1.
County council
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A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has different meanings in different countries. County councils were formed in the late 19th century, in the various constituent countries of the United Kingdom councils had different powers and different memberships. Following local government reforms in the 1970s, county councils no longer exist in Scotland or Northern Ireland, in England they generally form the top level in a two-tier system of administration, in Wales they are unitary authorities. In England county councils were introduced in 1889, and reformed in 1974, since the mid-1990s a series of local government reorganisations has reduced the number of county councils as unitary authorities have been established in a number of areas. Until the 1990s they also ran colleges of education and the careers services. That decade also saw the privatisation of some services, such as highway maintenance, cleaning. County councils were created by the Local Government Act 1888, largely taking over the functions of the unelected county courts of quarter sessions. County councils consisted of councillors, directly elected by the electorate, there was one county alderman for every three councillors. The first elections to the councils were held at various dates in January 1889, and they served as provisional or shadow councils until 1 April, elections of all councillors and half of the aldermen took place every three years thereafter. The areas over which the councils had authority were designated as administrative counties, the writ of the county councils did not extend everywhere, large towns and some historic counties corporate were constituted county boroughs by the same act. County borough councils were independent of the council for the county in which they were geographically situated, the new system was a major modernisation, which reflected the increasing range of functions carried out by local government in late Victorian Britain. A major accretion of powers took place when education was added to county council responsibilities in 1902, County councils were responsible for more strategic services in a region, with smaller urban district councils and rural district councils responsible for other activities. The Local Government Act 1929 considerably increased the powers of county councils, in 1965 there was a reduction in the number of county councils. The London Government Act 1963 abolished those of London and Middlesex, Greater London was declared to be an area and not to lie in any county. The Local Government Act 1972 completely reorganised local authorities in England, County boroughs were abolished and the whole of England was placed in a two-tier arrangement with county councils and district councils. In the six largest conurbations metropolitan county councils, with increased powers, were created, the post of county alderman was abolished, and the entire council was thereafter directly elected every four years. In 1986 the six county councils were abolished, with their functions transferred to the metropolitan boroughs
2.
Order of the British Empire
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There is also the related British Empire Medal, whose recipients are affiliated with, but not members of, the order. Recommendations for appointments to the Order of the British Empire were at first made on the nomination of the United Kingdom, the self-governing Dominions of the Empire, nominations continue today from Commonwealth countries that participate in recommending British honours. Most members are citizens of the United Kingdom or the Commonwealth realms that use the Imperial system of honours and awards. Honorary knighthoods are appointed to citizens of nations where the Queen is not head of state, occasionally, honorary appointees are, incorrectly, referred to as Sir or Dame – Bill Gates or Bob Geldof, for example. In particular, King George V wished to create an Order to honour many thousands of those who had served in a variety of non-combatant roles during the First World War, when first established, the Order had only one division. However, in 1918, soon after its foundation, it was divided into Military. The Orders motto is For God and the Empire, at the foundation of the Order, the Medal of the Order of the British Empire was instituted, to serve as a lower award granting recipients affiliation but not membership. In 1922, this was renamed the British Empire Medal, in addition, the BEM is awarded by the Cook Islands and by some other Commonwealth nations. The British monarch is Sovereign of the Order, and appoints all members of the Order. The next most senior member is the Grand Master, of whom there have been three, Prince Edward, the Prince of Wales, Queen Mary, and the current Grand Master, the Duke of Edinburgh. The Order is limited to 300 Knights and Dames Grand Cross,845 Knights and Dames Commander, and 8,960 Commanders. There are no limits applied to the number of members of the fourth and fifth classes. Foreign recipients, as members, do not contribute to the numbers restricted to the Order as full members do. Though men can be knighted separately from an order of chivalry, women cannot, and so the rank of Knight/Dame Commander of the Order is the lowest rank of damehood, and second-lowest of knighthood. Because of this, Dame Commander is awarded in circumstances in which a man would be created a Knight Bachelor, for example, by convention, female judges of the High Court of Justice are created Dames Commander after appointment, while male judges become Knights Bachelor. The Order has six officials, the Prelate, the Dean, the Secretary, the Registrar, the King of Arms, the Bishop of London, a senior bishop in the Church of England, serves as the Orders Prelate. The Dean of St Pauls is ex officio the Dean of the Order, the Orders King of Arms is not a member of the College of Arms, as are many other heraldic officers. From time to time, individuals are appointed to a higher grade within the Order, thereby ceasing usage of the junior post-nominal letters
3.
Conservative Party (UK)
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The Conservative Party, officially the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a political party in the United Kingdom. It is currently the party, having won a majority of seats in the House of Commons at the 2015 general election. The partys leader, Theresa May, is serving as Prime Minister. It is the largest party in government with 8,702 councillors. The Conservative Party is one of the two major political parties in the United Kingdom, the other being its modern rival. The Conservative Partys platform involves support for market capitalism, free enterprise, fiscal conservatism, a strong national defence, deregulation. In the 1920s, the Liberal vote greatly diminished and the Labour Party became the Conservatives main rivals, Conservative Prime Ministers led governments for 57 years of the twentieth century, including Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher. Thatchers tenure led to wide-ranging economic liberalisation, the Conservative Partys domination of British politics throughout the twentieth century has led to them being referred to as one of the most successful political parties in the Western world. The Conservatives are the joint-second largest British party in the European Parliament, with twenty MEPs, the party is a member of the Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe Europarty and the International Democrat Union. The party is the second-largest in the Scottish Parliament and the second-largest in the Welsh Assembly, the party is also organised in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. The Conservative Party traces its origins to a faction, rooted in the 18th century Whig Party and they were known as Independent Whigs, Friends of Mr Pitt, or Pittites. After Pitts death the term Tory came into use and this was an allusion to the Tories, a political grouping that had existed from 1678, but which had no organisational continuity with the Pittite party. From about 1812 on the name Tory was commonly used for the newer party, the term Conservative was suggested as a title for the party by a magazine article by J. Wilson Croker in the Quarterly Review in 1830. The name immediately caught on and was adopted under the aegis of Sir Robert Peel around 1834. Peel is acknowledged as the founder of the Conservative Party, which he created with the announcement of the Tamworth Manifesto, the term Conservative Party rather than Tory was the dominant usage by 1845. In 1912, the Liberal Unionists merged with the Conservative Party, in Ireland, the Irish Unionist Alliance had been formed in 1891 which merged anti-Home Rule Unionists into one political movement. Its MPs took the Conservative whip at Westminster, and in essence formed the Irish wing of the party until 1922. The Conservatives served with the Liberals in an all-party coalition government during World War I, keohane finds that the Conservatives were bitterly divided before 1914, especially on the issue of Irish Unionism and the experience of three consecutive election losses
4.
Liberal Democrats (UK)
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The Liberal Democrats are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom. The party was formed in 1988 as a merger of the Liberal Party and the Social Democratic Party, at the 2015 general election, the party was reduced to eight MPs. Nick Clegg resigned as leader and Tim Farron won the subsequent leadership election, the party currently has nine MPs, following the Richmond Park by-election. The Alliance was led by David Steel and Roy Jenkins, Jenkins was replaced by David Owen, the two parties had their own policies and emphases, but produced a joint manifesto for the 1983 and 1987 general elections. Following disappointing results in the 1987 election, Steel proposed to merge the two parties, although opposed by Owen, it was supported by a majority of members of both parties, and they formally merged in March 1988, with Steel and Robert Maclennan as joint interim leaders. The new party was initially named Social and Liberal Democrats with the short form The Democrats being used from September 1988. The name was changed to Liberal Democrats in October 1989. The new party logo, the Bird of Liberty, was adopted in 1989, the party is a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and Liberal International. The then-serving Liberal MP Paddy Ashdown was elected leader in July 1988, at the 1989 European Elections, the party received only 6% of the vote, putting them in fourth place after the Green Party. They failed to gain a single Member of the European Parliament at this election, over the next three years, the party recovered under Ashdowns leadership. They performed better at the 1990 local elections and in by-elections—including at Eastbourne in 1990, Ribble Valley in 1991, the Lib Dems did not reach the share of national votes in the 1990s that the Alliance had achieved in the 1980s. At their first election in 1992, they won 17. 8% of the vote, in the 1994 European Elections, the party gained its first two Members of European Parliament. The election was, however, something of a point for the Liberal Democrats. Ashdown retired as leader in 1999 and the party elected Charles Kennedy as his replacement, the party improved on their 1997 results at the 2001 general election, increasing their number of seats to 52 and their share of the vote to 18. 3%. The party won seats from Labour in by-elections in Brent East in 2003 and Leicester South in 2004, under Kennedys leadership the majority of Pro-Euro Conservatives, a group of former members of the Conservatives, joined the Liberal Democrats on 10 December 2001. At the 2005 general election, the Lib Dems gained their highest share of the vote since the SDP–Liberal Alliance and won 62 seats. Many had anticipated that this election would be the Lib Dems breakthrough at Westminster, party activists hoped to better the 25% support of the 1983 election, or to reach 100 MPs. Much of the apparent lack of success resulted from the first-past-the-post electoral system, controversy became associated with the campaign when it became known that Michael Brown had donated £2.4 million to the Liberal Democrats
5.
