A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
68-502: The Shire of Gatton was a local government area located in the Lockyer Valley region between the cities of Toowoomba and Ipswich , and about 90 kilometres (56 mi) west of Brisbane , the state capital of Queensland , Australia . The shire covered an area of 1,571.8 square kilometres (606.9 sq mi), and existed from 1880 until its merger with the Shire of Laidley to form
136-577: A unitary authority , but the Australian Bureau of Statistics refers to the whole of the ACT as an unincorporated area. The ACT Government directorate Transport Canberra & City Services handles responsibilities that are under the purview of local government in other parts of Australia, such as local road maintenance, libraries and waste collection. Many Canberra districts have community organisations called "community councils", but these are not part of
204-634: A borough council, but its district was to be called the Municipal District of Kilkenny City, in recognition of its historic city status . Under Israeli law, inherited from British Mandate municipal law, the possibility of creating a municipal borough exists. However, no borough was actually created under law until 2005–2006, when Neve Monosson and Maccabim-Re'ut , both communal settlements (Heb: yishuv kehilati ) founded in 1953 and 1984, respectively, were declared to be autonomous municipal boroughs (Heb: vaad rova ironi ), within their mergers with
272-477: A city by proclamation. Boroughs and cities were collectively known as municipalities, and were enclaves separate from their surrounding counties. Boroughs proliferated in the suburban areas of the larger cities: By the 1980s there were 19 boroughs and three cities in the area that is now the City of Auckland. In the 1980s, some boroughs and cities began to be merged with their surrounding counties to form districts with
340-586: A geographic or historical interpretation. The council board members are generally known as councillors , and the head councillor is called the mayor . As of August 2016, there were 547 local councils in Australia. Despite the single tier of local governance in Australia, there are a number of extensive regions with relatively low populations that are not a part of any established LGA. Powers of local governments in these unincorporated areas may be exercised by special-purpose governing bodies established outside of
408-535: A larger workload. The growth of the Regional Organisations of Councils has also been a factor in local government reform in Australia. In 1995, there were 50 such agreements across the country. A 2002 study identified 55 ROCs with the largest involving 18 councils. Local government powers are determined by state governments, and states have primary responsibility for funding and exclusive responsibility for supervision of local councils. Local government
476-518: A mixed urban and rural population. A nationwide reform of local government in 1989 completed the process. Counties and boroughs were abolished and all boundaries were redrawn. Under the new system, most territorial authorities cover both urban and rural land. The more populated councils are classified as cities, and the more rural councils are classified as districts. Only Kawerau District, an enclave within Whakatāne District , continues to follow
544-475: A new sort of borough – the county borough. These were designed to be 'counties-to-themselves'; administrative divisions to sit alongside the new administrative counties. They allowed urban areas to be administered separately from the more rural areas. They, therefore, often contained pre-existing municipal boroughs, which thereafter became part of the second tier of local government, below the administrative counties and county boroughs. The county boroughs were, like
612-612: A self-governing body). Since 1974, it has been a purely ceremonial style granted by royal charter to districts which may consist of a single town or may include a number of towns or rural areas. Borough status entitles the council chairman to bear the title of mayor . Districts may apply to the British Crown for the grant of borough status upon advice of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom . In Northern Ireland , local government
680-618: A self-selecting corporation (i.e., when a member died or resigned his replacement would be by co-option ). Sometimes boroughs were governed by bailiffs . Debates on the Reform Bill (eventually the Reform Act 1832 ) lamented the diversity of polity of such town corporations, and a Royal Commission was set up to investigate this. This resulted in a regularisation of municipal government by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 . 178 of
748-403: A shift from 'services to property' towards 'services to people'. Community expectations of local government in Australia have risen in the 21st century partly as a result of wider participation in decision-making and transparent management practices. Recent years have seen some State governments devolving additional powers onto LGAs. In Queensland and Western Australia LGAs have been granted
