new non-metropolitan county of Portsmouth covering the same area as the existing district, but with no separate county council; instead the existing city council took on county council functions, making it a unitary authority. This therefore had the effect of restoring the city council to the powers it had held when Portsmouth had been a county borough prior to 1974. The city remains part of
3024-741: Was large and contained villages which do). The House of Lords reversed this amendment in September, with the government losing the division 81 to 65. In October, the government brought up this issue again, proposing an amendment to put the western part of Lymington borough in Dorset. The amendment was withdrawn. The government lost divisions in the House of Lords at Report Stage on the exclusion of Wilmslow and Poynton from Greater Manchester and their retention in Cheshire, and also on whether Rothwell should form part of
3080-626: Was that education authorities (non-metropolitan counties and metropolitan districts) were deemed to need a population base of 250,000 in order to be viable. Although called two-tier, the system was really three-tier, as it retained civil parish councils, although in Wales they were renamed community councils . Within districts some inconsistency prevailed. For example, in Welwyn Hatfield District in Hertfordshire, which comprised Welwyn Garden City, Hatfield and Old Welwyn, Hatfield retained
3136-416: Was therefore made a county borough , independent from the new Hampshire County Council . The borough boundaries were enlarged on several occasions. Portsmouth was granted city status on 21 April 1926, after which the corporation was also known as the city council. In 1928 the city was given the right to appoint a lord mayor . Portsmouth was reconstituted as a non-metropolitan district in 1974 under
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