Labour Party (UK)
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The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Labour later served in the coalition from 1940 to 1945. Labour was also in government from 1964 to 1970 under Harold Wilson and from 1974 to 1979, first under Wilson and then James Callaghan. The Labour Party was last in government from 1997 to 2010 under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, beginning with a majority of 179. Having won 232 seats in the 2015 general election, the party is the Official Opposition in the Parliament of the United Kingdom, the party also organises in Northern Ireland, but does not contest elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly. The Labour Party is a member of the Party of European Socialists and Progressive Alliance. In September 2015, Jeremy Corbyn was elected Leader of the Labour Party, the first Lib–Lab candidate to stand was George Odger in the Southwark by-election of 1870. In addition, several small socialist groups had formed around this time, among these were the Independent Labour Party, the intellectual and largely middle-class Fabian Society, the Marxist Social Democratic Federation and the Scottish Labour Party. In the 1895 general election, the Independent Labour Party put up 28 candidates, Keir Hardie, the leader of the party, believed that to obtain success in parliamentary elections, it would be necessary to join with other left-wing groups. Hardies roots as a lay preacher contributed to an ethos in the party led to the comment by 1950s General Secretary Morgan Phillips that Socialism in Britain owed more to Methodism than Marx. The motion was passed at all stages by the TUC, the meeting was attended by a broad spectrum of working-class and left-wing organisations—trades unions represented about one third of the membership of the TUC delegates. This created an association called the Labour Representation Committee, meant to coordinate attempts to support MPs sponsored by trade unions and it had no single leader, and in the absence of one, the Independent Labour Party nominee Ramsay MacDonald was elected as Secretary. He had the task of keeping the various strands of opinions in the LRC united. The October 1900 Khaki election came too soon for the new party to campaign effectively, only 15 candidatures were sponsored, but two were successful, Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil and Richard Bell in Derby. Support for the LRC was boosted by the 1901 Taff Vale Case, the judgement effectively made strikes illegal since employers could recoup the cost of lost business from the unions. In their first meeting after the election the groups Members of Parliament decided to adopt the name The Labour Party formally, the Fabian Society provided much of the intellectual stimulus for the party. One of the first acts of the new Liberal Government was to reverse the Taff Vale judgement, the Peoples History Museum in Manchester holds the minutes of the first Labour Party meeting in 1906 and has them on display in the Main Galleries. Also within the museum is the Labour History Archive and Study Centre, the governing Liberals were unwilling to repeal this judicial decision with primary legislation
6.
Green Party of England and Wales
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The Green Party of England and Wales is a green, left-wing political party in England and Wales. Headquartered in London, since 2 September 2016 its Co-Leaders are Caroline Lucas, the Green Party has one Member of Parliament in the House of Commons, one representative in the House of Lords, and three Members of the European Parliament. It has various councillors in UK local government and two members of the London Assembly and it also takes a progressive approach to social policies such as civil liberties, animal rights, LGBT rights and drug policy reform. The party also believes strongly in nonviolence, basic income, a living wage, the party comprises various regional divisions, including the semi-autonomous Wales Green Party. Internationally, the party is affiliated to the Global Greens and the European Green Party, experiencing centralising reforms spearheaded by the Green 2000 group in the early 1990s, the party sought to emphasise growth in local governance, doing so throughout the 1990s. In 2010, the party gained its first MP in Caroline Lucas, the Green Party of England and Wales has its origins in the PEOPLE Party, which was founded in Coventry in 1973. PEOPLE was renamed The Ecology Party in 1975, and in 1985 changed again to the Green Party, the Green Party of England and Wales is registered with the Electoral Commission as simply the Green Party. In the 1989 European Parliament elections, the Green Party of England and Wales polled 15% of the vote with 2.3 million votes, the best ever performance of a Green party in a nationwide election. This success has been attributed to both the increased respectability of environmentalism and the effects of the development boom in southern England in the late 1980s. Many party members opposed the reforms, believing that they would undermine the internal party democracy, although Green 2000 proposals were defeated at the partys 1990 conference, they were overwhelmingly carried at their 1991 conference, resulting in an internal restructuring of the party. The party fielded more candidates than it had ever done before in the 1992 general election but was deemed to have performed poorly. In 1993, the party adopted its Basis for Renewal program in an attempt to bring together conflicting factions and thus save the party from bankruptcy, the party sought to escape their reputation as an environmentalist single-issue party by placing greater emphasis on social policies. In 1993, future party leader and MP Caroline Lucas gained a seat on Oxfordshire County Council, the Greens sought to build alliances with other parties in the hope of gaining representation at the parliamentary level. In Wales, the Greens endorsed Plaid Cymru candidate Cynog Dafis in the 1992 general election, in April 1995 the Green National Executive ruled that the party should withdraw from this alliance due to ideological differences. As the Labour Party shifted to the centre under the leadership of Tony Blair and his New Labour project. At the 2001 general election they polled 0. 63% of the vote, at the 2004 European Parliamentary elections the party returned 2 MEPS the same as in 1999, overall, the Party polled 1,033,093 votes. In the 2005 general election the party gained over 1% of the vote for the first time and this growth has been attributed to the increasing public visibility of the party as well as a general growth in support for smaller parties in the UK. In September 2008, the party elected its first leader, Caroline Lucas
7.
First-past-the-post voting
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First-past-the-post voting method is one of several plurality voting methods. It is a common, but not universal, feature of voting methods with single-member electoral divisions, the method is widely used in the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, and most of their current and former colonies and protectorates, and a few other countries. There is some confusion between highest vote, majority vote and plurality voting methods, all three use a first-past-the-post voting method, but there are subtle differences in the method of execution. First-past-the-post voting is used in two-round systems and some exhaustive ballots. First-past-the-post voting methods can be used for single- and multiple-member electoral divisions, in a single-member election, the candidate with the highest number – not necessarily a majority – of votes is elected. The two-round voting method uses a first-past-the-post voting method in each of the two rounds, the first round determines which two candidates will progress to the second, final-round ballot. In a multiple-member, first-past-the-post ballot, the first number of candidates – in order of highest vote, if there are six vacancies, then the first six candidates with the highest vote are elected. The Electoral Reform Society is a pressure group based in the United Kingdom which advocates abolishing the first-past-the-post method for all national and local elections. It argues FPTP is bad for voters, bad for government and it is the oldest organisation concerned with electoral methods in the world. States other than Maine and Nebraska use a form of simple plurality, first-past-the-post voting. Under a first-past-the-post voting method the highest polling candidate is elected, in this real-life example, Tony Tan obtained a greater number than the other candidates, and so was declared the winner, even though majority of voters did not vote for him. It is more likely that a party will hold a majority of legislative seats. In the United Kingdom,18 out of 23 general elections since 1922 have produced a single-party majority government. For example, the 2005 United Kingdom general election results in Great Britain are as follows, It can be seen that Labour took a majority of seats, 57%, the largest two parties took 69% of votes and 88% of seats. Meanwhile, the smaller Liberal Democrat party took more than a fifth of votes, another example would be the UK General Election held on 7 May 2015, Here, the Conservatives took 51% of the seats with only 37% of the vote. It should be noted that the Liberal Democrats also suffered under first-past-the-post, the benefits of FPTP are that its concept is very easy to understand, and ballots can be easily counted and processed. Alternative methods such as rank-based voting require far more work or processing power to tabulate results than a single choice, supporters of FPTP argue that it is the electoral method providing the best governance. It trades fairness in representation for more responsible government and its tendency to produce majority rule allows the government to pursue a consistent strategy for its term in office and to make decisions that may be both correct and unpopular
8.
Maidstone
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Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England,32 miles south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, linking it with Rochester, historically, the river was a source and route for much of the towns trade as the centre of the agricultural county of Kent, known as the Garden of England. There is evidence of a settlement in the area dating back to before the Stone Age, the town is in the borough of Maidstone. In 2011, the town had a population of 113,137, maidstones economy has changed over the years from being involved in heavy industry, to more light industry and service industries. Saxon charters show the first recorded instances of the name, de maeides stana and maegdan stane. The latter meaning may refer to the nearby megalith around which took place. The name evolved through medestan/meddestane in the Domesday Book with possible variation Mayndenstan, the modern name appeared by 1610. It has been suggested that the name derives from stones set into the river to allow clothes to be rinsed in the water away from the banks. Neolithic finds have revealed the earliest occupation of the area, the Normans set up a shire moot, and religious organisations established an abbey at Boxley, hospitals and a college for priests. Today’s suburb of Penenden Heath was a place of execution in medieval times, maidstones charter as a town was granted in 1549, although briefly revoked, a new charter in 1551 created the town as a borough. The charter was ratified in 1619 under James I, and the coat of arms was designed, bearing a golden lion, recently to these arms were added the head of a white horse, a golden lion and an iguanodon. The iguanodon relates to the discovery in the 19th century of the remains of that dinosaur. Maidstone has had the right to a town gaol since 1604, during the English Civil War, the Battle of Maidstone took place in 1648, resulting in a victory for the Parliamentarians. Paper mills, stone quarrying, brewing and the industry have all flourished here. The paper maker James Whatman and his son invented wove paper at Turkey Mill from 1740, a permanent military presence was established in the town with the completion of cavalry barracks in 1798. Invicta Park Barracks is now home to the 36 Engineer Regiment, Maidstone Prison is north of the town centre and was completed in 1819. Modern Maidstone incorporates a number of outlying villages and settlements, the county council offices to the north of the town centre were built of Portland stone between 1910 and 1913. On 29 September 1975 a local pub serving Invicta Park Barracks, The Hare, Maidstone General Hospital opened on the outskirts of the town in 1983, replacing West Kent General Hospital, which opened 150 years earlier in Marsham Street
9.
