Local government

Main articles: Local government in England, Local government in Scotland, Local government in Wales, and Local government in Northern Ireland

The UK is divided into a variety of different types of Local Authorities, with different functions and responsibilities.

England has a mix of two-tier and single-tier councils in different parts of the country. In Greater London, a unique two-tier system exists, with power shared between the London borough councils, and the Greater London Authority which is headed by an elected mayor.

Unitary Authorities are used throughout Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Local government in England

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Councils in England are based in buildings such as the Manchester Town Hall.

The pattern of local government in England is complex, with the distribution of functions varying according to the local arrangements. Legislation concerning local government in England is decided by the Parliament and Government of the United Kingdom, because England does not have a devolved parliament or regional assemblies.Contents [hide]

1 Subdivisions

1.1 Principal authorities

1.2 Parishes

2 History

3 People

3.1 Councillors and mayors

3.2 Elections

3.3 Officers

4 Functions and powers

5 Funding

5.1 Aggregate External Finance

6 Boundaries and names

7 Special arrangements

7.1 Joint arrangements

7.2 City of London Corporation

8 Future

9 See also

10 References

11 External links

[edit]

Subdivisions

Structure of local government in England

Main article: Subdivisions of England

[edit]

Principal authorities

England has since 1999 been subdivided into nine regions. One of these, London, has an elected Assembly and Mayor, but the others had a relatively minor role, with unelected boards and Regional Development Agencies due to be abolished in 2012. Below the region level and excluding London, England has two different patterns of local government in use. In some areas there is a county council responsible for services such as education, waste management and strategic planning within a county, with several district councils responsible for services such as housing, waste collection and local planning. These councils are elected in separate elections. Some areas have only one level of local government, and these are dubbed unitary authorities. The City of London and the Isles of Scilly are sui generis authorities, pre-dating recent reforms of local government.

There are 193 District Councils in two tier areas. The following table lists the two-tier 'shire' counties, metropolitan districts, London boroughs and unitary authorities:Type County, Metropolitan District, London Borough and unitary authorities Total

Two-tier 'shire' counties Buckinghamshire · Cambridgeshire · Cumbria · Derbyshire · Devon · Dorset · East Sussex · Essex · Gloucestershire · Hampshire · Hertfordshire · Kent · Lancashire · Leicestershire · Lincolnshire · Norfolk · Northamptonshire · North Yorkshire · Nottinghamshire · Oxfordshire · Somerset · Staffordshire · Suffolk · Surrey · Warwickshire · West Sussex · Worcestershire 27

London borough Barking and Dagenham · Barnet · Bexley · Brent · Bromley · Camden · Croydon · Ealing · Enfield · Greenwich · Hackney · Hammersmith and Fulham · Haringey · Harrow · Havering · Hillingdon · Hounslow · Islington · Kensington and Chelsea · Kingston upon Thames · Lambeth · Lewisham · Merton · Newham · Redbridge · Richmond upon Thames · Southwark · Sutton · Tower Hamlets · Waltham Forest · Wandsworth · Westminster 32

Metropolitan district Greater Manchester: Bolton · Bury · Manchester · Oldham · Rochdale · Salford · Stockport · Tameside · Trafford · Wigan

Merseyside: Knowsley · Liverpool · Sefton · St Helens · Wirral

South Yorkshire: Barnsley · Doncaster · Rotherham · Sheffield

Tyne and Wear: Gateshead · Newcastle upon Tyne · North Tyneside · South Tyneside · Sunderland

West Midlands: Birmingham · Coventry · Dudley · Sandwell · Solihull · Walsall · Wolverhampton

West Yorkshire: Bradford · Calderdale · Kirklees · Leeds · Wakefield 36

Unitary authority Bath and North East Somerset · Bedford · Blackburn with Darwen · Blackpool · Bournemouth · Bracknell Forest · Brighton and Hove · Bristol · Central Bedfordshire · Cheshire East · Cheshire West and Chester · Cornwall · County Durham · Derby · Darlington · East Riding of Yorkshire · Halton · Hartlepool · Herefordshire · Isle of Wight · Kingston upon Hull · Leicester · Luton · Medway · Middlesbrough · Milton Keynes · North East Lincolnshire · North Lincolnshire · North Somerset · Northumberland · Nottingham · Peterborough · Plymouth · Poole · Portsmouth · Reading · Redcar and Cleveland · Rutland · Slough · Southampton · Southend-on-Sea · South Gloucestershire · Stockton-on-Tees · Stoke-on-Trent ·Shropshire ·Swindon · Telford and Wrekin · Thurrock · Torbay · Warrington · West Berkshire · Wiltshire · Windsor and Maidenhead · Wokingham · York 55

sui generis City of London · Isles of Scilly 2

Total 152

[edit]

Parishes

Main articles: Civil parishes in England and Parish councils in England

Below the district level, a district may be divided into several civil parishes. Typical activities undertaken by a parish council include allotments, parks, public clocks, and entering Britain in Bloom. They also have a consultative role in planning. Councils such as districts, counties and unitaries are known as principal local authorities in order to differentiate them in their legal status from parish and town councils, which are not uniform in their existence. Local councils tend not to exist in metropolitan areas but there is nothing to stop their establishment. For example, Birmingham has a parish, New Frankley. Parishes have not existed in Greater London since 1965, but from 2007 they could legally be created. In some districts, the rural area is parished and the urban is not - such as the Borough of Hinckley and Bosworth, where the town of Hinckley is unparished and has no local councils, while the countryside around the town is parished.[1] In others, there is a more complex mixture, as in the case of the Borough of Kettering, where the small towns of Burton Latimer, Desborough and Rothwell are parished, while Kettering town itself is not. In addition, among the rural parishes, two share a joint parish council and two have no council but are governed by an annual parish meeting.[2]

[edit]

History

Main article: History of local government in England

The current arrangement of local government in England is the result of a range of incremental measures which have their origins in the municipal reform of the 19th century. During the 20th century, the structure of local government was reformed and rationalised, with local government areas becoming fewer and larger; and the functions of local councils amended. The way local authorities are funded has also been subject to periodic and significant reform.

