Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England
Categories: Counties of England | England-related lists | Local government of the United Kingdom
Metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. Because of succesive legislation there are currently several types of county level entity in existence.
Contents |
Current metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties of England
* unitary authority
† metropolitan county
‡ no county council
¹ 'administrative area' not a county.
Metropolitan counties
- Main article: Metropolitan county
The metropolitan counties are Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne and Wear, West Midlands and West Yorkshire.
The county councils of these were abolished in 1986 by the Thatcher government for largely political rather than practical reasons, but they still exist legally. They are used for some administrative and geographic purposes, and are still ceremonial counties. Most of the powers that the former county councils used to have, devolved to their metropolitan boroughs, which are now in effect unitary authorities, however some functions such as emergency services, civil defence, and public transport are still run jointly on a metropolitan county wide basis.
Greater London
- Main article: Greater London
Greater London was created under earlier legislation as an 'administrative area'. The Greater London Council was abolished in 1986 at the same time as the metropolitan county councils. Since 2000 it has an elected London Assembly and Mayor of London and forms the London region of England.
Non-metropolitan counties
Shire counties
- Main article: Shire county
A 'shire county' is a non-metropolitan county which has multiple districts. Its name need not have 'shire' in it.
There are 35 such counties:
Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cornwall, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Durham, East Sussex, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Sussex, Wiltshire, Worcestershire
All, apart from Berkshire, have county councils. Sometimes 'shire county' is used to exclude Berkshire, because it has no county council. There is some debate as to the status of Cornwall, whether it is a shire county or not. It is interesting to note that Cornwall[1] is the only 'county' where a large minority dispute its constitutional status and instead claim it should be described as a Duchy and one of the home nations of the UK.
Unitary authorities
- Main article: Unitary authority
Unitary authorities are areas with only one council. 40 of these are coterminous with a county.
Bath and North East Somerset, Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Brighton and Hove, Bristol, Derby, Darlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, Halton, Hartlepool, Herefordshire, Isle of Wight, Kingston upon Hull, Leicester, Luton, Medway Towns, Middlesbrough, Borough of Milton Keynes, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, North Somerset, Nottingham, Peterborough, Plymouth, Poole, Portsmouth, Redcar and Cleveland, Rutland, Southampton, Southend-on-Sea, South Gloucestershire, Stockton-on-Tees, Stoke-on-Trent, Swindon, Telford and Wrekin, Thurrock, Torbay, Warrington, York
For 39 of these, they are defined as a county with a single district, which has a district council, and no county council. For the Isle of Wight, technically it is a county with a county council and no district councils, but the effect is the same.
The districts of Berkshire are unitary authorities, but are not granted county status.
The Isles of Scilly are not part of Cornwall for administrative purposes, but neither do they constitute a county.
| Current structure of subnational entities in England (2005) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Region level: | Region | Region | Region | Region | |
| County level: | Metropolitan county | Shire county | Unitary authority | Greater London | |
| District level: | Metropolitan district | Non-metropolitan district | n/a | London borough | |
| Parish level: | Civil parish | Civil parish | Civil parish | n/a | |
History
The current system of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties was created in 1974 and replaced the administrative counties of England which were abolished at that time. Greater London had been created in 1965 under seperate legislation.
In the 1990s a new type of non-metropolitan county was created - the unitary authority - which combines the functions and powers of county and district. The existing non-metropolitan counties became known as shire counties to distinguish them from the unitary authorities.
Local Government Act 1972
- Main article: Local Government Act 1972
By the late 1960s, it had become obvious that the structure of local government in England and Wales needed reforming. Harold Wilson's Labour government set up the Redcliffe-Maud Commission to produce proposals for wholesale reform.
The report proposed that most of England the two-tier structure be abolished, and replaced with a system of 58 unitary authories, which would generally ignore the previous administrative boundaries in favour of changes that made geographic sense - a total redrawing of the map. In the metropolitan areas of Merseyside, South East Lancashire and North East Cheshire, and the Birmingham area, there would be 3 metropolitan areas, with 20 district authorities.
These proposals were opposed by the Conservative Party opposition led by Edward Heath. They won the 1970 general election, and set to work defining their own scheme. This scrapped the concept of unitary authorities (even for existing county boroughs) — the entire area of England and Wales was to be divided into uniform counties and districts. In England the new administrative counties were to be largely modelled on the traditional counties, but in some areas (quite apart from the metropolitan areas) quite radical reforms were put forward.