Non-metropolitan county
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A non-metropolitan county, or colloquially, shire county, is a county-level entity in England that is not a metropolitan county. The counties typically have populations of 300,000 to 1.4 million, the term shire county is, however, an unofficial usage. Many of the non-metropolitan counties bear historic names and most end in the suffix -shire such as Wiltshire or Staffordshire, of the remainder, some counties had the -shire ending and have lost it over time, such as Devon and Somerset. Shire county is, strictly, a dual-language tautology since the French-derived county means the same as the older Anglo-Saxon word shire, prior to 1974 local government had been divided between single-tier county boroughs and two-tier administrative counties which were subdivided into municipal boroughs and urban and rural districts. The Local Government Act 1972, which came into effect on 1 April 1974, divided England outside Greater London, each county was divided into anywhere between two and fourteen non-metropolitan districts. As originally constituted, the counties were largely based on existing counties. Some counties were based on areas surrounding large county boroughs or were formed by the mergers of smaller counties, examples of the first category are Avon and Cleveland. Examples of the category are Hereford and Worcester and Cumbria. The Royal Mail adopted the counties for purposes in most areas. A Local Government Commission was appointed in 1992 to review the structure of the non-metropolitan counties. It was anticipated that a system of unitary authorities would entirely replace the two-tier system, the Commission faced competing claims from former county boroughs wishing to regain unitary status and advocates for the restoration of such small counties as Herefordshire and Rutland. The review led to the introduction of local government in some areas. In the majority of unitary authorities an existing district council took over powers from the county council, the 1972 Act required that all areas outside Greater London form part of a non-metropolitan county, and that all such counties should contain at least one district. Accordingly, the instruments that effected the reorganisation separated the unitary districts from the county in which they were situated and constituted them as counties. An exception was made in the case of Berkshire, which was retained with its boundaries in spite of the abolition of its county council. This was done in order to preserve its status as a royal county, with the creation of numerous new non-metropolitan counties, the areas used for lieutenancy and shrievalty began to diverge from local government areas. This led to the development of counties for these purposes. A further wave of unitary authorities were created in 2009 under the terms of the Local Government, while a number of new county counties were created, several of the new authorities continued to have the boundaries set in 1974
10.
Kent
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Kent /ˈkɛnt/ is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south west, the county also shares borders with Essex via the Dartford Crossing and the French department of Pas-de-Calais through the Channel Tunnel. France can be clearly in fine weather from Folkestone and the White Cliffs of Dover. Hills in the form of the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge span the length of the county, because of its relative abundance of fruit-growing and hop gardens, Kent is known as The Garden of England. The title was defended in 2006 when a survey of counties by the UKTV Style Gardens channel put Kent in fifth place, behind North Yorkshire, Devon. Haulage, logistics, and tourism are industries, major industries in north-west Kent include aggregate building materials, printing. Coal mining has played its part in Kents industrial heritage. Large parts of Kent are within the London commuter belt and its transport connections to the capital. Twenty-eight per cent of the county forms part of two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the North Downs and The High Weald, the area has been occupied since the Palaeolithic era, as attested by finds from the quarries at Swanscombe. The Medway megaliths were built during the Neolithic era, There is a rich sequence of Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman era occupation, as indicated by finds and features such as the Ringlemere gold cup and the Roman villas of the Darent valley. The modern name of Kent is derived from the Brythonic word Cantus meaning rim or border and this describes the eastern part of the current county area as a border land or coastal district. Julius Caesar had described the area as Cantium, or home of the Cantiaci in 51 BC, the extreme west of the modern county was by the time of Roman Britain occupied by Iron Age tribes, known as the Regnenses. East Kent became a kingdom of the Jutes during the 5th century and was known as Cantia from about 730, the early medieval inhabitants of the county were known as the Cantwara, or Kent people. These people regarded the city of Canterbury as their capital, in 597, Pope Gregory I appointed the religious missionary as the first Archbishop of Canterbury. In the previous year, Augustine successfully converted the pagan King Æthelberht of Kent to Christianity, the Diocese of Canterbury became Britains first Episcopal See with first cathedral and has since remained Englands centre of Christianity. The second designated English cathedral was in Kent at Rochester Cathedral, in the 11th century, the people of Kent adopted the motto Invicta, meaning undefeated. This naming followed the invasion of Britain by William of Normandy, the Kent peoples continued resistance against the Normans led to Kents designation as a semi-autonomous county palatine in 1067. Under the nominal rule of Williams half-brother Odo of Bayeux, the county was granted powers to those granted in the areas bordering Wales
11.
Non-metropolitan district
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Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially shire districts, are a type of local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan counties in a two-tier arrangement, in the 1990s, several non-metropolitan counties were created that are unitary authorities and also have non-metropolitan district status. A third category is the districts of Berkshire, which are districts that are unitary authorities. Non-metropolitan districts are subdivisions of English non-metropolitan counties which have a structure of local government. Most non-metropolitan counties have a county council, and also have several districts, many districts have borough status, which means the local council is called a Borough Council instead of District Council and gives them the right to appoint a Mayor. Borough status is granted by charter and, in many cases, continues a style enjoyed by a predecessor authority. Some districts such as Oxford or Exeter have city status, granted by letters patent, by 1899, England had been divided at district level into rural districts, urban districts, municipal boroughs, county boroughs and metropolitan boroughs. This system was abolished by the London Government Act 1963 and the Local Government Act 1972, non-metropolitan districts were created by this act in 1974 when England outside of Greater London was divided into metropolitan counties and non-metropolitan counties. Metropolitan counties were sub-divided into metropolitan districts and the counties were sub-divided into non-metropolitan districts. The metropolitan districts had more powers than their non-metropolitan counterparts, initially, there were 296 non-metropolitan districts in the two-tier structure, but reforms in the 1990s and 2009 reduced their number to 201. A further 55 non-metropolitan districts are now unitary authorities, which combine the functions of county, in Wales, an almost identical two-tier system of local government existed between 1974 and 1996. In 1996, this was abolished and replaced with a unitary system of local government. Since the areas for Wales and England had been enacted separately and there were no Welsh metropolitan areas, a similar system existed in Scotland, which in 1975 was divided into regions and districts, this was also abolished in 1996 and replaced with a fully unitary system. In England 200 out of the 201 non-metropolitan district councils are represented by the District Councils Network, special interest group which sits within the Local Government Association. The network’s purpose is to “act as an informed and representative advocate for districts to government and other bodies, based on their unique position to deliver for ‘local’ people. ”This is a list of non-metropolitan counties. Some non-metropolitan districts are coterminous with non-metropolitan counties, making them unitary authorities and these are excluded from this list as is Berkshire which has no county council. For a full list of districts of all types including unitary authorities, metropolitan districts and London boroughs and this is a list of former two-tier districts in England which have been abolished, by local government reorganizations such as the 2009 structural changes to local government in England. It does not include districts that still exist after becoming an authority or those that transferred from one county to another
12.
Parish councils in England
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A parish council is a civil local authority found in England and is the lowest, or first, tier of local government. They are elected corporate bodies, have variable tax raising powers, and are responsible for areas known as civil parishes, serving in total 16 million people. A parish council serving a town may be called a council, and a parish council serving a city is styled a city council. Parish and town councils vary enormously in size, activities and circumstances, most of them are small, around 80% represent populations of less than 2,500. Civil parish councils should not be confused with Parochial church councils which administer parishes of the Church of England, Civil parish councils, which can be called Community councils should not be confused with Rural community councils which engage in rural development work. There are 9,000 local councils in England, over 16 million people live in communities served by local councils, which is around 25% of the population, and about 80,000 councillors serve on these councils. It is calculated £1 billion is invested in these communities every year, Local councils work to improve community well-being and provide better services at a local level. Their activities fall into three categories, representing the local community, delivering services to meet local needs, and improving quality of life. These existing powers were strengthened by powers contained in the Localism Act including the extension of the General Power of Competence to eligible local councils. Not every civil parish has a council, smaller ones—typically those with an electorate of fewer than 200—have parish meetings instead. Parish councils are funded by levying a precept collected with the tax paid by the residents of the parish. Parish councils have unpaid councillors who are elected to serve for four years, the powers and duties of parish councils are described below. Parish councils have the power to precept their residents to support their operations, although there is no limit to the amount that can be precepted, the money can only be raised for a limited number of purposes, defined in the 1894 Act and subsequent legislation. The General Power of Competence is a new power awarded in 2012 to eligible councils, the exercise of powers is at the discretion of the council, but they are legally obliged to exercise duties. Allotments - Duty to consider providing allotment gardens if demand unsatisfied, Parish councils have powers to provide some facilities themselves, or they can contribute towards their provision by others. A Parish Council must hold a meeting and at least three other meetings in a year, however monthly meetings are the most common, and some larger councils have fortnightly meetings. An extraordinary meeting may be called at any time by the chairman or members, a Council can also appoint advisory groups which are exempt from these constraints to give flexibility, but these have no delegated powers and cannot make financial decisions. Such groups may contain members who are not councillors and this would have to be due to the confidential nature of the business
13.