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#1733085195756816-631: Is a town named Burg ), borgo in Italian , burgo in Portuguese, Galician and Castilian (hence the castilian place-name Burgos , galician place-names O Burgo and Malburgo ), the -bork of Lębork and Malbork in Polish and the -bor of Maribor in Slovenian. The 'burg' element, which means "castle" or "fortress", is often confused with 'berg' meaning "hill" or "mountain" (c.f. iceberg , inselberg ). Hence
884-517: Is mentioned in the annotated Australian constitution, as a department of the State Governments, and they are mentioned in the constitutions of each of the six states. Under the Constitution, the federal government cannot provide funding directly to local governments; a 1974 referendum sought to amend the Constitution to authorise the federal government to directly fund local governments, but it
952-447: Is part of a local government area. Unincorporated areas are often in remote locations, cover vast areas, or have very small populations. Queensland and Tasmania are entirely partitioned into LGAs and have no unincorporated areas. The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) has no municipalities. The ACT government is responsible for both state-level and local-level matters. In some countries, such an arrangement would be referred to as
1020-504: Is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state/territory it belongs to. The functions and practices of local councils are mostly centered around managing public services and land uses at the community level, and are similar throughout Australia, but can vary to some degree between jurisdictions. State departments oversee the activities of local councils and may intervene in their affairs when needed, subject to relevant legislation. For more details in each state and territory, see
1088-631: Is the City of Brisbane , the most populous LGA in the country, which administers a significant part of the Brisbane metropolitan area . In most cases, when a city's population statistics are used, it is the statistical division population rather than the local government area. The following table provides a summary of local government areas by states and territories by local government area types as of December 2023: The Australian Classification of Local Governments (ACLG) categorises local governing authorities using
1156-572: Is the third level of government in Australia , administered with limited autonomy under the states and territories , and in turn beneath the federal government . Local government is not mentioned in the Constitution of Australia , and two referendums in 1974 and 1988 to alter the Constitution relating to local government were unsuccessful. Every state/territory government recognises local government in its own respective constitution . Unlike
1224-643: The Irish House of Commons , of which 80 were disfranchised by the Acts of Union 1800 . All but 11 municipal boroughs were abolished under the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840 . Under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 , six of these became county boroughs : Dublin , Belfast , Cork , Derry , Limerick and Waterford . From 1921, Belfast and Derry were part of Northern Ireland and stayed within
1292-568: The Local Authorities Act 1902 , Tarampa Division became the Shire of Tarampa on 31 March 1903. On 3 September 1938, the Shire of Tarampa was renamed the Shire of Gatton. On 19 March 1949 it grew to incorporate part of the former Shires of Drayton and Highfields , while losing some of its original area to the City of Toowoomba and Shire of Crows Nest . On 15 March 2008, under the Local Government (Reform Implementation) Act 2007 passed by
1360-639: The Local Government Act does not mandate adopting a designation, some local government areas are legally known simply as "council", such as Port Macquarie-Hastings Council , Inner West Council and Federation Council . Some rural areas in South Australia are known as "district council", and all the LGAs in Tasmania that were previously municipalities have been renamed "council". Almost all local councils have
1428-540: The Local Government Reform Act 2014 : Clonmel , Drogheda , Sligo , and Wexford . A local boundary review reporting in 2018 proposed granting borough status to any district containing a census town with a population over 30,000; this would have included the towns of Dundalk , Bray , and Navan . This would have required an amendment to the 2014 Act, promised for 2019 by minister John Paul Phelan . Historically, there were 117 parliamentary boroughs in
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#17330851957561496-636: The Lockyer Valley Region on 15 March 2008. Tarampa Division was created on 15 January 1880 under the Divisional Boards Act 1879 , and its board held its first meeting on 20 February 1880. On 25 April 1888, the Laidley Division area broke away and separately incorporated, and on 25 January 1890, the Forest Hill area moved from Tarampa Division to Laidley Division. With the passage of
1564-972: The Old English word burg, burh , meaning a fortified settlement; the word appears as modern English bury , -brough , Scots burgh , borg in Scandinavian languages, Burg in German. A number of other European languages have cognate words that were borrowed from the Germanic languages during the Middle Ages , including brog in Irish , bwr or bwrc , meaning "wall, rampart" in Welsh , bourg in French , burg in Catalan (in Catalonia there