[edit]

People

[edit]

Councillors and mayors

Main articles: Cabinet-style council and Elected mayors in the United Kingdom

Councils have historically had no split between executive and legislature. Functions are vested in the council itself, and then exercised usually by committees or subcommittees of the council. The post of leader was recognised, and leaders typically chair several important committees, but had no special authority. The chair of the council itself is an honorary position with no real power. Under section 15 the Local Government and Housing Act 1989, committees must roughly reflect the political party makeup of the council; before it was permitted for a party with control of the council to "pack" committees with their own members. This pattern was based on that established for municipal boroughs by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835, and then later adopted for county councils and rural districts.

In 2000, Parliament passed the Local Government Act 2000 to require councils to move to an executive-based system, either with the council leader and a cabinet acting as an executive authority, or with a directly elected mayor – either with a mayor and cabinet drawn from the councillors – or a mayor and council manager. There is a small exception to this whereby smaller district councils (population of less than 85,000) can adopt a modified committee system. Most councils are using the council leader and cabinet option, while 52 smaller councils have been allowed to propose alternative arrangements based on the older system (Section 31 of the Act), and Brighton and Hove invoked a similar provision (Section 27(2)(b)) when a referendum to move to a directly elected mayor was defeated.

There are now twelve directly elected mayors, in districts where a referendum was in favour of them. Many of the mayors are independents (notably in Hartlepool and Middlesbrough, which in parliamentary elections are usually Labour Party strongholds). Since May 2002, only a handful of referendums have been held, and they have all been negative apart from Torbay. Of the mayors, all but Stoke-on-Trent's are mayor and cabinet-based. The Executive, in whichever form, is held to account by the remainder of the Councillors acting as the "Overview and Scrutiny function" - calling the Executive to account for their actions and to justify their future plans. As a relatively new concept within local government, this is arguably an under-developed part of local municipal administration. In a related development, the Health and Social Care Act 2001, Police and Justice Act 2006, and 2006 local government white paper set out a role for local government Overview and Scrutiny in creating greater local accountability for a range of public-sector organisations.

Boroughs in many cases are descendants of municipal boroughs set up hundreds of years ago, and so have accreted a number of traditions and ceremonial functions. Where borough councils have not adopted a directly elected mayor, the chair of the council is the mayor. In certain cities the mayor is known as the Lord Mayor. The chairman of a town council is styled the Town Mayor.

Councils may make people honorary freemen or honorary aldermen. A Mayor's term of office denotes the municipal year.

[edit]

Elections

The area which a council covers is divided into one or more electoral divisions – known in district and parish councils as "wards", and in county councils as "electoral divisions". Each ward can return one or more members; multi-member wards are quite common. There is no requirement for the size of wards to be the same within a district, so one ward can return one member and another ward can return two. Metropolitan borough wards must return a multiple of three councillors, while until the Local Government Act 2003 multiple-member county electoral divisions were forbidden.

In the election, the candidates to receive the most votes win, in a system known as the multi-member plurality system. There is no element of proportional representation, so if four candidates from the Mauve Party poll 2,000 votes each, and four candidates from the Taupe Party poll 1,750 votes each, all four Mauve candidates will be returned, and no Taupe candidates will. Although this has been said by some to be undemocratic,[3] minor and local single-issue parties do tend to do much better at local elections than they do in general elections, so the case for reform is perhaps less clear. In any event, the system is not likely to change for the foreseeable future.

The term of a councillor is usually four years. Councils may be elected wholly, every four years, or "by thirds", where a third of the councillors get elected each year, with one year with no elections. Recently, the "by halves" system, whereby half of the council is elected every two years, has been allowed. Sometimes wholesale boundary revisions will mean the entire council will be re-elected, before returning to the previous elections by thirds or by halves over the coming years. Recent legistation allows a council to move from elections by thirds to all-up elections.

Often, local government elections are watched closely to detect the mood of the electorate before upcoming parliamentary elections.

[edit]

Officers

Councillors cannot do the work of the council themselves, and so are responsible for appointment and oversight of officers, who are delegated to perform most tasks. Local authorities nowadays have to appoint a "Chief Executive Officer", with overall responsibility for council employees, and who operates in conjunction with department heads. The Chief Executive Officer position is weak compared to the council manager system seen in other counties (and in Stoke). In some areas, much of the work previously undertaken directly by council employees has been privatised.

[edit]

Functions and powersArrangement Upper tier authority Lower tier authority

Shire counties waste management, education, libraries, social services, transport, strategic planning, consumer protection, police, fire housing, waste collection, council tax collection, local planning, licensing, cemeteries and crematoria

Unitary

authorities housing, waste management, waste collection, council tax collection, education, libraries, social services, transport, planning, consumer protection, licensing, cemeteries and crematoria †, police and fire come under Shire councils

Metropolitan counties housing, waste collection, council tax collection, education, libraries, social services, transport, planning, consumer protection, licensing, police, fire, cemeteries and crematoria †

Greater London transport, strategic planning, regional development, police, fire housing, waste collection, council tax collection, education, libraries, social services, local planning, consumer protection, licensing, cemeteries and crematoria †

† = in practice, some functions take place at a strategic level through joint boards and arrangements

Councils also have a general power to "promote economic, social and environmental well-being" of their area. However, like all public bodies, they are limited by the doctrine of ultra vires, and may only do things that common law or an Act of Parliament specifically or generally allows for - in contrast to the earlier incorporated municipal corporations which were treated as natural persons and could undertake whatever activities they wished to. Councils may promote Local Acts in Parliament to grant them special powers. For example, Kingston upon Hull had for many years a municipally owned telephone company, Kingston Communications.