Borough of Ashford
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The Borough of Ashford is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England. It borders five other Kent districts as well as East Sussex to the South West, Ashford Borough councils main offices are in the town of Ashford. The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the then Borough of Tenterden with Ashford urban district, as well as the Rural Districts of East Ashford, West Ashford, covering 58,000 Hectares, it is the largest district by area in Kent. The Borough is divided into 39 civil parishes centred on the villages as well as the historic Town of Tenterden, from the 1960s onwards, Ashford has experienced phases of rapid urban growth creating new suburbs such as Stanhope and, more recently, Singleton. There are 43 electoral wards in the Borough,18 of those split up Ashford town broadly defined. The Conservative party has control of the council for much of its history. The make-up can change quickly as it is elected as a whole, in 1961, the populations of the Districts which make up the present Boroughs population were, Ashford U. D. 28,000, East Ashford R. D.10,610, West Ashford R. D.10,734, forty years later the population had almost doubled with the 2001 Census recording a population of 102,661. Ashford Borough Council predicts that the population will reach 141,100 by the year 2021, the Boroughs local plan continues to plan for new housing in and around the town such as the development at Finberry. The number of listed buildings in the district exceeds 400, see also the listings, Grade I listed buildings in Ashford. Beyond the town of Ashford, most of the Boroughs land area is rural compromising fields, woodland, much of the woodland is coppiced. Changes in rural land use over the past century mirror those in the rest of the present County, in addition to these national landscape areas, the Borough has many smaller Local Nature Reserves such as Hothfield Common
14.
City of Canterbury
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The City of Canterbury is a local government district with city status in Kent, England. The main settlement in the district is Canterbury, the district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the existing city of Canterbury with the Whitstable and Herne Bay Urban Districts, and Bridge-Blean Rural District. The latter district entirely surrounded the city, the districts occupied the coastal area to the north. Elections to the city council are held four years, all of the 50 seats on the council being elected. After being under no control for a number of years. The area is rural, with a coastal strip taken up by the almost unbroken spread of seaside towns and beautiful beaches from Seasalter, west of Whitstable, to Herne Bay. Between them and the city, the rise into the well wooded historic Blean. The city of Canterbury stands upon this river, the district participates in the Sister Cities programme, with links to Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, USA and Vladimir, Russia. The Association is the only twinning between the new District Council as distinct from the old city council for Canterbury alone, Vladimir was already twinned with Bloomington-Normal, leading to completion of the circle in a three-way twinning. At that time, Russian was taught at the Langton schools, Association members are still in touch with friends from that era. These unique exchanges ran for years, and attracted wide attention. Subsequent exchanges have been musicians, dancers, academics, policemen, boxers, hairdressers. Several towns and villages within the City of Canterbury district have their own twinning arrangements, see in particular Canterbury, Whitstable, District of Canterbury Credit Union Canterbury City Council Population breakdown City of Canterbury councillors listed by ward, as of 2010
15.
Borough of Dartford
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The Borough of Dartford is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England, in the far north west of the county. It is part of the contiguous London urban area, according to the 2011 Census, its population was 97,365. The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Dartford, Swanscombe Urban District, in the mid-1990s review of local government in Kent, consideration was given to merging the borough with that of adjoining Gravesham to form a new unitary authority. However, the proposal proved unpopular amongst residents who took part in the consultation, since 2010, the main areas MP is Gareth Johnson who replaced the outgoing Howard Stoate. The mayor for the year May 2014 to May 2015 is Councillor Avtar Sandhu MBE, the leader of the council, from February 2006, is Councillor Jeremy Kite. There are seven stations in the borough, at Stone, Greenhithe, Swanscombe and Dartford, all on the North Kent Line. From Dartford there are three lines serving London and one to Gravesend, the Medway Towns and eastern Kent, for many services Dartford is the terminus. Ebbsfleet International railway station on High Speed 1 opened in the east of the borough on 19 November 2007, six high-speed services to Paris and five to Brussels run daily from here by Eurostar. The first of the Fastrack bus services, using a combination of ordinary roads, the service runs from the Temple Hill area of Dartford, through the town centre and on to Bluewater Shopping Centre, Greenhithe, Ebbsfleet International and Gravesend. Three of the main roads pass through the borough boundaries, the M25 and M20 motorways. The A20, A225 and the A226 roads also cross the borough, the M25 motorway bisects the district Swanscombe and Greenhithe have low rise homes and mid rise by the river Thames. Housing is a mixture of high rise in Dartford centre through to low rise in all of the villages. The number of listed buildings in the district exceeds 50 and this includes 7 churches listed in the highest grading in the national listing system. The population rose in the 10 years to 2011 from 85,911 to 97,365, by 13. 3%,87. 3% of residents were born in England, which was 2. 5% higher than the average for the South East. The next most common group of countries of birth was the non-EU, however this was 0. 3% lower than the average for the South-East, as to older people, the borough has a below national and regional proportion. With 80. 8% of households with a car or van,1. 0% of the population lived in a communal establishment in the area. As to homes, as 12. 6% of properties in the area are detached, being almost at the mean for the country, Christians form just over 60% of the areas population. In October 2012 Dartford and Gravesham councils co-announced plans for a theme park to be built on the Swanscombe peninsula
16.
Dover District
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Dover is a local government district in Kent, England. It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the boroughs of Deal, Dover, the southern part of the latter is the point where the North Downs meets the sea, at the White Cliffs of Dover. Further north along the coast, from Deal onwards, the land is at sea level and it is here, on the sand-dunes, that the Royal St Georges Golf Club, founded in 1887, and of international repute, is situated. In the district are industrial remains of the erstwhile Kent coalfield, situated around Tilmanstone, technically speaking, half of the underwater section of the Channel Tunnel is under British Sovereignty and thus part of the district. Deal Timeball is a Victorian maritime Greenwich Mean Time signal located on the roof of a waterfront four-storey tower and it was established in 1855 by the Astronomer Royal George Biddell Airy in collaboration with Charles V. Walker. Crossing Dover district are the Roman roads of Watling Street and that leading from Richborough, today the main road, the A2, closely follows Watling Street to Dover. Dover District local elections Parish listing Deal High Street winner of the Telegraphs first High Street of the Year award Kent coalfield history Dover pictorial website Dover Community Radio
17.
Gravesham Borough Council
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Gravesham is a local government district with borough status in north-west Kent, England. Its administrative centre and largest town is Gravesend, which was known as Gravesham in ancient times, Gravesham was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the Municipal Borough of Gravesend with Northfleet Urban District and part of Strood Rural District, under the Local Government Act 1972. Gravesham is twinned with Cambrai in Picardy, France, the present borders of Gravesham parliamentary constituency are almost the same as those of the borough. It was Gravesend in the Domesday Monarchorum c.1100, and it is strange that this clerical error should now have been adopted as the name of the new Council. Housing varies from mid rise to low rise, particularly in the villages, the other Grade I*-listed buildings in the borough comprise its ancient parish churches. Gravesham Borough Council is elected every four years, with currently 44 Councillors being elected at each election, from the first election in 1973 the council has alternated between Labour and Conservative control. Since 1995 Labour has controlled the council apart from 4 years between the 2007 and 2011 elections
18.
Maidstone Borough Council
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Maidstone Borough Council is the second level local authority for the Borough of Maidstone in Kent, United Kingdom. The Local Government Act 1972 created the Borough of Maidstone by merging Maidstone Municipal Borough, Maidstone Rural District, Maidstone Borough Council was established as the local authority for the new borough. It took over the responsibilities of Maidstone Municipal Borough Council, Maidstone Rural District Council, the council started functioning on 1 April 1974
19.
Medway Council
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Medway Council is the local authority of Medway in Kent, England. It is an authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county. The council has 55 councillors, elected four years under the first-past-the-post system. The council chooses one of its members to act as mayor in an annual election, the council was created on 1 April 1998 and replaced Rochester-upon-Medway City Council and Gillingham Borough Council. For election results, see Medway Council elections Medway Council
20.