1632-598: The Outback Communities Authority . Victoria has a number of unincorporated areas which are not part of any LGA: Western Australia has two unincorporated areas: Borough In the Middle Ages , boroughs were settlements in England that were granted some self-government ; burghs were the Scottish equivalent. In medieval England , boroughs were also entitled to elect members of parliament . The use of
1700-612: The Parliament of Queensland on 10 August 2007, the Shire of Gatton merged with the Shire of Laidley to form the Lockyer Valley Region . The Shire of Gatton was divided into three divisions electing a total of eight councillors, plus a popularly elected mayor. The Shire of Gatton included the following settlements: 27°33′31.55″S 152°16′32.62″E / 27.5587639°S 152.2757278°E / -27.5587639; 152.2757278 Local government in Australia [REDACTED] [REDACTED] Local government
1768-703: The Pastoral Unincorporated Area in South Australia . Local governments are subdivisions of the six federated states as well as the Northern Territory . The Australian Capital Territory has no separate local government, and municipal functions in Canberra and the surrounding regions (normally performed by local governments in other states) are performed by the ACT territorial government. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), however, considers
1836-759: The Top End region, the Northern Territory Rates Act Area and Darwin Waterfront Precinct within Darwin , Nhulunbuy on the Gove Peninsula , Alyangula on Groote Eylandt , and Yulara in Central Australia . In South Australia , 63% of the state's area is unincorporated. Residents in this area – less than 0.2% of the state's population – receive municipal services provided by a state agency,
1904-467: The U.S. state of Alaska , borough designates a whole region ; Alaska's largest borough, the North Slope Borough , is comparable in area to the entire United Kingdom , although its population is less than that of Swanage on England's south coast with around 9,600 inhabitants. In Australia , a borough was once a self-governing small town, but this designation has all but vanished, except for
1972-588: The United Kingdom on the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. Galway was a borough from 1937 until upgraded to a county borough in 1985. The county boroughs in the Republic of Ireland were redesignated as "cities" under the Local Government Act 2001 . Dún Laoghaire was a borough from 1930 until merged into Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown county in 1994. There were five borough councils in place at
2040-576: The coat of arms . From 1265 , two burgesses from each borough were summoned to the Parliament of England , alongside two knights from each county . Thus parliamentary constituencies were derived from the ancient boroughs. Representation in the House of Commons was decided by the House itself, which resulted in boroughs being established in some small settlements for the purposes of parliamentary representation, despite their possessing no actual corporation. After
2108-597: The 'berg' element in Bergen or Heidelberg relates to a hill, rather than a fort. In some cases, the 'berg' element in place names has converged towards burg/borough; for instance Farnborough, from fernaberga (fern-hill). In Australia , the term "borough" is an occasionally used term for a local government area. Currently there is only one borough in Australia, the Borough of Queenscliffe in Victoria , although there have been more in
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2176-465: The 1832 Reform Act, which disenfranchised many of the rotten boroughs (boroughs that had declined in importance, had only a small population, and had only a handful of eligible voters), parliamentary constituencies began to diverge from the ancient boroughs. While many ancient boroughs remained as municipal boroughs, they were disenfranchised by the Reform Act. The Local Government Act 1888 established
2244-605: The County of London in 1965. These council areas are now referred to as "London boroughs" rather than "metropolitan boroughs". When the new metropolitan counties ( Greater Manchester , Merseyside , South Yorkshire , Tyne and Wear , West Midlands , and West Yorkshire ) were created in 1974, their sub-divisions also became metropolitan boroughs in many, but not all, cases; in many cases these metropolitan boroughs recapitulated abolished county boroughs (for example, Stockport ). The metropolitan boroughs possessed slightly more autonomy from
2312-567: The Spanish term localidades ) with a local executive and an administrative board for local government. These boroughs are divided into neighborhoods. The principal cities had localidades with the same features as the European or American cities. Those included Soacha in Bogotá , Bello , La Estrella , Sabaneta , Envigado and Itagüí on Medellín . There are four borough districts designated by
2380-552: The ancient boroughs were re-formed as municipal boroughs , with all municipal corporations to be elected according to a standard franchise based on property ownership. The unreformed boroughs lapsed in borough status, or were reformed (or abolished) later. Several new municipal boroughs were formed in the new industrial cities after the bill enacted, per its provisions. As part of a large-scale reform of local government in England and Wales in 1974 , municipal boroughs were finally abolished (having become increasingly irrelevant). However,
