52-581: Bracknell Forest is a unitary authority area in Berkshire , southern England. It covers the two towns of Bracknell and Sandhurst and the village of Crowthorne and also includes the areas of North Ascot , Binfield, Warfield, and Winkfield. The borough borders Wokingham and the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead in Berkshire, and also parts of Surrey and Hampshire . The district
104-516: A few locations), but share strategic functions with joint boards and arrangements. On the other hand, the City of London Corporation and the 32 London borough councils, although they have a high degree of autonomy, share strategic functions with the directly elected Mayor of London and London Assembly . Unitary authorities should not be confused with another formation in English local government,
156-624: A filming location for a number of films including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Parts 1 & 2. Unitary authorities of England The unitary authorities of England are a type of local authority responsible for all local government services in an area. They combine the functions of a non-metropolitan county council and a non-metropolitan district council, which elsewhere in England provide two tiers of local government. Unitary authorities are constituted under
208-526: A hamlet at the far south-west of Warfield parish. The district's population rose rapidly, and reached 64,135 by the 1971 census. In 1974 the district was reconstituted as the non-metropolitan district of Bracknell under the Local Government Act 1972 . It changed its name in May 1988 to Bracknell Forest, at the same time as it was granted borough status. On 1 April 1998, Berkshire County Council
260-634: A high survival rate for the young. Indeed, they recovered in some areas of the UK, but numbers are once again on the decline in other regions of their natural range. The range of the Dartford warbler is restricted to western and southern Europe. The total population in 2012 was estimated at 1.1–2.5 million breeding pairs. The largest numbers occur in Spain where there were believed to be 983,000–1,750,000 pairs. For reasons that probably include loss of suitable habitat,
312-516: A local authority in England is 170,000, three times that of Europe. Most unitary authority areas are divided into a number of multiple member wards from which councillors are elected in the same way as in two-tier district council elections. The exceptions, which are divided into electoral divisions as in county council elections, are Cornwall, County Durham, the Isle of Wight, Northumberland, Shropshire and Wiltshire. Districts are usually named after
364-530: A number of districts were split off from their associated counties. The changes caused the ceremonial counties to be defined separately, as they had been before 1974. The review caused 46 unitary authorities to be created. A further review was initiated in 2007 and was enacted in 2009. The review established Cornwall and Northumberland as counties of a single district; established unitary authorities in County Durham , Shropshire and Wiltshire covering
416-434: A red eye. The reddish throat is spotted with white. The sides are a dull greyish tone, being more clear about the abdomen. In some populations males have bluish-grey or brownish-grey backs and heads. The female is paler below, especially on the throat, and a browner grey above. The female's throat also has white spots, although they are smaller and less marked than in the male. Juvenile birds are similar to females. The species
468-554: A single large town or city, while those created since 2009 often cover entire non-metropolitan counties. The term " unitary authority " was first used in the Redcliffe-Maud Report in 1969 in its current sense of a local government authority which combines the functions of a county council and a district council. Strictly speaking, the term does not necessarily mean a single level of local government within an area, because in some cases there are also parish councils in
520-401: A town, city, geographical area or county (historic and or ceremonial). With no effect on powers or functions, districts can have the status of royal borough , borough or city . A district having a charter is dependent on the charter's wording: as a charter trustee to a place in the district; having joint charter to the place and district or to the district itself. Notes The Council of
572-437: A year. It inhabits open fields with degraded scrub brush and is common in heather . In winter it may visit urban areas, but always feeds within shrubs in these areas. It nests in bushes with thorns and near the ground. These warblers are mostly insectivorous , eating caterpillars , butterflies , beetles and spiders . The song of the Dartford warbler is a distinctive rattling warble. Dartford warblers almost died out in
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#1732772747427624-546: Is Grade I. There are five sites in the borough included on the Register of Historic Parks and Gardens : Ascot Place , Broadmoor Hospital , Newbold College , South Hill Park and Windsor Great Park . Bracknell Forest Borough Council's offices at Time Square in Market Street were featured in an episode of Road Wars on 4 February 2010 when a pursuit ended in the carpark. Two rivers run through Bracknell Forest:
676-710: Is a base for high-tech industries and home to companies such as Panasonic , Fujitsu (formerly ICL ) and Fujitsu Siemens Computers , Dell , Hewlett-Packard , Sharp Corporation , Tracks Laser & Electronics and LSI Corporation . The software development and computer services side of the industry also thrives in Bracknell Forest and includes companies like Cable and Wireless , Honeywell , Avnet , Novell , and RSA Security . Pharmaceutical and engineering companies also draw together in Bracknell Forest, these include Boehringer Ingelheim , Syngenta , Minebea , Daler-Rowney and Hyundai Heavy Industries . Bracknell