Sevenoaks District Council
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Sevenoaks is a local government district in Kent, England, in the far west of the county. Its council is in the town of Sevenoaks, the latter is responsible for highways, public paths, fire and rescue, certain aspects of health and social care and education/libraries. The rest of government is mostly at district level although the area has civil parish councils also. The area is approximately evenly divided between buildings and infrastructure on the one hand and woodland or agricultural fields on the other and it contains the upper valley of the River Darenth and some headwaters of the River Eden. In terms of districts, it borders Dartford to the north, Gravesham to the northeast, Tonbridge and Malling to the east, briefly Tunbridge Wells to the southeast. It also borders two which, equal to it, do not have borough status, the Wealden district of East Sussex to the south and it borders the London Boroughs of Bromley and Bexley to the northwest. In the 2011 Census, the district had a population of 114,893, the council consists of 54 elected councillors, representing fewer wards in the district. In 2009 the Audit Commission named Sevenoaks District Council as one of the four best-run, swanley and smaller, equally buffered Hextable and Crockenhill within the M25 motorway. In all areas low-rise dominates, the incidence of flats exceeding two storeys is rare, the number of listed buildings in the district exceeds 150. This includes 16 churches listed in the highest grading in the national listing system, castles and English country houses of the wealthiest in society from the 16th to 18th centuries form part of this district. Examples at Grade I include Knole House, Chartwell, Penshurst Place and Chevening House, older with original stone walls are Hever Castle with its 16 acres -wooded island in a listed parkland. A folly exists at Lullingstone Castle which is a reconstruction of its gatehouse, list of places of worship in Sevenoaks District
21.
Swale Borough Council
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Swale is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England and is bounded by Medway to the west, Canterbury to the east, Ashford to the south and Maidstone to the south west. Its council is based in Sittingbourne, the district is named after the narrow channel called The Swale, a channel that separates the mainland of Kent from the Isle of Sheppey, and which occupies the central part of the district. The Roman Watling Street passed through the area, as witness the straightness of the A2 main road, Swale railway station is at the southern end of the Kingsferry Bridge. There are four towns in the borough, Sittingbourne and Faversham on the mainland, Swale Borough Council is elected every four years, with currently 47 councillors being elected at each election. After the Conservatives had a majority on the council from 1976 to 1986, no party had overall control from 1986 until the 2002 election when the Conservatives regained control
22.
Thanet District Council
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Thanet District Council is the local government body for the Thanet district. It is one of the councils in Kent. On a national level, Thanet forms part of two constituencies at Westminster and is represented in Parliament by two MPs. The district was formed by the merger of, Municipal Borough of Margate Municipal Borough of Ramsgate Broadstairs, isle of Thanet Rural District was created by the Local Government Act 1894 and was abolished in 1935. Thanet district council is responsible for providing leadership to the community. These services include, leisure, environmental health, housing — including the provision of housing and housing benefit. Kent County Council is responsible for more services such as education, libraries, main roads, social services, trading standards. The district is divided into 23 electoral wards, mainly located in the resorts of Margate, Cliftonville, Broadstairs. The powers of the council are specified in its constitution in accordance with the Local Government Act 2000, the council is a Cabinet-style council with a Leader and the Cabinet itself, which is formed by the majority party in the District. Decisions on the Councils services are made by the Executive which comprises 5 councillors, each member of the Cabinet holds a separate portfolio. The Leader and Cabinet are responsible for policies, plans and strategies, and for recommending them to the overall Council, the full council consists of 56 councillors. The Cabinet is held to account by the remainder of the Councillors acting as Overview and Scrutiny which verify that decisions are appropriate, the Chief Executive Officer, has overall responsibility for council employees and operates in conjunction with department heads. The last council took place on 7 May 2015 and the next election is due in May 2019. The UK Independence Party won control of the council with 33 seats, the Conservative Party won 18 seats, the Labour Party won 4 seats, and one Independent was elected. Five UKIP councillors defected to a Democratic Independent Group over September and October 2015 over allegations that the leader of the council prevented the reopening of Manston Airport and this led to UKIP losing a majority on the council. On 5 November, it was reported that a Councillor had defected from UKIP to the Conservatives, in January 2016 UKIP remain the largest group but now with 26 members, there are 19 Conservatives,5 Democratic Independent Group councilors,5 Labour and 1 Independent councilor. UKIP regained control of the council in 2016, after some independents rejoined the party, Overall turnout, 42% The council went to no overall control, the Conservative Party leading a minority administration with 27 seats, the Labour Party taking 26 seats and the Independents 3 seats. A Conservative councillor defected to the Independents in December 2011, subsequently the Labour Party led a minority administration, the Conservative Party held control of Thanet District Council with 33 seats, the Labour Party took 19 seats
23.
Borough of Tunbridge Wells
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The Borough of Tunbridge Wells is a local government district and borough in Kent, England. It takes its name from its town, Royal Tunbridge Wells. The restricted area immediately to the north and west of Tunbridge Wells lies within the Weald, the presence of sandstone outcrops and the chalybeate springs, together with old workings, point to ancient iron manufacturing in the area. This plain is part of the so-called Garden of England, named for its orchards and former hop farms, sheep. A string of villages lies across this plain, from Brenchley and Horsmonden to Benenden, roads The main roads through the borough are the A21 London to Hastings road and in the east, the A229, which runs from the A21 at Hurst Green through Cranbrook to Maidstone. Railways The line of the former South Eastern Railway main line crosses the plain in an almost unbroken straight line between Redhill and Ashford, Kent. Tunbridge Wells Borough Council is composed of 48 councillors representing 20 wards across the borough, eight wards are within Royal Tunbridge Wells itself including Broadwater, Culverden, Pantiles & St Marks, Park, Rusthall, Sherwood & St Johns and St. James. The remainder are rural wards covering the main towns and villages. Each of the latter also have their own form of government in the form of a civil parish
24.
UK Youth Parliament
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The UK Youth Parliament is a youth organisation in the United Kingdom, consisting of democratically elected members aged between 11 and 18. Formed in 2000, the parliament has around 600 members, who are elected to represent the views of people in their area to government. Over 500,000 young people vote in the each year. It is managed by the British Youth Council, Young people hold important positions throughout the organisations management, and it has been endorsed by the majority of the UKs political parties. Those elected for UKYP hold the suffix of MYP, or DMYP in their names, the concept of a United Kingdom Youth Parliament first arose at an event in Coventry entitled Heirs To The Millennium. After the event, the MP Andrew Rowe and the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, in 1998, a steering committee was formed, led by Andrew Rowe and chaired by a young person named James Moody. In 2000, Malcolm Wicks, Department for Education and Employment, soon after, the first elections for the UK Youth Parliament were held, with the first Annual Sitting being held in February 2000. Deputy Members of Youth Parliament are also elected, although not every MYP has a deputy, deputies work with and support their Member of Youth Parliament locally and regionally, but are not entitled to attend the Annual Sitting or other national events – unless their MYP is unable to. There are over 600 MYPs and deputies, the UK Youth Parliament elections are held every one or two years, with all young people between the ages of 11–18 being entitled to vote. In England, over 90 percent of the education authorities hold UKYP elections Young people elect their local areas MYPs. The number of MYP positions is proportionate to the population of people in the authority. Over one million votes were cast in the elections between 2006 and 2009, in 2008,565,802 young people voted, with 1,625 standing as candidates from across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Outside of England, partner organisations undertake the elections, in Scotland, in Wales a similar system is used by the Children and Young Peoples Assembly for Wales, and in Northern Ireland by the Northern Ireland Youth Forum. The Annual Sitting is the main yearly meeting, which all MYPs attend. It takes place on a university campus over three days, proceedings include keynote speeches from political figures, followed by question and answer sessions. Past speakers include Hazel Blears, Ben Bradshaw, and Des Browne, at each Annual Sitting, a manifesto is created, in which MYPs aim to fully represent the issues that affect their constituents in a single document. This manifesto is then presented to government as a current overview of young peoples’ views, the 9th Annual Sitting was held at the University of Kent from 24 July to 27 July 2009. Keynote speakers included John Bercow MP and the Archbishop of Canterbury, UKYP held its 11th Annual Sitting in 2011 at the University of Leeds from Friday 22 July to Sunday 24 July
25.