2448-423: The borough has been used repeatedly (and often differently) throughout the world. Often, a borough is a single town with its own local government. However, in some cities it is a subdivision of the city (for example, New York City , London , and Montreal ). In such cases, the borough will normally have either limited powers delegated to it by the city's local government, or no powers at all. In other places, such as
2516-554: The civic traditions of many were continued by the grant of a charter to their successor district councils. As to smallest boroughs, a town council was formed for an alike zone, while charter trustees were formed for a few others. A successor body is allowed to use the regalia of the old corporation, and appoint ceremonial office holders such as sword and mace bearers as provided in their original charters. The council, or trustees, may apply for an Order in Council or Royal Licence to use
2584-450: The entire ACT as an " unincorporated " local government area, even though it is technically a state-level administrative region . Although all essentially identical in functions and jurisdictions, Australian local governments have a variety of different titles. The term "local government area" (LGA) is used by the ABS to collectively refer to all local government administrative zones regardless of
2652-504: The first half of the 20th century was the provision of physical infrastructure such as roads, bridges and sewerage. From the 1970s the emphasis changed to community facilities such as libraries and parks, maintenance of local roads, town planning and development approvals, and local services such as waste disposal. Child care, tourism and urban renewal were also beginning to be part of local governments' role. These are financed by collection of local land taxes known as "rates", and grants from
2720-448: The first time. Significant reforms took place in the 1980s and 1990s in which state governments used metrics and efficiency analysis developed within the private sector in the local government arena. Each state conducted an inquiry into the benefits of council amalgamations during the 1990s. In the early 1990s, Victoria saw the number of local councils reduced from 210 to 78. South Australia, Tasmania and Queensland saw some reductions in
2788-415: The following: The Australian Capital Territory is not divided into local government areas, so it is regarded as a single "unincorporated" local government area during censusing . Unlike many other countries, Australia has only one level of local government immediately beneath state and territorial governments. Aside from very sparsely populated areas and a few other special cases, almost all of Australia
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2856-496: The government (though they generally receive government funding). They do not have the power to change laws or policies, and their role is limited to advising government. They are effectively residents' associations . New South Wales has three unincorporated areas: In the Northern Territory , 1.47% of the total area and 3.0% of the population are in unincorporated areas. These include the Cox-Daly and Marrakai-Douglas Daly areas in
2924-561: The local legislation, as with Victoria 's alpine resorts ; or directly administered by state/territory governments, such as the entirety of the Australian Capital Territory . The administrative area covered by local government councils in Australia ranges from as small as 1.5 km (0.58 sq mi) for the Shire of Peppermint Grove in the Perth metropolitan region , to as big as 624,339 km (241,059 sq mi) for
2992-540: The mayor is elected by the board of fellow councillors . The powers of mayors vary as well; for example, mayors in Queensland have broad executive functions, whereas mayors in New South Wales are essentially ceremonial figureheads who can only exercise power at the discretion of the council. Most of the capital city LGAs administer only the central business districts and nearby central suburbs . A notable exception
3060-463: The metropolitan county councils than the shire county districts did from their county councils. With the abolition of the metropolitan county councils in 1986, these metropolitan boroughs became independent, and continue to be so at present. Elsewhere in England a number of districts and unitary authority areas are called "borough". Until 1974, this was a status that denoted towns with a certain type of local government (a municipal corporation , or
3128-514: The municipal boroughs, abolished in 1974, being reabsorbed into their parent counties for administrative purposes. In 1899, as part of a reform of local government in the County of London , the various parishes in London were reorganised as new entities, the 'metropolitan boroughs'. These were reorganised further when Greater London was formed out of Middlesex, parts of Surrey, Kent, Essex, Hertfordshire and