Despite reassurances from the government that nobody's loyalties were expected to change as a result of the local government reform, and that the ancient and geographic counties would not be formally abolished; many changes did incur significant local oppositions. Most of the radical changes were withdrawn. One aspect the government stood firm on was the mergers of small counties. Campaigns for the continuation of Rutland and Herefordshire were unsuccessful, although due to its special geographic circumstances, the Isle of Wight was permitted to retain a separate county council, as opposed to being reunified with its historic county of Hampshire.
The Local Government Act was passed in 1972, and defined the English counties and metropolitan districts, but not the non-metropolitan districts. These were set by a Boundary Commission that had already begun work.
The metropolitan counties were composed as follows:
- Merseyside - based around Liverpool, south-west Lancashire, along with, from the other side of the River Mersey, the Wirral in north-west Cheshire
- Greater Manchester - the Manchester urban area along with many surrounding towns
- South Yorkshire - based upon the Sheffield-Rotherham area in the West Riding of Yorkshire
- Tyne and Wear - the Tyneside conurbation based on Newcastle-upon-Tyne in Northumberland, along with Sunderland in County Durham
- West Midlands - Birmingham conurbation, including the Black Country and Coventry
- West Yorkshire - Leeds-Bradford area in the West Riding
Other significant changes were:
- Avon formed from northern Somerset, southern Gloucestershire, and Bristol and Bath
- Cleveland formed from southern Durham and northern part of the North Riding, focusing on the Teesside conurbation along with Guisborough and Hartlepool
- Cumbria was formed from Westmorland, Cumberland and part of Lancashire and Yorkshire
- Herefordshire and Worcestershire were merged into Hereford and Worcester
- Humberside formed from eastern Yorkshire and northern Lincolnshire
- Huntingdon and Peterborough was annexed by Cambridgeshire
- Rutland was merged into Leicestershire as a district
- Vale of White Horse, including Berkshire's former county town Abingdon was ceded to Oxfordshire
Map 1974-1995
| Counties of England from 1974 to 1996 | ||||
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Image:EnglandCounties1974.png | | ||
| Structure of subnational entities in England 1974 - 1990s | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| County level: | Metropolitan county | Non-metropolitan county | Greater London | |
| District level: | Metropolitan district | Non-metropolitan district | London borough | |
| Parish level: | Civil parish | Civil parish | n/a | |
Abolition of metropolitan county councils
- Main article: Local Government Act 1985
In 1986 the county councils of the metropolitan counties, and the Greater London Council, were abolished by Margaret Thatcher's government following disputes with central government, but the counties themselves remained legally in existence.
1990s UK local government reform
- Main article: 1990s UK local government reform
The 1990s led to the restoration of county boroughs under a new name, unitary authorities, which radically changed the administrative map of England. The changes were carried out in several waves.
On April 1, 1995, the Isle of Wight became a single unitary authority. It had previously had a two-tier structure with an Isle of Wight County Council; and a Medina Borough Council and a South Wight Borough Council. Also on this day, two small areas were ceded from Surrey and Buckinghamshire to Berkshire, giving it a border with Greater London.
On April 1, 1996, the unpopular counties of Avon, Humberside and Cleveland were abolished and their districts turned into unitary authorities. Also at this time, the City of York was expanded and separated from North Yorkshire.
On April 1, 1997, the districts of Bournemouth, Darlington, Derby, Leicester, Luton, Milton Keynes, Poole, Portsmouth, Rutland and Southampton became unitary authorities. Also, the districts of Brighton and Hove were merged to form the new unitary authority of Brighton and Hove.
On April 1, 1998, Blackpool, Blackburn with Darwen, Halton, Medway, Nottingham, Peterborough, Plymouth, Swindon, Stoke-on-Trent, Southend-on-Sea, Telford and Wrekin, Torbay, Thurrock and Warrington became unitary authorities. Also, Hereford and Worcester was abolished and replaced by the unitary authority of Herefordshire and the shire county of Worcestershire. Berkshire was split into six unitary authorities, but not formally abolished.
See also
External links
- Modern (post 1974) County
- Unitary Authority
- European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999 - Schedule 2 - Electoral Regions in England listing many counties extant at that datefr:Comté métropolitain et non-métropolitain d'Angleterre