British Youth Council
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The British Youth Council is a UK charity that works to empower young people and promote their interests. The British Youth Council was established by the Foreign Office of the British Government in preparation for the first World Assembly of Youth and its original aim was to unite young people in Britain against the forces of communism amid tense international relations just after World War II. In 1963, British Youth Council gained independence from the British Government, in 1971, BYC organised the annual World Assembly of Youth event in Manchester where Prime Minister Edward Heath was the keynote speaker. In the late 1970s, BYC elected David Hunt as chair as well as Janet Paraskeva, BYC published the Youth Unemployment, Cause and Cures report, taking it to Prime Minister Jim Callaghan in Downing Street to discuss the issue of youth unemployment. They also attended the 11th World Festival on Youth in Cuba where motions were passed on the human rights records of the USSR, delegates include Trevor Phillips, Paul Boateng and Charles Clarke MP. The 1980s saw the British Youth Council hit increasingly difficult times, in 1987 BYC Scotland closed due to funding cuts by the Government at the time. In this period the British Youth Council also had its founding Foreign Office grant withdrawn due to the changes in international relations, in the 1990s BYC worked with partners to start up and run campaigns to get young people registered to vote and on issues of young peoples employment. British Youth Council also worked in the field in youth policy and research, producing a number of journals, the conclusion, Listening to the Unheard, led the formulation of the European White Paper on Youth which BYC co-ordinated as the UK members of the European Youth Forum. Today BYC continues to build on its past, according to its Annual Review 2008/09, “The BYC is led by young people, for young people aged 25 and under across the UK. We connect with our community of member organisations and network of Local Youth Councils to empower all young people, wherever they’re from, to have a say, the British Youth Council’s four values are recognition, equality, diversity and participation. The British Youth Council is led by people for young people. Its Board of Trustees is made up of 12 young people aged 16–25 and these annually elected trustees employ 14 staff and 10 full-time volunteers, and manage a body of young campaigners and media spokespeople. The British Youth Council is a charity, and a registered company limited by guarantee. The British Youth Council has over 250 members including national youth organisations, faith-based groups, in addition, the British Youth Council supports a network of 620 youth councils and youth forums, also run by young people. It sets up initiatives that celebrate young peoples achievements such as the Royal Society of Arts Young Leader Awards, the British Youth Council set up with support from the House of Commons, the Youth Select Committee which in 2013 enquired into the national curriculum with 11 Young Members. The British Youth Council is a member of the UK Votes at 16 Coalition. The coalition consist of various organisations and political parties and is led by Childrens Rights Alliance for England, the National Union of Students, prior to the 2015 General Election, the British Youth Council founding member of the UK branch of the League of Young Voters. The League of Young Voters steering group consists of Scottish Youth Parliament, Northern Ireland Youth Forum, Bite The Ballot, the British Youth Council provides a range of training courses intended to empower young people to make a difference
26.
Local Government Act 1888
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The Local Government Act 1888 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales. It came into effect on 1 April 1889, except for the County of London, following the 1886 general election, a Conservative administration headed by Lord Salisbury was formed. However the Conservatives did not have a majority of seats and had to rely on the support of the Liberal Unionist Party. Accordingly, the Local Government Bill was introduced to the House of Commons on 19 March 1888, by the President of the Local Government Board, the counties to be used for local government were to be the historic counties of England and Wales. A county council was to be formed for each of the ridings of Yorkshire, in addition a new County of London was to be formed from the area of the Metropolitan Board of Works. This would have led to the creation of county councils. The boundaries of the counties were to be used for parliamentary purposes. The ten cities to be dealt with as separate counties were Liverpool, Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Bristol, Bradford, Nottingham, Kingston-on-Hull, existing urban and rural sanitary districts, created in 1872, were to be redesignated as urban and rural districts. Urban districts that lay across county boundaries were to be included in the county with the part of the population in the 1881 census. Existing rural sanitary districts were to split on county lines to form rural districts, there were a large number of changes to the Bill as it passed through parliament. The terms administrative county and county borough were introduced to designate the new areas of local government, the government withdrew the sections relating to the creation of district councils, which were eventually brought into existence by the Local Government Act 1894. Members of both houses made representations on behalf of counties and boroughs, and this led to an increase in the number of local authorities, the Soke of Peterborough was separated from the remainder of Northamptonshire. Attempts to create administrative counties for the Cinque Ports and Staffordshire Potteries were not successful, the population limit for county boroughs was lowered twice, firstly to 100,000, then to 50,000. A number of counties corporate were also given county borough status. He referred to the counties of cities, two or three of these cities had so small a population that he did not propose to deal with them in this way. The best course was to give the names of the cities which he proposed to include and they were Exeter, Lincoln, Chester, Gloucester, Worcester, and Canterbury. The effect of changes was to increase the number of county boroughs from ten to fifty-nine. With a population of around 50,000 at the 1881 census, the councils were subject to triennial elections, the first taking place in January 1889
27.
Administrative county
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An administrative county was an administrative division in England and Wales and Ireland from 1888 to 1974, used for the purposes of local government. They are now abolished, although in Northern Ireland their former areas are used as the basis for lieutenancy, in England and Wales the legislation was repealed in 1974, and entities called metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties in England and counties in Wales were introduced in their place. Though strictly inaccurate, these are called administrative counties to distinguish them from both the historic counties, and the ceremonial counties. In Scotland they were never established as separate entities as they were in England, for local government purposes Scottish counties were replaced in 1975 with a system of regions and island council areas. The Local Government Act 1898 created administrative counties in Ireland on the model that had been used in England. In Northern Ireland the administrative counties were replaced by a system of 26 districts on 1 October 1973, section 131 of the Local Government Act 1972 stated that every county and every county borough shall cease to be an administrative area for local government purposes. In the Republic of Ireland the legislation that created them remained in force until the Local Government Act 2001 was passed, the administrative counties that did not share the names of previous counties, England Scotland Ross-shire and Cromartyshire Republic of Ireland Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Fingal and South Dublin. List of articles about local government in the United Kingdom The Boundary Committee for England The Boundary Committee for Scotland The Boundary Committee for Wales
28.
County of London
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The County of London was a county of England from 1889 to 1965, corresponding to the area known today as Inner London. It was created as part of the introduction of elected county government in England. The Act created an administrative County of London, which included within its territory the City of London, however, the City of London and the County of London formed separate counties for non-administrative purposes. The local authority for the county was the London County Council, which performed only a limited range of functions. The LCC provided very few services within the City of London, in 1900 the lower-tier civil parishes and district boards were replaced with 28 new metropolitan boroughs. The territory of the county was 74,903 acres in 1961, in 1965, the London Government Act 1963 replaced the county with the much larger Greater London administrative area. The county occupied an area of just under 75,000 acres and it was divided into two parts by the River Thames, which was the most significant geographic feature. It was bordered by Essex to the north-east, Kent to the south-east, Surrey the south-west, the highest point was Hampstead Heath in the north of the county at 440 feet, which is one of the highest points in London. In 1900 a number of anomalies were abolished. These included the loss of the Alexandra Park exclave to Middlesex, gaining South Hornsey in return, the local government arrangements in London had last been reformed in 1855. This reform created an indirectly elected Metropolitan Board of Works which initially provided basic services for the metropolitan area. Over time the board gained more functions and became the de facto local authority, the board operated in those parts of the counties of Middlesex, Surrey and Kent that had been designated by the General Register Office as the Metropolis for the purposes of the Bills of Mortality. This area had been administered separately from the City of London and these had all been defeated in Parliament, in part because of the agency power of the City Corporation. Ultimately, the Local Government Act 1888 and the introduction of county councils in England provided the mechanism for creating a territory, for expediency, the area of the metropolitan board was chosen for the new county, and no attempt was made to select new boundaries. This area had been out of line with the expansion of London even in 1855, for example, it anomalously omitted built-up and expanding areas such as West Ham, but included some sparsely populated areas on the metropolitan fringe. The City of London and the County of London each formed counties for non-administrative purposes, with a separate Lord Lieutenant, however, the administrative county, which corresponded to the area of control of the county council, also included the City of London. In practice, the county council had very little authority over the ancient City, with powers over drainage, roads, fire brigade, embankment of the river. The local authority for the county was the London County Council, initially, the LCC provided the services it had inherited from the Metropolitan Board of Works
29.
County borough
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County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, in the Republic of Ireland they remain in existence but have been renamed cities under the provisions of the Local Government Act 2001. The Local Government Act 1994 re-introduced the term for certain areas in Wales. Scotland did not have county boroughs but instead counties of cities and these were abolished on 16 May 1975. All four Scottish cities of the time — Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, there was an additional category of large burgh in the Scottish system, which were responsible for all services apart from police, education and fire. Some cities and towns were already independent counties corporate, and most were to become county boroughs, the Local Government Act 1888 as eventually passed required a population of over 50,000 except in the case of existing counties corporate. This resulted in 61 county boroughs in England and two in Wales, several exceptions were allowed, mainly for historic towns, Bath, Dudley and Oxford were all under the 50,000 limit in the 1901 census. Various new county boroughs were constituted in the decades as more boroughs reached the 50,000 minimum. The granting of county status was the subject of much disagreement between the large municipal boroughs and the county councils. County boroughs to be constituted in this era were a bag, including some towns that would continue to expand such as Bournemouth. Other towns such as Burton upon Trent and Dewsbury were not to increase in population much past 50,000, the threshold was raised to 100,000 by the Local Government Act 1958. The viability of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil came into question in the 1930s. Due to a decline in the industries of the town, by 1932 more than half the male population was unemployed. At the same time the population of the borough was lower than when it had created in 1908. A royal commission was appointed in May 1935 to investigate whether the status of Merthyr Tydfil as a county borough should be continued. In the event county borough status was retained by the town, after the Second World War the creation of new county boroughs in England and Wales was effectively suspended, pending a local government review. The policy in the paper also ruled out the creation of new county boroughs in Middlesex owing to its special problems, the Local Government Boundary Commission was appointed on 26 October 1945, under the chairmanship of Sir Malcolm Trustram Eve, delivering its report in 1947. The report envisaged the creation of 47 two-tiered new counties,21 one-tiered new counties and 63 new county boroughs, although the Commissions did not complete their work before being dissolved, a handful of new county boroughs were constituted between 1964 and 1968
30.
