Unitary authority

A unitary authority is a type of local authority, which has a single tier and is responsible for all local government functions within its area. This is opposed to a two-tier system where local government functions are divided between different authorities.

Typically unitary authorities cover large towns or cities, which are large enough to be independent of county or regional administration. Sometimes they consist of counties which have no lower level of administration.

New Zealand

In New Zealand a unitary authority is a territorial authority (district or city) which also performs the functions of a regional council. New Zealand has four unitary authorities: Gisborne District, Nelson City, Tasman District and Marlborough District. The Chatham Islands Council is not usually considered a unitary authority, although it acts as a regional council for the purposes of the Resource Management Act.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, "Unitary Authorities" are English or Welsh local authorities set up by the Local Government Act 1992 which form a single tier of local government, and are responsible for almost all local government functions within their areas.

This is opposed to the two-tier system of local government which still exists in most of England, where local government functions are divided between county councils and district councils. Until 1996 a similar two-tier system existed in Scotland and Wales but this has now been replaced by a fully unitary system. A unitary system has existed in Northern Ireland since 1973.

England

Although most of England is still two-tier, during the 1990s, many cities and large towns became unitary authorities and thus independent from county councils, with the local council taking over both county and district functions.

In some English counties with small populations, such as Rutland, Herefordshire and the Isle of Wight, the entire county is a unitary authority.

In practice most unitary authorities in the UK are not entirely unitary, as they often run some services on a joint basis with other authorities, these typically include policing, fire services, and sometimes waste disposal and public transport. In addition some unitary authorities contain civil parishes, which effectively form another limited tier of local government.

History

When county councils were first established in 1889, a type of unitary authority was created called a County Borough which was independent of county council administration. County Boroughs typically covered large towns and cities. However in 1974 County Boroughs were abolished and a two-tier system was put in place everywhere.

By the 1990s it was clear that the two-tier system was in many places complicated and inefficient. Many large councils re-gained their unitary status throughout the 1990s, effectively returning to the pre-1974 system, although the County Boroughs were re-named 'unitary authorities'.

The term 'unitary authority' itself first surfaced in the Redcliffe-Maud Report, to describe the sort of authority the report recommended cover most of England.

Creation of Unitary Authorities

Unitary authorities can be created in England by statutory instruments, so do not require separate legislation, under the terms of the Local Government Act 1992. Typically a district of a non-metropolitan county is designated as a new non-metropolitan county, but without a county council. The borders of the original county are adjusted to exclude the unitary authority area. In common usage unitary authority areas are not usually referred to as counties, although there are exceptions such as the Herefordshire and Rutland, which are reinstatements of counties lost in the 1974 reorganisation; and the Isle of Wight, (the first Unitary Authority created after the 1992 Act, and arguably one of the simplest and least controversial to create) which was, and remains, a separate county, but now with only a single council.

In some cases, such as the boroughs of the six metropolitan counties and the county of Berkshire, a different process was followed, where the county council was abolished, and its functions merely transferred to the districts.

London boroughs and the City of London are also counted as unitary authorities. The Isles of Scilly have a special council that is neither a district nor a county, but is in practise a sui generis unitary authority.

They have become more common in England since the 1990s. However the two-tier arrangement (increasing to three-tiers, for the remaining county administrations) has remained in a different form due to the introduction of a regional level of administration.

For listings of unitary authorities in England, see Regions of England or Subdivisions of England.

Legal Definition

Unitary Authorities in England are typically defined in current legislation as:

"any authority which is the sole principal council for its local government area"

Local Government Changes for England Regulations 1994

Or:

(a) any county council so far as they are the council for an area for which there are no district councils;

(b) the council of any district comprised in an area for which there is no county council;

(d) the Common Council of the City of London; and

(e) the Council of the Isles of Scilly.

Dogs (Fouling of Land) Act 1996

Scotland

Local authorities in Scotland are unitary in nature, 31 are known as "Councils" and one "Comhairle". The phrase "Unitary Authority" is not commonly used as a designation, though there are some councils who refer to themselves that way. ^*

Wales

Local Authorities in Wales are unitary in nature, being known as "County Councils" or "County Borough Councils" but not generally as "Unitary Authorities" except within legislation (see Whitaker's Almanack).

Other countries

Similar institituions exist in other countries, which although not called unitary authorities, are similar in concept.

Canada

More commonly referred to as single-tier municipalities, they exist as a single level of government in a province that otherwise has two levels of local government. One should not confuse municipalities in provinces with no upper-level of local government as single-tier municipalities, as these are the only level of local government in that province.

Structure of a single-tier municipality varies, and while most function as cities with no upper level of government, some function as counties or regional municipalities with no lower municipal subdivisons below them. The vast majority of Canadian single-tier municipalities are located in Ontario, where they exist as individual census divisions, as well as separated municipalities.

United States

In the United States an Independent city is roughly equivalent to a unitary authority. The city might be separate from any county government, as in Virginia, or merged with a county government, as is common in Florida. In Alaska, dual-tier (county-municipality) government is rare. In Anchorage, Juneau, and Sitka, city governments are merged with their respective boroughs. In many other areas the only local government is the borough (effectively a unitary authority), and in some sparsely-populated areas there is no local government at all.

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