728-431: Is a small, 13 cm (5.1 in), passerine bird, distinguished by its long tail compared with that of other warblers. Its plumage comprises unobtrusive and muted tones, which blend in with the dry dead plants, old wood or sunny greyish wood found in its preferred habitats. Like many typical warblers, the Dartford warbler has distinct male and female plumages . The male has a grey back and head, reddish underparts, and
780-614: Is also home to the central Waitrose distribution centre and head office which is on a 70-acre (280,000 m) site on the Southern Industrial Estate. Waitrose has operated from the town since the 1970s. The town is also home to the headquarters of Avis Europe . There is no forest called 'Bracknell Forest'. This name is often confused with Swinley Forest (or Woods), which is an area of the Windsor Estate between Bracknell and Bagshot . Owned and managed by
832-425: Is as follows: Unitary government has been criticised for damaging local democracy. Opponents to unitary authority criticise the 'bigger is better' assumption and highlight that larger councils breed mistrust of councillors and reduction in public engagement and voter turnout. Outside the UK, multi-level local government is the prevailing system, with major towns normally having a local authority. The average size of
884-455: Is defined as 'Asian' at 4.34%, third as 'Black' at 2.35%, fourth as Mixed at 1.82%. With regard to religious affiliation, the population is predominantly Christian (77.8%), followed by those who have no religion (19.4%), Hindus (1.1%), Muslims (0.7%), Buddhists (0.3%), other religions (0.3%), Jews (0.2%) and Sikhs (0.2%). The population is quite healthy comparing well regionally and nationally with life expectancy at 80.15 years. Bracknell Forest
936-543: Is naturally rare. The largest European populations of Curruca undata are in the Iberian peninsula, others in much of France , in Italy and southern England and south Wales . In Africa it can be found only in small areas in the north, wintering in northern Morocco and northern Algeria . Dartford warblers first breed when they are one year old. They are usually monogamous and the pair bond can persist from one year to
988-519: The Balearic warbler . Altogether, this group of typical warblers bears a resemblance to the wrentit , the only species of Sylviidae from the Americas . However, the wrentit is less closely related to the genus Sylvia than to the parrotbills . Its visual similarity to the Dartford warbler group is an example of convergent evolution . Three subspecies are recognised: The Dartford warbler
1040-557: The Birds Directive , and a small breeding population of hobbies , an important migratory species in a European context. Bracknell Forest is generally affluent (ranked 291 out of 326 on the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2010, Rank of Average Score) with significantly lower than average unemployment levels. Property prices and levels of car ownership are significantly higher than the national average. However deprivation does exist in
1092-416: The Local Government Act 1992 , which amended the Local Government Act 1972 to allow the existence of non-metropolitan counties that do not have multiple districts. Most were established during the 1990s , with more created in 2009 and 2019–23 . The size of the areas governed by unitary authorities varies greatly; the authorities created in the 1990s were generally created from single districts and covered
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#17327727474271144-758: The River Blackwater forms the borough's southern boundary, and the Cut meanders through the northern parishes. These receive water from small streams within the borough namely the Bull Brook in the north which feeds into the Cut and the Wish stream which flows into the River Blackwater . The built and developed proportion of the Borough amounts to about 35% of the total land area. Extensive forests cover more than 20% of
1196-524: The United Kingdom in the severe winter of 1962/1963 when the national population dropped to just ten pairs. Sylvia undata is also sensitive to drought affecting breeding success or producing heath fires , as occurred during 1975 and 1976 in England when virtually all juveniles failed to survive their first year. However, this species can recover well in good quality habitat with favourable temperatures and rainfall, thanks to repeated nesting and
1248-422: The combined authority . Dartford warbler The Dartford warbler ( Curruca undata ) is a typical warbler from the warmer parts of western Europe and northwestern Africa . It is a small warbler with a long thin tail and a thin pointed bill. The adult male has grey-brown upperparts and is dull reddish-brown below except for the centre of the belly which has a dirty white patch. It has light speckles on
1300-631: The Borough's total area. The largest, Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods & Heaths SSSI was designated in 2001 to include the majority of Swinley Forest. The Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area (SPA), 1356 hectares of which lie within Bracknell Forest (Sandhurst to Owlsmoor Bogs and Heaths SSSI and the Broadmoor to Bagshot Woods and Heaths SSSI), supports nationally important populations of Dartford warblers , nightjars and woodlarks , all of which are Annex I species of
1352-546: The Crown Estates, it comprises 2,600 acres (11 km) of woodland (mainly Scots pine ). It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), and has protected areas for the birds that live there. It also provides some of the best mountain biking in South-East England , with many off-road 'single-track' trails available as well as plenty of fire roads. In recent years, Swinley forest has also been used as
1404-658: The Dutch naturalist Pieter Boddaert introduced the name, Motacilla undata , based on a coloured plate of "Le Pitte-chou, de Provence" in Edmé-Louis Daubenton 's Planches enluminées d'histoire naturelle . The specific epithet undata is from Medieval Latin undatus meaning "with wavy markings". The type locality is Provence in France. This species probably forms a superspecies with Tristram's warbler and this in turn seems close to Marmora's warbler and
