Local government in England
Local government in England broadly consists of three layers: civil parishes, local authorities, and regional authorities. Every part of England is governed by at least one local authority, but parish councils and regional authorities do not exist everywhere. In addition, there are 31 police and crime commissioners, four police, fire and crime commissioners, and ten national park authorities with local government responsibilities. Local government is not standardised across the country, with the last comprehensive reform taking place in 1974.
Local authorities cover the entirety of England, and are responsible for services such as education, transport, planning applications, and waste collection and disposal. In two-tier areas a non-metropolitan county council and two or more non-metropolitan district councils share responsibility for these services. In single-tier areas a unitary authority, London borough, or metropolitan borough provides all services. The City of London and Isles of Scilly have unique local authorities.
Some local authorities collaborate through regional authorities. Combined authorities are statutory bodies which allow two or more local authorities to voluntarily pool responsibilities and negotiate a devolution deal with the UK Government for the area they cover, giving it powers beyond those typically held by a local authority. In Greater London, the Greater London Authority has responsibility for transport, policing, fire and rescue, development and strategic planning.
Civil parishes are the lowest tier of local government, and primarily exist in rural and smaller urban areas. The responsibilities of parish councils are limited and generally consist of providing and maintaining public spaces and facilities.
Local authorities are considered statutory corporations and have no authority to act other than where they have been explicitly allowed by law. However, since the Localism Act 2011, local authorities have had a general power of competence meaning that 'a local authority has power to do anything that individuals generally may do.'
History
At a time when most parish affairs were dealt with by vestries, the Vestries Act 1831 and the Metropolis Management Act 1855 sought to establish the principle of vestries being elected by ratepayers, both men and women.Before the
Local Government Act 1888, most local government functions in England were carried out by parish vestries, Boards of Guardians, which operated workhouses and former poor law functions; elected school boards, created by the Elementary Education Act 1870, and the unelected county courts of quarter sessions. The Act of 1888 created county councils, consisting of councillors, directly elected by electors, and aldermen, chosen by the councillors. There was to be one county alderman for every three councillors. The first elections to the councils were held in January 1889, and on 1 April they came into their powers, most of which were taken over from the quarter sessions. Elections of all councillors and half of the aldermen took place every three years thereafter. The councils' areas were designated as administrative counties. The county councils did not cover the whole country. The larger towns and some historic counties corporate were designated as county boroughs by the same act of 1888. The new system was a major modernisation, which reflected the increasing range of functions carried out by local government in late Victorian Britain. An accretion of powers took place when education was added to county council responsibilities in 1902. County councils were responsible for the more strategic services in a county or county borough.
The Local Government Act 1894 created parish councils, which replaced the vestries, and also urban district councils and rural district councils, responsible mostly for sanitation and locally-maintained highways.
The London Government Act 1899 created 28 Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, replacing a larger number of vestries and district boards.
The Local Government Act 1929 increased the powers of county councils, which took over from the Boards of Guardians, which were abolished. County councils also took charge of highways in rural districts.
The London Government Act 1963 abolished, with effect from 1965, the London County Council and Middlesex County Council, creating the Greater London Council to replace them. The London Government Act 1963 also established 32 London borough councils.
In 1964, as recommended by the Local Government Commission for England, two pairs of administrative counties were merged to become Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely and Huntingdon and Peterborough.
The Local Government Act 1972 completely reorganised local authorities in England and Wales. In the six largest conurbations, metropolitan county councils, with increased powers, were created. Aldermen were abolished, and all councillors were to be elected every four years. Outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly, the Local Government Act 1972 divided England into metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties, which would have one county council and multiple district councils each. That meant that each area would be covered by two tiers of local authorities - both a county council and a district council, which would share local authority functions.
The Greater London Council was abolished by the Local Government Act 1985. In 1986 the six metropolitan county councils were abolished, with their functions transferred to the metropolitan boroughs and joint boards.