3196-618: The names of LGAs, and today the stylised titles of " town ", " borough ", " municipality ", " district ", " region ", "community government", " Aboriginal council/shire" and "island" are used in addition. The word "municipality" occurs in some states with differing meanings: in New South Wales it is typically used for older urban areas, and the word is used for some rural towns in South Australia . Larger towns and small metropolitan exurban centres in Queensland and Western Australia simply use
3264-649: The number of local governments while Western Australia and New South Wales rejected compulsory mergers. New South Wales eventually forced the merging of some councils. The main purpose of amalgamating councils was for greater efficiency and to improve operations, but forced amalgamation of councils is sometimes seen as a dilution of representative democracy . An increase in the range of services offered by councils, but only minor cost savings of less than 10% have been noted by academics as outcomes after mergers. The council mergers have resulted in widespread job losses and lingering resentment from some whose roles have experienced
3332-756: The only remaining borough in the country, which is the Borough of Queenscliffe . Boroughs as administrative units are to be found in Ireland and the United Kingdom, more specifically in England and Northern Ireland . Boroughs also exist in the Canadian province of Quebec and formerly in Ontario , in some states of the United States, in Israel , formerly in New Zealand and only one left in Australia. The word borough derives from
3400-597: The part of local governments. There is no mention of local government in the Constitution of Australia , though it is mentioned several times in the Annotated Constitution of Australia. "Municipal institutions and local government" appears in Annotation 447, and "Power of the Parliament of a Colony" appears under "Residuary Legislative Powers" on pages 935 and 936. The first official local government in Australia
3468-604: The past. However, in some cases it can be integrated into the council's name instead of used as an official title, such as the Kingborough Council in Tasmania . In Quebec , the term borough is generally used as the English translation of arrondissement , referring to an administrative division of a municipality, or a district. Eight municipalities are divided into boroughs: See List of boroughs in Quebec . In Ontario , it
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#17330851957563536-760: The population, the population density and the proportion of the population that is classified as being urban for the council. The classification, at the two-digit level, is: All local governments are approximately equal in their theoretical powers, although LGAs that encompass large cities such as Brisbane and the Gold Coast command more resources due to their larger population base. Unlike local governments in many other countries, services such as police, fire protection and schools are provided by respective state or territory governments rather than by local councils. However, local governments still maintain some responsibility for fire service functions within Queensland and Western Australia. The councils' chief responsibility in
3604-414: The power to independently enact their own local subsidiary legislation , in contrast to the previous system of by-laws . Councils also have organised their own representative structures such as Local Government Associations and Regional Organisations of Councils . Doctrines of New Public Management have shaped state government legislation towards increased freedoms aiming to allow greater flexibility on
3672-420: The purpose of raising money to build roads in rural and outer-urban regions. Council representatives attended conventions before Federation , however local government was unquestionably regarded as outside the Constitutional realm. In the 1970s, the Whitlam government expanded the level of funding to local governments in Australia beyond grants for road construction. General purpose grants become available for
3740-408: The same administrative functions and similar political structures, regardless of their naming, and retain a particular designation ("shire", "borough", "town", "city") for historical reasons only. They will typically have an elected council and usually a mayor or shire president responsible for chairing meetings of the council. In some councils, the mayor is a directly elected figure, but in most cases
3808-493: The state and Commonwealth governments. They are caricatured as being concerned only with the "three Rs": Rates, Roads and Rubbish. However, the roles of local government areas in Australia have recently expanded as higher levels of government have devolved activities to the third tier. Examples include the provision of community health services, regional airports and pollution control as well as community safety and accessible transport. The changes in services has been described as
3876-456: The term "town", while in Victoria they are designated as "rural city". Historically, the word "borough" was common for small towns and suburban centers in Victoria, but nowadays only the Borough of Queenscliffe remains as the one and only borough in the entire country. New South Wales and Queensland have also introduced a new term "region" for outback LGAs formed by the amalgamation of smaller shires and rural cities. In New South Wales, where