[edit]

Funding

Local councils are funded by a combination of central government grants, Council Tax (a locally set tax based on house value), Business Rates, and fees and charges from certain services including decriminalised parking enforcement. The proportion of revenue that comes from Council Tax is low, meaning that if a council wishes to increase its funding modestly, it has to put up Council Tax by a large amount. Central government retains the right to "cap" Council Tax if it deems it to be too much.[citation needed] This is an area of debate in British politics at the moment, with councils and central government blaming each other for council tax rises.[citation needed]

Council Tax is collected by the district-level council. Authorities such as the GLA, parish councils, county councils, passenger transport authorities, fire authorities, police authorities, and national parks authorities can make a precept. This shows up as an independent element on council tax bills, but is collected by the district and funnelled to the precepting authority. Some joint ventures are instead funded by levy.[citation needed]

[edit]

Aggregate External Finance

Aggregate External Finance (AEF) refers to the total amount of money given by central government to local government. It consists of the Revenue Support Grant (RSG), ringfenced and other specific grants, and redistributed business rates. A portion of the RSG money paid to each authority is diverted to fund organisations that provide improvement and research services to local government (this is referred to as the RSG top-slice). The majority of these organisations are those that form the Local Government Group.[citation needed]

[edit]

Boundaries and names

Sizes of council areas vary widely. The most populous district in England is Birmingham (a metropolitan borough) with 977,087 people (2001 census), and the least populous non-metropolitan unitary area is Rutland with 34,563. However, these are outliers, and most English unitary authorities have a population in the range of 150,000 to 300,000. The smallest non-unitary district in England is West Somerset at 35,400 people, and the largest Northampton at 194,458. However, all but 9 non-unitary English districts have fewer than 150,000 people. Responsibility for minor revisions to local government areas falls to the Boundary Committee for England. Revisions are usually undertaken to avoid borders straddling new development, to bring them back into line with a diverted watercourse, or to align them with roads or other features.

Where a district is coterminous with a town, the name is an easy choice to make. In some cases, a district is named after its main town, despite there being other towns in the district. Confusingly, such districts sometimes have city status, and so for example the City of Canterbury contains several towns apart from Canterbury, which have distinct identities. Similarly the City of Winchester contains a number of large villages and extensive countryside, which is quite distinct from the main settlement of Winchester. They can be named after historic subdivisions (Broxtowe, Spelthorne), rivers (Eden, Arun), a modified or alternative version of their main town's name (Harborough, Wycombe), a combination of main town and geographical feature (Newark and Sherwood) or after a geographical feature in the district (Cotswold, Cannock Chase). A number of districts are named after former religious houses (Kirklees, Vale Royal, Waverley). Purely geographical names can also be used (South Bucks, Suffolk Coastal, North West Leicestershire). In a handful of cases entirely new names have been devised, examples being Castle Point, Thamesdown (subsequently renamed as Swindon) and Wychavon. Councils have a general power to change the name of the district, and consequently their own name, under section 74 of the Local Government Act 1972. Such a resolution must have two thirds of the votes at a meeting convened for the purpose.

Councils of counties are called "X County Council", whereas district councils can be District Council, Borough Council, or City Council depending upon the status of the district. Unitary authorities may be called County Councils, Borough Councils, City Councils, District Councils, or sometimes just Councils. These names do not change the role or authority of the council.

Greater London is further divided into 32 London boroughs, each governed by a London Borough Council, and the City of London, which is governed by the City of London Corporation. In the London boroughs the legal entity is not the Council as elsewhere but the inhabitants incorporated as a legal entity by royal charter (a process abolished elsewhere in England and Wales under the Local Government Act 1972). Thus, a London authority's official legal title is "The Mayor and Burgesses of the London Borough of X" (or "The Lord Mayor and Citizens of the City of Westminster"). In common speech, however, "The London Borough of X" is used.

Metropolitan counties have no county councils and are divided into metropolitan districts whose councils have either the status of City Council or Metropolitan Borough Council.

Some districts are Royal boroughs, but this does not affect the name of the council.

[edit]

Special arrangements

[edit]

Joint arrangements

West Mercia Police shown within England

Local authorities sometimes provide services on a joint basis with other authorities, through bodies known as joint-boards. Joint-boards are not directly elected but are made up of councillors appointed from the authorities which are covered by the service. Typically, joint-boards are created to avoid splitting up certain services when unitary authorities are created, or a county or regional council is abolished. In other cases, if several authorities are considered too small (in terms of either geographic size or population) to run a service effectively by themselves, joint-boards are established. Typical services run by joint-boards include policing, fire services, public transport and sometimes waste disposal authorities.

In several areas a joint police force is used which covers several counties; for example, the Thames Valley Police (in Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire) and the West Mercia Police (in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, Herefordshire and Worcestershire). In the six metropolitan counties, the metropolitan borough councils also appoint members to joint county-wide passenger transport authorities to oversee public transport, and joint waste disposal authorities, which were created after the county councils were abolished.

Joint-boards were used extensively in Greater London when the Greater London Council was abolished, to avoid splitting up some London-wide services. These functions have now been taken over by the Greater London Authority. Similar arrangements exist in Berkshire, where the county council has been abolished. If a joint body is legally required to exist, it is known as a joint-board. However, local authorities sometimes create joint bodies voluntarily and these are known as joint-committees.[4]

[edit]

City of London Corporation

The City of London covers a square mile (2.6 km²) in the heart of London. It is governed by the City of London Corporation, which has a unique structure. The Corporation has been broadly untouched by local government reforms and democratisation. It has its own ancient system of 25 wards. The business vote was abolished for other parts of the country in 1969, but due to the low resident population of the City this was thought impractical. In fact, the business vote was recently extended in the City to cover more companies.

[edit]

Future

Further information: 2009 structural changes to local government in England

The Labour Government released a Local Government White Paper on 26 October 2006, Strong and Prosperous Communities, which dealt with the structure of local government.[5][6][7][8] The White Paper did not deal with the issues of local government funding or of reform or replacement of the Council Tax, which was awaiting the final report of the Lyons Review.[9] A Local Government Bill was introduced in the 2006–2007 session of Parliament.[10] The White Paper emphasised the concept of "double devolution", with more powers being granted to councils, and powers being devolved from town halls to community levels. It proposed to reduce the level of central government oversight over local authorities by removing centrally set performance targets, and statutory controls of the Secretary of State over parish councils, bye-laws, and electoral arrangements.

The white paper proposed that the existing prohibition on parish councils in Greater London would be abolished, and making new parishes easier to set up. Parish councils can currently be styled parish councils, town councils or city councils: the White Paper proposes that "community council", "neighbourhood council" and "village council" may be used as well. The reforms strengthen the council executives, and provided an option between a directly elected mayor, a directly-elected executive, or an indirectly elected leader – all with a fixed 4-year term.