1456-473: The English name and based his description on two specimens that had been obtained by the ornithologist John Latham from Bexley Heath, near Dartford in Kent . In 1783 Latham included the warbler in his A General Synopsis of Birds but did not coin the binomial name , Sylvia dartfordiensis , until the supplement to his work was published in 1787. However, in 1783, before the publication of Latham's supplement,
1508-622: The Exchequer Rachel Reeves outlined that a forthcoming English Devolution Bill would include plans for "working with councils to move to simpler structures that make sense for their local areas", suggesting that a new round of local government reorganisation could be likely. The process of changing from a two-tier local government to a structure based on unitary authorities is called 'restructuring'. The Secretary of State responsible for local government invites proposals from local areas to restructure into unitary authorities, and
1560-461: The Isles of Scilly is a sui generis single-tier authority, created in 1890 and since 1930 has held the "powers, duties and liabilities" of a county council. It thus is not a unitary authority as those are such authorities created under the Local Government Act 1992 . The 36 metropolitan borough councils are also the sole elected local government units in their areas (except for parish councils in
1612-672: The Secretary decides whether or not the change should be implemented. The restructuring is carried out by an Order. There are no examples in the UK of councils restructuring back into a two-tier system. Unitary authorities combine the powers and functions that are normally delivered separately by the councils of non-metropolitan counties and non-metropolitan districts. These functions are housing, waste management, waste collection, council tax collection, education, libraries, social services, transport, planning, consumer protection, licensing, cemeteries and crematoria. The breakdown of these services
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1664-544: The Spanish population appears to be declining. The species is therefore classed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as being Near Threatened . A period of climatic warming since 1963 has seen the UK population increase to "more than 2,500 pairs in 2006 (Wotton et al. 2009). Expansion into patches of structurally suitable habitat (up to an altitude of 400m), more northerly areas and away from
1716-400: The borough -central Bracknell is within the 30% most deprived areas in England, with several other parts of the town also within the more deprived half of England. In contrast, almost all of Crowthorne, Sandhurst, and the borough's rural fringes fall into the 10% least deprived areas in England. Household incomes are also significantly lower than other areas of similar deprivation, being close to
1768-499: The borough councils and joint boards. A review in the 1990s was initiated to select non-metropolitan areas where new unitary authorities could be created. The resulting structural changes were implemented between 1995 and 1998. Bristol, Herefordshire, the Isle of Wight and Rutland were established as counties of a single district; the district councils of Berkshire became unitary; the counties of Avon , Humberside and Cleveland were broken up to create several unitary authorities; and
1820-554: The ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire has been composed of two unitary authority areas. In March 2018, an independent report commissioned by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, proposed structural changes to local government in Northamptonshire . These changes would see the existing county council and district councils abolished and two new unitary authorities created in their place. One authority, West Northamptonshire , would consist of
1872-500: The core of the range, from Dorset and Hampshire to Derbyshire and Suffolk, is likely to have been facilitated by milder winter weather (Wotton et al. 2009, Bradbury et al. 2011). The Dartford warbler population in the UK is expected to continue to increase. However, future climate-based projections for the European range indicate that by 2080, more than 60% of the current European range may no longer be suitable (Huntley et al 2007). There
1924-521: The existing districts of Daventry , Northampton and South Northamptonshire and the other authority, North Northamptonshire would consist of Corby , East Northamptonshire , Kettering and Wellingborough districts. This was confirmed in May 2019, with the new councils being created in April 2021. In July 2021 the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government announced that in April 2023,
1976-416: The ground. It is formed mainly of grasses and is lined with a layer of finer material that can include thin roots and feathers. The eggs are laid from early April in southern France and Spain, and from mid-April in southern England. The clutch is typically 3–5 eggs which are smooth and glossy, with a white or occasionally pale green ground and marked with brown speckles which are sometimes concentrated at
2028-460: The larger end. The average size of an egg is 17 mm × 13 mm (0.67 in × 0.51 in) with a weight of 1.4 g (0.049 oz) of which 6 percent is shell. The eggs are incubated for 12–14 days mainly by the female. The chicks are fed arthropods by both parents. The nestlings fledge 10–14 days after hatching and are then fed by their parents for a further two weeks. Usually two and occasionally three broods are raised in
2080-574: The national average. According to the Office for National Statistics figures the borough's population is 113,696. 77% of the borough's population, aged between 16 and 74 years are economically active with the service sector employing the largest proportion, 46.4% of this group. Only 11% of the population is of pensionable age, compared to a national average of 18%, with 7% being over 75 years old. There are many distinctive local geographical communities within Bracknell Forest, from Sandhurst and Crowthorne in
