Everything about County Council totally explained
A
County council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a
county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.
Britain and Ireland
England and Wales
In
England and
Wales, a
county council is a
council that governs a
county.
County Councils were introduced in
1889 on the 22nd of September in
England and Wales by the
Local Government Act 1888, largely taking over the administrative functions of the unelected
Quarter Sessions. The system was soon extended to
Scotland, by the
Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, and
Ireland by the
Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898. Except in
Scotland, the areas they covered were termed
administrative counties and didn't necessarily align with the
traditional shire counties. 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 after 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 writ of the county councils didn't extend everywhere:
county boroughs were independent of the council for the county in which they were geographically situated, and county borough councils exercised the functions of both county councils and district councils.
In England and Wales, local government was reformed in
1974. County boroughs were abolished and all of the country (apart from
Greater London) was placed in a two-tier arrangement with county councils and
district councils.
Another reform in
1986 abolished the
Greater London Council (which was similar but not identical to a county council) and the councils of the six
metropolitan counties abolished. Their functions were transferred to the
metropolitan boroughs.
In
1996 in
Wales another local government reform replaced the two-tier system with an arrangement of
unitary authorities, known as the
principal areas of Wales. Some of these have the styling of "county council" and some have the styling "county borough council".
The
1990s in
England saw the reestablishment of county boroughs in all but name, as unitary authorities. As a result of this, a further county council, that of
Berkshire, was abolished, whilst others saw their territory decrease. Most of these unitary authorities were boroughs or districts. One, the
Isle of Wight is a county council, although it's named the "Isle of Wight Council". Two other unitary districts
Rutland and
Herefordshire, correspond to historic counties, and use use "county" in their titles, being governed respectively by "Rutland County Council District Council" and "County of Herefordshire District Council".
County Councils are very large employers with a great variety of functions including education (schools and youth services), social services, highways, fire and rescue services, libraries, waste disposal, consumer services and town and country planning. Until the 1990s they also ran Colleges of Further Education and the Careers Services. That decade also saw the privatisation of some traditional services, such as highways maintenance, cleaning and school meals.
In 2009, a further change to the status of some County Councils is expected to take place. Following invitations from central government in 2007, a number of County Councils and their associated districts examined ways in which local government provision could be rationalised, mainly in the form of abolishing the existing County and District councils and establishing one-tier authorities for all or parts of these existing counties. As a result, the status of some of these (mainly) more rural counties will change. Some, such as Shropshire, North Yorkshire, Wiltshire and Northumberland will reform to one council providing all services. It is expected these will drop the word "county" from their titles, such as already exists with Herefordshire Council. Others, such as Bedfordshire, will see more than one unitary council established within the boundaries of the abolished County Council. Not all counties that submitted plans were successful. Somerset, for example, will retain the existing County Council and District Councils. It is believed that a survey conducted across the county revealed reform to be unpopular, and the Government refused to sanction change as a result. Many County Councils will remain unchanged, particularly in the heavily populated parts of England such as the south east.
Scotland
In
Scotland a major reform took place in
1975. This resulted in bodies identical in function and structure to the England and Welsh county councils; but called 'regional councils', because they covered
regions instead of
counties. In
1996 a further reorganisation saw the regions and districts replaced by 32 unitary
council areas each with an average of just over 980 sq miles.
Republic of Ireland
In the
Republic of Ireland, the county councils are still around in their original form, though they've taken on the powers of
rural districts after they were abolished. See
Local government in the Republic of Ireland.
United States
In the
United States, most of the individual states have
counties as a form of local government; in nine states, they're headed by a county council. In other states, each county is headed by a
county commission or a
county board of supervisors.
Further Information
Get more info on 'County Council'.
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