A report released by the IPPR's Centre for Cities in February 2006, City Leadership: giving city regions the power to grow, proposed the creation of two large city-regions based on Manchester and Birmingham: the Birmingham one would cover the existing West Midlands metropolitan county, along with Bromsgrove, Cannock Chase, Lichfield, North Warwickshire, Redditch and Tamworth, while the Manchester one would cover the existing Greater Manchester along with the borough of Macclesfield.[11] No firm proposals of this sort appear in the White Paper. Reportedly, this had been the subject of an internal dispute within the government.[12]

Since the new Coalition Government was elected in 2010 while the thrust of policy is to further promote localism, as within the introduction of the Localism bill in December 2010[13] the Coalition has also declared its intention to streamline past regulation, reform planning, re-organise the police and health authorities, has abolished a whole tier of regional authorities and in its one page Best Value Guidance[14]. voiced its intention to repeal the Sustainable Communities Act and other New Labour commitments like the 'Duty to Involve'.

Local government in Scotland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (May 2007)

Scotland

This article is part of the series:

Politics and government of

Scotland

Government[show]

Parliament[show]

Scots law[show]

Scotland in the UK[show]

Scotland in the EU[show]

Subdivisions[show]

Other countries · Atlas

Politics portal

view · talk · edit

Local government in Scotland is organised through 32 unitary authorities[1] designated as Councils[2] which consist of councillors elected every four years by registered voters in each of the council areas.

Councils receive the majority of their funding from the Scottish Government,[3] through Aggregate External Finance (AEF). AEF consists of three parts: Revenue Support Grants, Non-Domestic Rates, and Income and Specific Grants.[4] The level of central government support for each authority is determined by the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Sustainable Growth, currently John Swinney MSP, and is distributed by the Finance and Central Services Department of the Scottish Government. Councils obtain additional income through the Council Tax, that the council itself sets.

Scottish councils co-operate through, and are represented collectively by, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA).Contents [hide]

1 History

1.1 Origins

1.2 Modern history

2 Map

3 Governance and administration

3.1 Convenor (Provost)

3.2 Leader of the Council

3.3 Officers

4 Election results, 2007

4.1 Council control

5 Election results, 2003

5.1 Council control

6 Community councils

7 See also

8 Notes and references

9 External links

[edit]

History

Main article: History of local government in Scotland

[edit]

Origins

The history of Scottish local government mainly surrounds involves the counties of Scotland. The counties have their origins in the sheriffdoms or shires over which a sheriff (a contraction of shire reeve) exercised jurisdiction.

Malcolm III appears to have introduced sheriffs as part of a policy of replacing native "Celtic" forms of government with Anglo Saxon and Norman feudal structures.[5] This was continued by his sons Edgar, Alexander I and in particular David I. David completed the division of the country into sheriffdoms by the conversion of existing thanedoms.[6][7]

From the seventeenth century the shires started to be used for local administration apart from judicial functions. In 1667 Commissioners of Supply were appointed in each sheriffdom to collect the land tax.[8] The commissioners eventually assumed other duties in the county. In 1858 police forces were established in each county under the Police (Scotland) Act 1857.

As a result of the dual system of local government, burghs (of which there were various types) often had a high degree of autonomy.

[edit]

Modern history

Between 1890 and 1975 local government in Scotland was organised with county councils (including four counties of cities) and various lower-level units. Between 1890 and 1929, there were parish councils and town councils, but with the passing of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929, the functions of parish councils were passed to larger district councils and a distinction was made between large burghs (i.e. those with a population of 20,000 or more) and small burghs. This system was further refined by the passing of the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1947.

In 1975, legislation passed by the Conservative government of Edward Heath (1970–1974) introduced a system of two-tier local government in Scotland (see Local government areas of Scotland 1973 to 1996), divided between large Regional Councils and smaller District Councils. The only exceptions to this were the three Island Councils, Western Isles, Shetland and Orkney which had the combined powers of Regions and Districts. The Conservative government of John Major (1990–1997) decided to abolish this system and merge their powers into new unitary authorities. The new councils vary widely in size — some are the same as counties, such as Clackmannanshire, some are the same as former districts, such as Inverclyde and some are the same as the former regions, such as Highland. The changes took effect in 1996 with shadow councillors elected in 1995 to oversee the smooth transition of control.

[edit]

Map

Inverclyde

Renfrewshire

West Dunbartonshire

East Dunbartonshire

Glasgow

East Renfrewshire

North Lanarkshire

Falkirk

West Lothian

Edinburgh

Midlothian

East Lothian

Clackmannanshire

Fife

Dundee

Angus

Aberdeenshire Aberdeen

Moray

Highland

Na h-Eileanan Siar

Argyll and Bute

Perth and Kinross

Stirling

North Ayrshire

East Ayrshire

South Ayrshire

Dumfries and Galloway

South Lanarkshire

Scottish Borders

Orkney

Shetland

[edit]

Governance and administration

The power vested in local authorities is administered by elected councillors. There are currently 1,222, each paid a part-time salary for the undertaking of their duties. In total, there are 32 unitary authorities, the largest being the City of Glasgow with more than 600,000 inhabitants, the smallest, Orkney, with fewer than 20,000 people living there.

Councillors are subject to a Code of Conduct instituted by the Ethical Standards in Public Life etc. (Scotland) Act 2000 and enforced by the Standards Commission for Scotland.[9] If a person believes that a councillor has broken the code of conduct they make a complaint to the Office of the Chief Investigating Officer (CIO). The CIO makes a determination on whether there is a need for an investigation, and then whether or not to refer the matter to the Standards Commission.[10]

[edit]

Convenor (Provost)

Each council elects a Convenor and Depute Convenor to chair meetings of the Council and to act as a figurehead for the area. In the four city councils in Scotland - Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Dundee - the Convenor is called a Lord Provost, whilst in other councils the council may choose the title given to the Convenor.[11] Most councils use the term 'Provost'.

The office of Provost or Convenor is roughly equivalent to that of a Mayor in other parts of the United Kingdom. Traditionally these roles are ceremonial and have no significant administrative functions. Lord Provosts in the four city councils have the additional duty of acting as Lord Lieutenant for their respective city.