London Government Act 1963
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The Act significantly reduced the number of local government districts in the area, resulting in local authorities responsible for larger areas and populations. The upper tier of government was reformed to cover the whole of the Greater London area and with a more strategic role. The Act classified the boroughs into inner and outer London groups, the City of London and its corporation were essentially unreformed by the legislation. Subsequent amendments to the Act have significantly amended the upper tier arrangements, with the Greater London Council abolished in 1986, and the Greater London Authority introduced in 2000. As of 2016, the London boroughs are more or less identical to those created in 1965, although with some enhanced powers over services such as waste management and education. The Act set up a local government system, with powers divided between the newly formed Greater London Council,32 new London borough councils and the existing City of London. The provisions of the Act came into effect on 1 April 1965, twelve of the boroughs, corresponding to the former County of London, were designated Inner London boroughs. The remaining twenty boroughs were designated Outer London boroughs, none of the boroughs were given names in the Act. Section 2 declared that the area comprising the areas of the London boroughs, the City, an elected Greater London Council was to govern the new area. No part of Greater London was to part of any administrative county, county district or parish. Three Middlesex urban districts not included in Greater London were transferred to other counties, Potters Bar to Hertfordshire, the Act also established the Inner London Education Authority to administer schools and colleges in the 12 inner London boroughs. The remaining 20 outer boroughs became local education authorities in their own right, the London Traffic Area and the London and Home Counties Traffic Advisory Committee, set up in 1924, were abolished, with the GLC gaining powers to regulate road traffic. An alteration was made to the Metropolitan Police District to include the whole of Greater London. The composition of the London boroughs was given in Schedule 1 of the Act, The metropolitan boroughs of Westminster, Paddington, the metropolitan boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn and St Pancras. The metropolitan boroughs of Finsbury and Islington, the metropolitan boroughs of Hackney, Shoreditch and Stoke Newington. The metropolitan boroughs of Bethnal Green, Poplar and Stepney, the metropolitan borough of Greenwich and so much of the metropolitan borough of Woolwich as lay south of the centre of the navigable channel of the River Thames at low water. The metropolitan boroughs of Deptford and Lewisham, the metropolitan boroughs of Bermondsey, Camberwell and Southwark. The metropolitan borough of Battersea and the remainder of the borough of Wandsworth not included in borough 9
31.
Greater London
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London, or Greater London, is a region of England which forms the administrative boundaries of London. It is organised into 33 local government districts, the 32 London boroughs, the Greater London Authority, based in Southwark, is responsible for strategic local government across the region and consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The county of Greater London was created on 1 April 1965 through the London Government Act 1963, administratively, Greater London was first established as a sui generis council area under the Greater London Council between 1963 and 1986. The area was re-established as a region in 1994, and the Greater London Authority formed in 2000, the region covers 1,572 km2 and had a population of 8,174,000 at the 2011 census. In 2012, it had the highest GVA per capita in the United Kingdom at £37,232, the Greater London Built-up Area—used in some national statistics—is a measure of the continuous urban area of London, and therefore includes areas outside of the administrative region. The term Greater London has been and still is used to different areas in governance, statistics, history. In terms of ceremonial counties, London is divided into the small City of London, outside the limited boundaries of the City, a variety of arrangements has governed the wider area since 1855, culminating in the creation of the Greater London administrative area in 1965. The Greater London Arterial Road Programme was devised between 1913 and 1916, one of the larger early forms was the Greater London Planning Region, devised in 1927, which occupied 1,856 square miles and included 9 million people. The LCC pressed for an alteration in its boundaries soon after the end of the First World War, noting that within the Metropolitan, a Royal Commission on London Government was set up to consider the issue. The LCC proposed a vast new area for Greater London, with a boundary somewhere between the Metropolitan Police District and the home counties, protests were made at the possibility of including Windsor, Slough and Eton in the authority. The Commission made its report in 1923, rejecting the LCCs scheme, two minority reports favoured change beyond the amalgamation of smaller urban districts, including both smaller borough councils and a central authority for strategic functions. The London Traffic Act 1924 was a result of the Commission, Greater London originally had a two-tier system of local government, with the Greater London Council sharing power with the City of London Corporation and the 32 London Borough councils. The GLC was abolished in 1986 by the Local Government Act 1985 and its functions were devolved to the City Corporation and the London Boroughs, with some functions transferred to central government and joint boards. Greater London was used to form the London region of England in 1994, a referendum held in 1998 established a public will to recreate an upper tier of government to cover the region. The Greater London Authority, London Assembly and the directly elected Mayor of London were created in 2000 by the Greater London Authority Act 1999, in 2000, the outer boundary of the Metropolitan Police District was re-aligned to the Greater London boundary. The 2000 and 2004 mayoral elections were won by Ken Livingstone, the 2008 and 2012 elections were won by Boris Johnson. The 2016 election was won by Sadiq Khan, Greater London continues to include the most closely associated parts of the Greater London Urban Area and their historic buffers. Thus it includes, in five boroughs, significant parts of the Metropolitan Green Belt which protects designated greenfield land in a way to the citys parks
32.
Local Government Act 1972
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The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. In Wales, too, the Act established a pattern of counties and districts. Elections were held to the new authorities in 1973, and they acted as shadow authorities until the handover date, elections to county councils were held on 12 April, for metropolitan and Welsh districts on 10 May, and for non-metropolitan district councils on 7 June. Elected county councils had established in England and Wales for the first time in 1888. Some large towns, known as county boroughs, were independent from the counties in which they were physically situated. The county areas were two-tier, with many municipal borough, urban district and rural districts within them, however, most of the Commissions recommendations, such as its proposals to abolish Rutland or to reorganise Tyneside, were ignored in favour of the status quo. It was generally agreed that there were significant problems with the structure of local government, the Local Government Commission was wound up in 1966, and replaced with a Royal Commission. The new government made Peter Walker and Graham Page the ministers and they invited comments from interested parties regarding the previous governments proposals. The Association of Municipal Corporations put forward a scheme with 13 provincial councils and 132 main councils, the incoming governments proposals for England were presented in a White Paper published in February 1971. The White Paper substantially trimmed the metropolitan areas, and proposed a structure for the rest of the country. Many of the new boundaries proposed by the Redcliffe-Maud report were retained in the White Paper, the proposals were in large part based on ideas of the County Councils Association, the Urban District Councils Association and the Rural District Councils Association. The White Paper set out the division of functions between districts and counties, and also suggested a minimum population of 40,000 for districts. The government aimed to introduce a Bill in the 1971/72 session of Parliament for elections in 1973, the White Paper made no commitments on regional or provincial government, since the Conservative government preferred to wait for the Crowther Commission to report. The proposals were substantially changed with the introduction of the Bill into Parliament in November 1971, Area 4 would have had a border with area 2, seaham and Easington were to be part of the Sunderland district. Humberside did not exist in the White Paper, the East Riding was split between area 5 and an area 8. Area 33 to include Brackley and Brackley Rural District from Northamptonshire, Area 39 to include Henley-on-Thames and Henley Rural District from Oxfordshire Area 40 to include Aldershot, Farnborough, Fleet and area from Hampshire. The latter was removed from the Bill before it became law, proposals from Plymouth for a Tamarside county were rejected. The Bill also provided names for the new counties for the first time, on 6 July 1972, a government amendment added Lymington to Dorset, which would have had the effect of having the entire Bournemouth conurbation in one county
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Gillingham, Kent
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Gillingham /ˈdʒɪlɪŋəm/ is a town in the county of Kent in South East England. For local government purposes it is also in the authority of Medway. The town includes the settlements of Brompton, Hempstead, Wigmore, Parkwood, Rainham, Rainham Mark, Gillingham means a homestead of Gyllas family, from Old English ham and ingas, and was first recorded in the 10th century as Gyllingeham. Also referred to in old texts as Jillyingham Water, hence the pronunciation being Gillingham, Gillingham became an urban district under the Local Government Act 1894, gaining municipal borough status in 1903. John Robert Featherby was the first mayor of the Borough of Gillingham, in 1928 Rainham was added to the Gillingham Borough. Under the Local Government Act 1972 it became a non-metropolitan district and it merged with the other Medway Towns in 1998 under the 1990s UK local government reform, to become part of the Medway unitary authority. The Municipal Buildings in Canterbury Street were built as offices for Gillingham Borough Council. They were opened by the Lord Mayor of London, Sir George Broadbridge, the Lord Mayor was received at Gillingham Railway Station by a guard of honour of boys of HMS Arethusa. Before the Second World War, air raid sirens were placed on the Municipal Buildings, in about 1953, Gillingham Borough Control was built underground, beneath part of the car park. Medway Council then moved into the former Lloyds of London headquarters at Chatham Gun Wharf, and they were sold off in 2008 under a contract which turned them into a residential care home. The town grew along the road from Brompton on the great lines, as such it was a linear development. Close by was the road along the line, linking The Strand. Later, communiites developed along the top road- Watling street – turnpike linking Chatham with Dover, all these communities merged into the town that is called today Gillingham. Gillingham experiences a climate similar to almost all of the United Kingdom. Due to its southerly, sheltered, marine position near the European continent the climate is among the warmest in the whole of England, the name Gillingham is recorded in the Domesday book of 1086. It is said to have named after a warlord, Gyllingas—from the old English gyllan. He was a man in Kent history as he led his warriors into battle screaming and shouting. At the time of the Norman Conquest, Gillingham was a small hamlet, Gillingham itself, at the time, was a small hamlet, built around the parish church and surrounded by large farm-holdings, of which St