The Local Government Act 1992 established a new Local Government Commission, to review of the structure of local administration, and the introduction of some unitary authorities. The number of county councils was reduced: The counties of Avon, Berkshire, Cleveland, Hereford and Worcester, and Humberside were abolished, while Worcestershire County Council was re-established. The Isle of Wight County Council became a unitary authority, renamed as the "Isle of Wight Council".
In May 2022, 21 non-metropolitan county councils and 164 non-metropolitan district councils remain. These are better known as simply county councils and district councils. While the metropolitan county councils were abolished in 1985, 36 metropolitan district councils still survive, as of May 2022.
Local authorities now
There are 317 local authorities covering the whole of England. There are five main types of local authorities: London borough councils, two-tier county and district councils, metropolitan district councils and unitary authorities. Some local authorities have borough, city or royal borough status, but this is purely stylistic.All local authorities are made up of councillors, who represent geographical wards and divisions. There are 7,026 wards as of December 2021. Local authorities run on four year cycles and councillors may be elected all at once, by halves or by thirds; although the Electoral Commission has recommended that all authorities use whole council elections every 4 years.
Local authorities have a choice of executive arrangements under the Local Government Act 2000: mayor and cabinet executive, leader and cabinet executive, a committee system or bespoke arrangements approved by the Secretary of State. As of April 2023, just 15 local authorities have directly-elected mayors. Some functions are just the responsibility of the executive of a local authority, but local authorities must also have at least one overview and scrutiny committee to hold the executive to account.
There are now 62 unitary authorities. These carry out the functions of both county and district councils and have replaced two-tier local government in some areas. The creation of these first became possible under the Local Government Act 1992, but now takes place under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.
In the 2023/24 financial year, 33% of budgeted service expenditure across local government as a whole is set to be on education, 19% on adult social care, 13% on police, 11% on children's social care and 24% on all other services.
Notably, Cornwall Council has been subject to a devolution deal, which are usually reserved to combined authorities for additional functions and funding. And, like some combined authorities and parish councils, local authorities do have a general power of competence. Separate to combined authorities, two or more local authorities can also work together through joint boards, joint committees or through contracting out and agency arrangements.
Greater London includes the sui generis City of London Corporation and the liberties of the Middle Temple and the Inner Temple. The other sui generis local authority in England is the Council of the Isles of Scilly.
Regional government
Greater London Authority
The Greater London Authority Act 1999 established a Mayor of London and 25-member London Assembly. The first mayoral and assembly elections took place in 2000. The former Leader of the Greater London Council, Ken Livingstone, served as the inaugural Mayor, until he was defeated by future Prime Minister Boris Johnson in 2008. The incumbent, Sadiq Khan, was first elected in 2016.The Mayor's functions include chairing Transport for London, holding the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and London Fire Commissioner to account and keeping strategies up to date, including the London Plan. Meanwhile, it is the Assembly's role to regularly hold the Mayor and their key advisers to account and it can also amend the budget or a strategy by a two-thirds majority, though this has not ever happened as of March 2022.
Combined authorities
Combined authorities can be created at the request of two or more local authorities. Combined authorities do not replace the local authorities in question, but can receive separate functions and funding. As of May 2022, there are 10 combined authorities covering some of England. The Secretary of State was first granted the power to create combined authorities by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009.The Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 gave the Secretary of State the power to provide for a directly-elected combined authority mayor. And, as of May 2022, nine out of the 10 combined authorities have mayors, including Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester and Andy Street in the West Midlands. In the 2024 local elections, new Combined Authorities were elected; they were the new York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, North East Mayoral Combined Authority, East Midlands Combined County Authority. They are all controlled by the Labour Party as of 2024 except for Tees Valley.
Each combined authority's executive consists of a representative from each of its constituent local authorities, plus the mayor. Functions can be devolved directly to the mayor, to the combined authority as a whole, or have a different decision-making requirement. The budget and functions of each combined authority can be vastly different, but possible functions include responsibility for the relevant police force and/or fire brigade, bus franchising and spatial strategy.