[edit]

Leader of the Council

The Leader of the Council is elected as the leader of the largest political grouping of councillors. The Leader of the Council has no executive or administrative powers designated by statute, but the position is salaried.[12] There is also a Depute Leader of the Council appointed.

Each political group within the council typically appoints a leader, with the largest grouping's leader becoming 'Leader of the Council', and being the central figure of de facto political authority.

[edit]

Officers

Officers of a council are administrative, non-political staff of the council. Generally the composition of the council's officers are a matter for the council, but there are a number of statutory officers whose roles are defined by central government.

The most significant of these officers is the Head of Paid Service, usually titled the Chief Executive. The Chief Executive is similar in function to a city manager, though certain councillors have executive authority and there is no clear division of powers.[13]

There is also a statutory Monitoring Officer, who usually heads the Legal Services division of the council, as well as a Chief Financial Officer.[13]

[edit]

Election results, 2007

Follow the introduction of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004 local elections are held using the single transferable vote, with this taking place for the first time in 2007. This change in voting system saw all but five councils end up with no one party in control. Labour retained control of the City of Glasgow and North Lanarkshire, while Orkney, Shetland and Na h-Eileanan Siar continue to be controlled by Independent councillors.

The results are summarised below. Further analysis can be found on the page Scottish council elections, 2007

e • d

Summary of the 3 May 2007 Scottish council election results[14]Parties First-Preference

Votes[15] Votes % +/- Councillors Net

Gain/Loss

Labour 590,085 28.1 -4.5% 348 -161

SNP 585,885 27.9 +3.8% 363 +182

Conservative 327,591 15.6 +0.5% 143 +21

Liberal Democrats 266,693 12.7 -1.8% 166 -9

Independent 228,894 10.9 +0.8% 192 -38

Other 102,897 4.9 +1.3% 10[16] +6

Total 2,099,945 1,222

[edit]

Council control

Further information: Political make-up of local councils in the United Kingdom#Scottish Unitary authorities

The 32 unitary authorities are controlled as follows. The figures incorporate the results from the 2007 local government election, plus gains and losses from subsequent local by-elections, and party defections.Council area Political control [17] Lab SNP LD Con Grn Oth Total

City of Aberdeen LD-SNP 10 13 15 4 0 1 43

Aberdeenshire LD-Con 0 22 24 14 0 8 68

Angus Con-LD-Lab-Oth 2 13 3 5 0 6 29

Argyll and Bute Oth-LD-Con 0 10 8 3 0 15 36

Clackmannanshire Lab (minority) 8 7 1 1 0 1 18

Dumfries and Galloway Con-LD (minority) 14 10 3 18 0 2 47

City of Dundee SNP (minority) 8 14 2 3 0 2 29

East Ayrshire SNP (minority) 14 14 0 3 0 1 32

East Dunbartonshire Con-Lab (minority) 6 8 3 5 0 2 24

East Lothian SNP-LD 7 7 6 2 0 1 23

East Renfrewshire Lab-SNP-Oth-LD 7 3 1 7 0 2 20

City of Edinburgh LD-SNP 15 12 17 11 3 0 58

Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Outer Hebrides) Ind 2 4 0 0 0 25 31

Falkirk Lab-Oth-Con 14 13 0 2 0 3 32

Fife SNP-LD 24 23 21 5 0 5 78

City of Glasgow Lab 46 22 5 1 5 0 79

Highland Oth-LD-Lab 7 18 21 0 0 34 80

Inverclyde Lab-Con-Oth 9 5 4 1 0 1 20

Midlothian Lab (minority) 9 6 3 0 0 0 18

Moray Oth-Con 2 9 0 3 0 12 26

North Ayrshire Lab (minority) 12 8 2 3 0 5 30

North Lanarkshire Lab 40 23 1 1 0 5 70

Orkney Oth 0 0 0 0 0 21 21

Perth and Kinross SNP-LD 3 18 8 12 0 0 41

Renfrewshire SNP-LD 17 17 4 2 0 0 40

Scottish Borders Oth-Con-LD 0 6 10 11 0 7 34

Shetland Oth 0 0 0 0 0 22 22

South Ayrshire Con (minority) 9 8 0 12 0 1 30

South Lanarkshire Lab (minority) 30 24 2 8 0 3 67

Stirling SNP (minority) 7 7 3 4 0 1 22

West Dunbartonshire SNP-Oth 10 9 0 0 0 3 22

West Lothian SNP-Oth 14 13 0 1 0 4 32

TOTAL - 348 363 166 143 8 194 1222

[edit]

Election results, 2003

e • d

Summary of the 1 May 2003 Scottish council election resultsParties Votes Votes % +/- Wards Net

Gain/Loss

Labour 611,843 32.6 -3.7% 509 -42

SNP 451,660 24.1 -4.6% 181 -23

Conservative 282,895 15.1 +1.6% 122 +14

Liberal Democrats 272,057 14.5 +1.9% 175 +18

Independent 189,749 10.1 +3.0% 230 +39

Other 67,533 3.6 +2.0% 4 -6

Total 1,875,737 1,222

[edit]

Council control

The 32 unitary authorities were controlled as follows, before the 2007 elections. The figures incorporate the results from the 2003 local government election, plus gains and losses from subsequent local by-elections, and party defections.Council area Political control Labour Party (Lab) Scottish National Party (SNP) Liberal Democrats (LD) Conservative Party (Con) Others (Oth)

City of Aberdeen LD-Con 14 6 20 3 0

Aberdeenshire LD-Oth 0 18 28 11 11

Angus SNP 1 17 3 2 6

Argyll and Bute Oth 0 3 8 3 22

Clackmannanshire Lab 10 7 0 1 0

Dumfries and Galloway Lab (minority) 15 5 5 11 11

City of Dundee SNP 8 14 2 3 2

East Ayrshire Lab 23 8 0 1 0

East Dunbartonshire LD 9 0 12 3 0

East Lothian Lab 17 1 1 4 0

East Renfrewshire Lab-LD 8 0 3 7 2

City of Edinburgh Lab 30 1 14 13 0

Na h-Eileanan Siar Oth 4 3 0 0 24

Falkirk SNP-Oth 12 11 0 2 7

Fife Lab (minority) 35 13 23 2 5

City of Glasgow Lab 69 4 3 1 2

Highland Oth 8 6 13 0 53

Inverclyde LD 6 0 13 0 1

Midlothian Lab 14 1 3 0 0

Moray Oth 5 3 1 1 16

North Ayrshire Lab 20 3 0 5 2

North Lanarkshire Lab 54 13 0 0 3

Orkney Oth 0 0 0 0 21

Perth and Kinross SNP-LD-oth 5 15 9 10 2

Renfrewshire Lab 21 14 3 1 0

Scottish Borders Oth-Con 0 2 8 11 13

Shetland Oth 0 0 5 0 17

South Ayrshire Con (control dependent on casting vote of the Provost) 14 0 0 15 1