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City of Rochester-upon-Medway
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Rochester-upon-Medway was a local government district in north Kent, England from 1974 to 1998. The district council was granted a charter entitling it to be known as the Borough of Medway, on creation in 1974 the new Medway Borough Council applied to inherit the city status of Rochester, but this was refused. Accordingly the district became the City of Rochester-upon-Medway, an inadvertent effect of the 1998 abolition was the ending of Rochesters historic city status, due to the failure of the outgoing city council to appoint charter trustees. This only became apparent in 2002
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Unitary authority
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Typically unitary authorities cover towns or cities which are large enough to function independently of county or other regional administration. Sometimes they consist of national sub-divisions which are distinguished from others in the country by having no lower level of administration. In Canada, each province creates its own system of local government, in certain provinces there is only one level of local government in that province, so no special term is used to describe the situation. British Columbia has only one municipality, Northern Rockies Regional Municipality. In Ontario the term single-tier municipalities is used, for a similar concept and their character varies, and while most function as cities with no upper level of government, some function as counties or regional municipalities with no lower municipal subdivisions below them. They exist as individual divisions, as well as separated municipalities. In Germany, kreisfreie Stadt is the equivalent term for a city with the competences of both the Gemeinde and the Kreis administrative level, the directly elected chief executive officer of a kreisfreie Stadt is called Oberbürgermeister. The British counties have no directly corresponding counterpart in Germany and this German system corresponds to statutory cities in Austria and in the Czech Republic. Until 1 January 2007, the municipalities of Copenhagen, Frederiksberg, in New Zealand, a unitary authority is a territorial authority that also performs the functions of a regional council. There are five unitary authorities, they are, Gisborne District Council, Nelson City Council, Tasman District Council, Marlborough District Council, and Auckland Council. The Chatham Islands, located east of the South Island, have a council with its own special legislation, constituted with powers similar to those of a regional authority. In Poland, a miasto na prawach powiatu, or shortly powiat grodzki is a, typically big, city which is responsible for district administrative level. In total,65 cities in Poland have this status, a single-tier system has existed in Northern Ireland since 1973. Northern Ireland is divided into 11 districts for local government purposes and their functions 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. Category, Subdivisions of Northern Ireland Local authorities in Scotland are unitary in nature, Act 1994 created a single tier of local government throughout Scotland. On 1 April 1996,32 local government areas, each with a council, replaced the previous two-tier structure, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar uses the alternative Gaelic designation Comhairle. The phrase unitary authority is not used in Scottish legislation, although the term is encountered in publications, Local authorities in Wales are unitary in nature but are described by the Local Government Act 1994 as principal councils, and their areas as principal areas
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Medway
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Medway is a conurbation and unitary authority in South East England. It had a population in 2014 of 274,015, over half of the unitary authority area is rural in nature. The main towns in the conurbation are, Strood, Rochester, Chatham, Gillingham and these are traditionally known as the Medway Towns. Many smaller towns and villages such as Frindsbury, Brompton, Walderslade, Luton, outside the urban area, the villages retain parish councils. Cuxton, Halling and Wouldham are in the Medway Gap region to the south of Rochester, Hoo St Werburgh, Cliffe, High Halstow, St Mary Hoo, Allhallows, Stoke and Grain are on the Hoo Peninsula to the north. Frindsbury Extra including Upnor borders Strood, Medway includes parts of the North Kent Marshes, an environmentally significant wetlands region with several Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Other similar areas of conservation include Ranscombe Farm on chalk grassland and woodland between Strood and Cuxton, with rare woodland flowers and orchids, Medway is one of the boroughs included in the Thames Gateway development scheme. The Medway area has a long and varied history dominated originally by the city of Rochester and later by the naval, Rochester was established on an Iron Age site by the Romans, who called it Durobrivae, to control the point where Watling Street crossed the River Medway. Rochester later became a town and, under later Saxon influence. The first cathedral was built by Bishop Justus in 604 and rebuilt under the Normans by Bishop Gundulf, Rochester was also an important point for people travelling the Pilgrims Way, which stretches from Winchester to the shrine of Thomas Becket at Canterbury. The Pilgrims Way crossed the Medway near Cuxton, in Medway there are 82 scheduled ancient monuments,832 Listed buildings and 22 conservation areas. The Royal Navy opened a dockyard during the reign of Henry VIII, although it is called Chatham dockyard two-thirds of the dockyard lie within Gillingham. It was protected by a series of forts including Fort Amherst, the majority of surviving buildings in the Historic Dockyard are Georgian. It was here that HMS Victory, Admiral Lord Nelsons flagship at Trafalgar, was built, Sir Francis Drake learned his seamanship on the Medway, Sir John Hawkins founded a hospital in Chatham for seamen, and Nelson began his Navy service at Chatham at the age of 12. Another warship built at Chatham that still exists is HMS Unicorn laid down in February 1822 and she never saw active service and has been restored and is preserved afloat in Dundee, Scotland. There have also other naval disasters in Medway other than the Raid on the Medway. On 25 November 1914 the battleship HMS Bulwark was moored at buoy number 17 at Kethole Reach on the River Medway and she was taking on coal from the airship base at Kingsnorth, on the Isle of Grain when an internal explosion ripped the ship apart. In all, the explosion killed 745 men and 51 officers, five of the 14 men who survived died later of their wounds, and almost all of the others were seriously wounded
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Kent TV
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KentTV. com was an internet-based broadband television channel providing content relating to the county of Kent in the United Kingdom. It was launched in September 2007 by Kent County Council and is run Independently by Bob Geldofs media company Ten Alps, content is produced in one of four ways, in house, user generated, commissioned and acquired. A decision was made in February 2010 to axe the enterprise at the end of the pilot period, source, KentTV Kent TV is the new internet TV channel for everyone living and working in Kent. It is available 24 hours a day,7 days a week and you can watch video programmes about local issues, the arts, business, education, health, leisure, local government, tourism, travel and much more. I think the local papers fear that they are going to lose revenues, but empirically, thats just not so
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Bob Geldof
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Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof, KBE, is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor, and political activist. He rose to prominence as the singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The band had hits with his compositions Rat Trap and I Dont Like Mondays and he co-wrote Do They Know Its Christmas. One of the singles of all time, and starred in Pink Floyds 1982 film Pink Floyd – The Wall as Pink. Geldof is widely recognised for his activism, especially anti-poverty efforts concerning Africa, in 1984 he and Midge Ure founded the charity supergroup Band Aid to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. They went on to organise the charity super-concert Live Aid the following year, a single father, Geldof has also been outspoken for the fathers rights movement. In 2005 he received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, Geldof was born and brought up in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland, a son of Robert and Evelyn Geldof. His paternal grandfather, Zenon Geldof, was a Belgian immigrant and his paternal grandmother, Amelia Falk, was an English Jew from London. When Geldof was six or seven, his mother, Evelyn,41, Bob Geldof attended Blackrock College, where he was bullied for being a poor rugby player and for his middle name, Zenon. After work as a slaughterman, a navvy and pea canner in Wisbech, he was hired as a music journalist in Vancouver. He briefly guest hosted the CBC childrens program Switchback, returning to Ireland in 1975, he became lead singer of the Boomtown Rats, a rock group closely linked with the punk movement. In 1978, The Boomtown Rats had their first No.1 single in the UK with Rat Trap, in 1979, they gained international attention with their second UK No. This was both successful and controversial, Geldof had written it in the aftermath of Brenda Ann Spencers attempted massacre at an elementary school in San Diego, California in 1979. In 1980, The Boomtown Rats released the album Mondo Bongo and its single Up All Night was a hit in the U. S. and its video was played frequently on MTV. Geldof became known as an interview subject. He responded to nuns in the audience who tried to shout him down by saying they had a life with no material worries in return for which they gave themselves body. The interview caused uproar, making it impossible for The Boomtown Rats to play in Ireland again, in January 2013, Geldof announced The Boomtown Rats would be reforming to play together for the first time since 1986 at that year’s Isle of Wight Festival in June. They have subsequently announced further tour dates and released a new CD Back to Boomtown, Geldof left the Boomtown Rats in 1986, to launch a solo career and publish his autobiography, Is That It. which was a UK best-seller