2132-489: The new council areas were formed ahead of their creation on 1 April 2019 . Buckinghamshire County Council and the non-metropolitan districts of Aylesbury Vale , Chiltern , South Bucks , and Wycombe in Buckinghamshire were replaced by a single unitary authority known as Buckinghamshire Council on 1 April 2020. The existing unitary authority of Milton Keynes was not affected; from 1 April 2020, therefore,
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2184-467: The next. The male sometimes builds several simple nests (cock nests) of which one is chosen by the female, but it is more usual for both birds to participate in constructing the breeding nest. In southern England the birds breed on heathlands , sometimes near the coast, and nest in either common gorse ( Ulex europaeus ) or common heather ( Calluna vulgaris ). The compact cup-shaped nest is located in dense bushes, usually within 60 cm (24 in) of
2236-451: The non-metropolitan counties of Cumbria , North Yorkshire and Somerset would be reorganised into unitary authority areas. The new authorities, Cumberland , Westmorland and Furness , North Yorkshire Council and Somerset Council were first elected in May 2022 and formally assumed their powers on 1 April 2023. The Labour Party returned to power following the 2024 general election , and in her Autumn budget statement , Chancellor of
2288-594: The non-metropolitan district of Christchurch , the other would be composed of the remainder of the county. In November 2017, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid stated that he was "minded to approve the proposals" and a final decision to implement the two unitary authority model was confirmed in February 2018. Statutory instruments for the creation of two unitary authorities, to be named Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council and Dorset Council , have been made and shadow authorities for
2340-442: The part of the county that was not already split off in the 1990s review; and divided the remainder of Bedfordshire and Cheshire into two unitary authority areas. The review caused nine unitary authorities to be created. In 2017, it was proposed that two unitary authority areas be formed to cover the ceremonial county of Dorset . One of the authorities would consist of the existing unitary authorities of Bournemouth , Poole and
2392-656: The same area. Although the term was not applied to them, county boroughs between 1889 and 1974 were effectively unitary authority areas, that is, single-tier administrative units. Before 1889, local government authorities had different powers and functions, but from medieval times some cities and towns had a high degree of autonomy as counties corporate . Some smaller settlements also enjoyed some degree of autonomy from regular administration as boroughs or liberties . The Local Government Act 1972 created areas for local government where large towns and their rural hinterlands were administered together. The concept of unitary units
2444-453: The south, the semi-rural communities of Binfield, Winkfield and Warfield in the north and the former new town of Bracknell in the centre, which contains most of the Borough's commercial and industrial areas. With respect to ethnicity, according to the Office for National Statistics , the vast majority of the Borough's residents (89.6%) consider themselves to be 'White'. The second largest group
2496-498: The throat and a red eye-ring. The sexes are similar but the adult female is usually less grey above and paler below. Its breeding range lies west of a line from southern England to the heel of Italy (southern Apulia ). The Dartford warbler is usually resident all year in its breeding range, but there is some limited migration . The Dartford warbler was first described in 1776 by the Welsh naturalist, Thomas Pennant . He introduced
2548-571: The total area, consisting principally of parts of Windsor Forest ; predominantly conifer plantation owned and managed by the Crown Estate and Forestry Commission . Agricultural land covers 24% of the land, located mainly in the north of the borough. More than 20% of the borough is recognised as being of a high wildlife value and protected by some form of designation. Nine sites in Bracknell Forest are designated as Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), comprising 1911.5 hectares or 17.48% of
2600-483: Was abandoned with a two-tier arrangement of county and district councils in all areas of England, except the Isles of Scilly where the small size and distance from the mainland made it impractical. In 1986 a broadly unitary system of local government was introduced in the six metropolitan counties and Greater London , where the upper-tier authorities were abolished and their functions were split between central government,
2652-574: Was abolished, as a consequence of the Banham Review , and Bracknell Forest Borough Council became a unitary authority . From 2008, references to 'borough' were phased out in favour of simply Bracknell Forest Council. Since 1973, Bracknell Forest has been twinned with Opladen in Germany, continued by Leverkusen after Opladen's incorporation in 1975. There are 265 Listed Buildings in the borough of which 254 are Grade II, 10 are Grade II* and 1
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#17327727474272704-534: Was formed as Easthampstead Rural District under the Local Government Act 1894 as a successor to the Easthampstead rural sanitary district . Originally a small rural district, its population was about 20,000 during World War II . Bracknell , in the district, was one of the first post-war new towns to be designated, and became a civil parish in 1955, created from parts of Binfield, Easthampstead, Warfield and Winkfield parishes. Bracknell had originally been
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