South Lanarkshire Lab 49 9 2 4 3

Stirling Lab 11 1 0 10 0

West Dunbartonshire Lab 16 3 0 0 3

West Lothian Lab 18 11 0 1 2

TOTAL - 495 (15 councils, plus 2 shared control) 190 (1 council, plus 2 shared control) 179 (2 councils, plus 5 shared control) 126 (1 council, plus 2 shared control) 232(6 councils, plus 4 shared control)

[edit]

Community councils

Main article: List of community council areas in Scotland

See also: Community council#Community councils in Scotland

Community councils represent the interests of local people. Local authorities have a statutory duty to consult community councils on planning, development and other issues directly affecting that local community. However, the community council has no direct say in the delivery of services. In many areas they do not function at all, but some work very effectively at improving their local area. Elections for community councils are determined by the local authority but the law does state that candidates cannot stand on a party-political ticket.

Local government in Wales

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Wales

This article is part of the series:

Politics and government of

Wales

Government[show]

National Assembly[show]

Law and justice[show]

Wales in the UK[show]

Wales in the EU[show]

Subdivisions[show]

Other countries · Atlas

Politics portal

view · talk · edit

For local government purposes, Wales is (since 1996) divided into 22 single-tier principal areas[1], which are responsible for the provision of all local government services, including education, social work, environment and roads services. Below these in some areas there are community councils, which cover specific areas within a council area.

All 22 authorities are regularly called counties in the Welsh media, including BBC Wales.[2][3]

The Queen appoints a Lord Lieutenant to represent her in the eight preserved counties of Wales — which are combinations of council areas. However other subdivisions occur when dividing Wales into separate regions in the provisions of fire, and police services. For example there is a South Wales Police force, rather than the Glamorgan Police Force.Contents [hide]

1 Cities

2 Principal areas of Wales

3 Name changes

4 Preserved counties of Wales

5 Historic counties of Wales

6 Communities

7 Police and fire services

7.1 Police forces

7.2 Fire and rescue services

8 History

9 See also

10 External links

11 References

[edit]

Cities

There are five cities in total in Wales: in addition to the three areas with city status, the communities of Bangor and St David's also have the status. City status is determined by letters patent.

Bangor

Cardiff

Newport

St David's

Swansea

St. Asaph, as the seat of a bishopric, was historically referred to as a city, and was described as such in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica. The status was never officially recognised, however. When city status was restored to St David's in 1994, St Asaph community council submitted a petition for the same purpose. The petition was refused as, unlike St David's, there was no evidence of any charter or letters patent in the past conferring the status. Applications for city status in competitions in 2000 and 2002 were unsuccessful.[4]

[edit]

Principal areas of Wales

There are 22 principal areas in Wales, they came into being on 1 April 1996 by virtue of the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 (1994 c. 19). Eleven are named as counties, including the Cities and Counties of Cardiff and Swansea (marked *), and eleven are named as county boroughs (marked †).[5] In 2002 Newport was granted city status, and the county borough is now styled as the "City of Newport".[6][7] Welsh language forms are given in parentheses, except where there is no English equivalent.

Locations of each county/county borough headquarters are indicated by yellow markers. Blaenau Gwent †

Bridgend (Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr) †

Caerphilly (Caerffili) †

Cardiff (Caerdydd) *

Carmarthenshire (Sir Gaerfyrddin)

Ceredigion

Conwy †

Denbighshire (Sir Ddinbych)

Flintshire (Sir y Fflint)

Gwynedd

Isle of Anglesey (Ynys Môn)

Merthyr Tydfil (Merthyr Tudful) †

Monmouthshire (Sir Fynwy)

Neath Port Talbot (Castell-nedd Port Talbot) †

Newport (Casnewydd) †

Pembrokeshire (Sir Benfro)

Powys

Rhondda Cynon Taf †

Swansea (Abertawe) *

Torfaen (Tor-faen) †

Vale of Glamorgan (Bro Morgannwg) †

Wrexham (Wrecsam) †

[show]

v · d · e

Principal areas of Wales

[edit]

Name changes

The current names of certain unitary authority areas are different from those specified in the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994. The following changes took place, all with effect from 2 April 1996:[8]

Conwy from Aberconwy and Colwyn

Isle of Anglesey from Anglesey

Gwynedd from Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire

Ceredigion from Cardiganshire

Neath Port Talbot from Neath and Port Talbot

[edit]

Preserved counties of Wales

See also: Preserved counties of Wales

For ceremonial purposes of Lieutenancy and Shrievalty, Wales is divided into 8 preserved counties which are based on the counties created by the Local Government Act 1972 and used for local government and other purposes between 1974 and abolished in 1996.

[edit]

Historic counties of Wales

See also: Historic counties of Wales

The historic counties of Wales are ancient subdivisions of Wales, used for various functions for several hundred years. The first counties were created in 1282 and another tranche created in 1535, and were the main subdivisions of Wales until 1974 when the subdivisions were changed following the Local Government Act 1972.

[edit]

Communities

See also: List of communities in Wales

The lowest level of subdivision below unitary authority areas in Wales are Communities. Each area is subdivided into communities. They may have elected community councils (CCs) which perform a number of roles, such as providing local facilities, and representing their communities to larger local government bodies. Community councils are the equivalent of English parish councils. A community council may call itself a 'town council' if it wishes to do so. Two Welsh communities Bangor and St David's have city status and are therefore called 'City Councils'. Communities which are too small to have a council may have a community meeting instead, an example of direct democracy.