3944-428: The time of the Local Government Reform Act 2014 which abolished all second-tier local government units of borough and town councils. Each local government authority outside of Dublin, Cork City and Galway City was divided into areas termed municipal districts . In four of the areas which had previously been contained borough councils, as listed above, these were instead termed Borough Districts. Kilkenny had previously had
4012-516: The towns of Yehud and Modi'in . Similar structures have been created under different types of legal status over the years in Israel, notably Kiryat Haim in Haifa , Jaffa in Tel Aviv-Yafo and Ramot and Gilo in Jerusalem . However, Neve Monosson is the first example of a full municipal borough actually declared under law by the Minister of the Interior, under a model subsequently adopted in Maccabim-Re'ut as well. In Mexico as translations from English to Spanish applied to Mexico City ,
4080-462: The tradition of a small town council that does not include surrounding rural area. In Trinidad and Tobago , a Borough is a unit of Local Government . There are 5 boroughs in The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago: During the medieval period many towns were granted self-governance by the Crown, at which point they became referred to as boroughs. The formal status of borough came to be conferred by Royal Charter . These boroughs were generally governed by
4148-642: The two-tier local government system in Canada or the United States , there is only one tier of local government in each Australian state/territory, with no distinction between counties and cities . The Australian local government is generally run by a council , and its territory of public administration is referred to generically by the Australian Bureau of Statistics as the local government area or LGA , each of which encompasses multiple suburbs or localities (roughly equivalent to neighborhoods) often of different postcodes ; however, stylised terms such as "city", " borough ", " region " and " shire " also have
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#17330851957564216-501: The varying designations, whilst the local governing legislature itself is generally known as a council . In general, an urban / suburban LGA is called a " city ", as in the City of Melbourne , City of Canada Bay and City of Bunbury ; while an exurban / rural LGA covering a larger agricultural / natural area is usually called a " shire ", as in Shire of Mornington Peninsula , Shire of Banana and Lachlan Shire . Sometimes designations other than "city" or "shire" are used in
4284-399: The word borough has resulted in a delegación (delegation), referring to the 16 administrative areas within the Mexico City, now called Alcaldías . New Zealand formerly used the term borough to designate self-governing towns of more than 1,000 people, although 19th century census records show many boroughs with populations as low as 200. A borough of more than 20,000 people could become
4352-422: The word borough probably derives from the burghal system of Alfred the Great . Alfred set up a system of defensive strong points ( Burhs ); in order to maintain these particular settlements, he granted them a degree of autonomy. After the Norman Conquest , when certain towns were granted self-governance, the concept of the burh/borough seems to have been reused to mean a self-governing settlement. The concept of
4420-539: Was defeated. A 1988 referendum sought to explicitly insert mention of local government in the federal constitution but this was comprehensively defeated. A further referendum was proposed in 2013 , but was cancelled due to the change in the election date . Federal government interaction with local councils happens regularly through the provision of federal grants to help fund local government managed projects. Local government in Australia has very limited legislative powers and no judicial powers , and executive -wise
4488-432: Was previously used to denote suburban municipalities in Metropolitan Toronto , including Scarborough, York, North York and Etobicoke prior to their conversions to cities. The Borough of East York was the last Toronto municipality to hold this status, relinquishing it upon becoming part of the City of Toronto government on January 1, 1998. The Colombian municipalities are subdivided into boroughs (English translation of
4556-409: Was reorganised in 1973. Under the legislation that created the 26 districts of Northern Ireland , a district council whose area included an existing municipal borough could resolve to adopt the charter of the old municipality and thus continue to enjoy borough status. Districts that do not contain a former borough can apply for a charter in a similar manner to English districts. In the United States,
4624-432: Was the Perth Town Trust , established in 1838, only three years after British settlement. The Adelaide Corporation followed, created by the province of South Australia in October 1840. The City of Melbourne and the Sydney Corporation followed, both in 1842. All of these early forms failed; it was not until the 1860s and 1870s that the various colonies established widespread stable forms of local government, mainly for
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