[edit]

Police and fire services

[edit]

Police forces

There are four police forces in Wales. These are: North Wales Police (Heddlu Gogledd Cymru)

Dyfed-Powys Police (Heddlu Dyfed-Powys)

South Wales Police (Heddlu De Cymru)

Gwent Police (Heddlu Gwent)

[edit]

Fire and rescue services

There are three fire and rescue services in Wales. The present Welsh fire services date from 1996. Each covers a number of unitary authority areas. These are: North Wales Fire and Rescue Service (Gwasanaeth Tân ac Achub Gogledd Cymru)

Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service (Gwasanaeth Tân ac Achub Canolbarth a Gorllewin Cymru)

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service (Gwasanaeth Tân ac Achub De Cymru)

Local government in Northern Ireland

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Northern Ireland

This article is part of the series:

Politics and government of

Northern Ireland

Executive[show]

Assembly[show]

Northern Ireland Law[show]

NI in the UK[show]

NI in the EU[show]

Local Government[show]

Other countries · Atlas

Politics portal

view · talk · edit

Northern Ireland is divided into 26 districts for local government purposes. In Northern Ireland local councils do not carry out the same range of functions as those in the rest of the United Kingdom, for example they have no responsibility for education, for road building or for housing (though they do nominate members to the advisory Northern Ireland Housing Council). Their functions do include waste and recycling services, leisure and community services, building control and local economic and cultural development. They are not planning authorities, but are consulted on some planning applications. The collection of rates is handled by the Land and Property Services agency. The councils of the 26 districts are variously styled 'district councils', 'borough councils', 'city councils' and 'city and district councils'.Contents [hide]

1 Districts

2 History

3 Elections

4 Combinations

4.1 Education and libraries

4.2 Health and social care

4.3 Eurostat NUTS level 3

5 Proposed reform

6 See also

7 References

8 External links

[edit]

DistrictsAntrim

Ards

Armagh

Ballymena

Ballymoney

Banbridge

Belfast

Carrickfergus

Castlereagh

Coleraine

Cookstown

Craigavon

Derry Down

Dungannon and South Tyrone

Fermanagh

Larne

Limavady

Lisburn

Magherafelt

Moyle

Newry and Mourne

Newtownabbey

North Down

Omagh

Strabane

[edit]

History

The current pattern of local government in Northern Ireland, with 26 councils, was established in 1973 by the Local Government (Boundaries) Act (Northern Ireland) 1971 and the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972 to replace the previous system established by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898. The system is based on the recommendations of the Macrory Report, of June 1970, which presupposed the continued existence of the Government of Northern Ireland to act as a regional-level authority.[1]

From 1921 to 1973, Northern Ireland was divided into six administrative counties (subdivided into urban and rural districts) and two county boroughs. The counties and county boroughs continue to exist for the purposes of lieutenancy and shrievalty.[2]

[edit]

Elections

Councillors are elected for a four-year term of office under the single transferable vote (STV) system. Elections were last held in May 2005. The elections due in 2009 were postponed in anticipation of local government reform.[3] With the abandonment of the reorganisation, the elections were held in May 2011, with the next polls due in May 2015. In order to qualify for election, a councillor candidate must be:

at least 18 years of age, and

a British, Irish, Commonwealth or European Union citizen.

In addition, he or she must either:

be a local elector for the district, or

have, during the whole of the 12-month period prior to the election, either owned or occupied land in the district, or else resided or worked in the district.

For local government purposes, Northern Ireland was previously divided into six administrative counties and two county boroughs, with various rural districts and urban districts in the counties. This system, with the abolition of rural districts, remains the model for local government in the Republic of Ireland. See: List of rural and urban districts in Northern Ireland for more details.

[edit]

Combinations

The districts are combined for various purposes.

[edit]

Education and libraries

There are currently five education and library boards (ELBs) in Northern Ireland.

As part of the Review of Public Administration process, the library functions of the ELBs were taken over by a new body, the Northern Ireland Library Authority (branded Libraries NI) in April 2009.[4]

The education and skills functions were to have been centralised into a single Education and Skills Authority in January 2010, but this has been postponed.[5][6]

The boards are as follows: Name Area

1. Belfast

2. North Eastern Antrim, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Carrickfergus, Coleraine, Larne, Magherafelt, Moyle, Newtownabbey

3. South Eastern Ards, Castlereagh, Down, Lisburn and North Down

4. Southern Armagh, Banbridge, Cookstown, Craigavon, Dungannon and South Tyrone, Newry and Mourne

5. Western Derry, Fermanagh, Limavady, Omagh, Strabane

[edit]

Health and social care

There were four health and social services boards which were replaced by a single Health and Social Care Board in April 2009.[7]

The former health and social services boards were as follows: Name Area

1. Eastern Ards, Belfast, Castlereagh, Down, Lisburn, North Down

2. Northern Antrim, Ballymena, Ballymoney, Carrickfergus, Coleraine, Cookstown, Larne, Magherafelt, Moyle, Newtownabbey

3. Southern Armagh, Banbridge, Craigavon, Dungannon and South Tyrone, Newry and Mourne

4. Western Derry, Fermanagh, Limavady, Omagh, Strabane

[edit]

Eurostat NUTS level 3

In the Eurostat Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), Northern Ireland is divided into five parts at level 3 Name Area

1. Belfast

2. Outer Belfast Carrickfergus, Castlereagh, Lisburn, Newtownabbey, North Down

3. East Antrim, Ards, Ballymena, Banbridge, Craigavon, Down, Larne

4. North Ballymoney, Coleraine, Derry, Limavady, Moyle, Strabane

5. West and South Armagh, Cookstown, Dungannon, Fermanagh, Magherafelt, Newry and Mourne, Omagh

[edit]

Proposed reform

Main article: Proposed reform of local government in Northern Ireland

In June 2002 the Northern Ireland Executive established a Review of Public Administration to review the arrangements for the accountability, development, administration and delivery of public services. Among its recommendations were a reduction in the number of districts.[8] In 2005 Peter Hain, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, announced proposals to reduce the number of councils to seven.[9] The names and boundaries of the seven districts were announced in March 2007.[10] In March 2008 the restored Northern Executive agreed to create eleven new councils instead of the original seven.[11][12][13] The first elections were due to take place in May 2011. However by May 2010 disagreements among parties in the executive over district boundaries were expected to delay the reforms until 2015.[14] In June 2010 the proposed reforms were abandoned following the failure of the Northern Ireland Executive to reach agreement.

Euroscepticism in the United Kingdom

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The United Kingdom (dark green) in the European Union (light green).

Euroscepticism (opposition to the policies of supranational EU institutions and/or opposition to membership of the European Union), is a significant element in the politics of the United Kingdom (UK) since the inception of the European Communities —comprising the European Economic Community (EEC), the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC) and the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)— the predecessor to the European Union (EU).Contents [hide]

1 Attitudes towards the EU

1.1 Eurobarometer survey 2009

2 History

3 Press

4 Eurosceptics' criticism of the European Union

4.1 Democratic deficit

4.2 Claims of corruption

5 Support for withdrawal

6 See also

7 References

[edit]

Attitudes towards the EU

[edit]

Eurobarometer survey 2009

A survey in 2009 showed that attitudes toward the European Union vary greatly between countries. Overall, the majority of EU citizens supported their country's membership over 50% thought their country's membership was "a good thing", and only 15% thought it was "a bad thing".[1]:91–3[2]:QA6a; but while support was very high in Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain and Ireland, with about 70%–80% thinking that membership was a good thing, scepticism was high in Latvia, the United Kingdom, and Hungary, with only 25%–32% viewing membership as a good thing. In Britain, opinions were divided, fairly evenly, between those who thought that membership is a good thing, a bad thing, or neither good nor bad.[1]:91–3

Whereas overall the majority of citizens (56%) believed that membership of the EU had benefited their country (with a significant minority (31%) believing that their country had not benefited),[1]:95–6[2]:QA7a, in Britain only 34% believed that Britain had benefited from membership, on balance.[1]:95–6 Overall, about 48 percent of EU citizens tended to trust the European Parliament, and about 36 percent did not tend to trust it,[1]:110–2[2]:QA 13.1 but in Britain trust was lowest, at 22 percent.[2]: QA 14.1

Within Europe overall, a positive to neutral image of the EU dominated, with about 46% of citizens having a positive image and only 16% having a negative image; about 36% had a neutral image.[1]:130–3[2]: QA 10 In Britain, only 22 percent had a positive image, 33 percent had a negative image, and 38 percent had a neutral image.

[edit]

History

Ted Heath, the Prime Minister at the time of accession to the EEC.

Although at present a significant proportion of Conservatives are hostile to the European Union, it was the Conservative Party that took the United Kingdom into what then was the European Communities. Nevertheless, certain groups of Conservatives still opposed British accession to the Common Market. One of the earliest groups formed especially against British involvement in Europe was the initially Conservative Party-based Anti-Common Market League, whose president Victor Montagu infamously declared that opponents of the Common Market did not want to "subject [themselves] to a lot of frogs and huns".[3]

Conversely, much of the opposition to Britain's EU membership used to come from Labour politicians and trade unionists who feared bloc membership would impede socialism. However, many Labourites subsequently came to welcome the EU. This shift largely took place in the 1980s during the period of Margaret Thatcher's premiership, when she aggressively pursued right-wing policies whilst Jacques Delors in his role as President of the European Commission emphasised the idea of a "social Europe", particularly in his speech to the 1988 TUC congress.[4]

Although the British government was favourable to the creation of the European Communities, the United Kingdom did not become a founding member. However, trade with European Communities ended up accounting for more of Britain's trade than with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which had been established partially as an alternative to the European Communities. This led Great Britain to reconsider its policy, moving closer to the EEC and opening accession negotiations in 1961. French president Charles de Gaulle strongly resisted, arguing that the UK was closer to American policies than European ones,[5] and would therefore attempt to "sabotage" the community. Consequently, France vetoed the UK's membership bid in 1963 and again in 1967.

The Labour Party, then in opposition, spoke against the European Communities. The party leader Hugh Gaitskell once declared that joining the European Communities would mean "the end of a thousand years of history".[6] A second attempt was made in 1967, but it was again rejected by a French veto. When de Gaulle stepped down from power, British membership of the EEC became feasible at last. Labour changed from its traditional opposition towards the European Communities and began to support membership. After the party came to power, Britain applied to join for a third time in 1969. Finally, Britain joined the communities under the Conservative administration in 1973.

With Tony Blair at its helm, Labour became markedly pro-EU.

Despite the decision to join the European Communities, scepticism about membership prompted the Labour government to hold a referendum in 1975 on the permanence in the Communities. The question asked from the voters was:

"Parliament has decided to consult the electorate on the question whether the UK should remain in the European Economic Community: Do you want the UK to remain in the EEC?"

British membership of the EEC was endorsed by 67% of those voting, with a turnout of 64.5%.

The debate between Eurosceptics and EU supporters is ongoing in British political parties, whose membership is of varied standpoints. The two main political parties in Britain, the governing Conservative Party[clarification needed] and the Labour Party opposition both have within them a broad spectrum of views concerning the European Union.

In the 1970s and the early 1980s the Labour Party was the more Eurosceptic of the two parties, having more anti-European Communities MPs than the Conservatives. In 1975 Labour held a special conference on British membership and the party voted 2-to-1 for Britain to leave the European Communities.[7] In 1979 the Labour manifesto[8] declared that a Labour government would "oppose any move towards turning the Community into a federation" and in 1983[9] they favoured British withdrawal from the EEC. Under the leadership of Neil Kinnock after 1983, however, the Labour Party dropped their opposition to the European Communities and instead favoured greater British integration into European Economic and Monetary Union.

The financier Sir James Goldsmith formed the Referendum Party as a single issue party formed by to fight the 1997 General Election, calling for a referendum on aspects of the UK's relationship with the European Union. It planned to contest every constituency where there was no leading candidate in favour of such a referendum, and briefly held a seat in the House of Commons after George Gardiner, the Conservative MP for Reigate, changed parties following a battle against deselection by his local party. The party polled 800,000 votes and finished fourth, but did not win a seat in the House of Commons.

Дата добавления: 2015-09-02