84-627: Devonwall is one name given to various proposals to link or combine the counties of Cornwall and Devon together in whole or in part. The name was initially used to describe political concept introduced in the United Kingdom in the 1970s by the Conservative government. It was an attempt to link the two counties together in an economic, political and statistical sense to form a South West region . This involved combining and centralising some local government functions and services such as
168-423: A metropolitan county or a non-metropolitan county . From 1995 onwards numerous unitary authorities have been established in the non-metropolitan counties, usually by creating a non-metropolitan county containing a single district and having one council perform both county and district functions. Since 1996 there have been two legal definitions of county: the counties as defined in local government legislation, and
252-423: A town hall . Typical activities undertaken by a parish council include maintaining allotments, footpaths, playing fields and the local community or village hall. On some matters, the county council share responsibilities with the district and parish councils. These include economic development and regeneration, emergency planning, tourism promotion and coastal protection. There was no established coat of arms for
336-623: A twinning charter with the Conseil General of Calvados to develop links with the French department of Calvados . The council was significantly reformed in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 . Exeter, Torbay and Plymouth were brought within the area controlled by the county council, and the lower-tier districts in the county were completely reorganised. Torbay and Plymouth subsequently regained their independence from
420-527: A 'unitary Devon' (excluding Plymouth and Torbay ), with a second option of a 'unitary Exeter & Exmouth ' (combined) and a unitary 'rest of Devon'. This would have abolished lower-tier district councils which work together with Devon County Council. These proposals were put out to consultation until September 2008 and the Committee was expected to make final recommendations to the Secretary of State by
504-627: A combined arrangement with Devon. Today many Cornish organisations such as Mebyon Kernow , the Liberal Democrats , the Cornish Constitutional Convention , as well as many Conservative and independent councillors on Cornwall Council still campaign against the "Devonwall" concept and are in favour of Cornwall being run as a distinct cultural, economic and administrative region with its own assembly. Counties of England The counties of England are
588-414: A county basis. For the purpose of sorting and delivering mail, England was divided into postal counties until 1996; they were then abandoned by Royal Mail in favour of postcodes . Most of the historic English counties were established between the 7th and 11th centuries. Counties were initially used for the administration of justice and organisation of the militia, all overseen by a sheriff. The sheriff
672-460: A county council which also performs the functions of a district, or a district council which also performs the functions of a county. The effect is the same, with only marginal differences in terminology; district councils are elected by wards, county councils by electoral divisions . The local government counties are listed below, with the numbers corresponding to the adjoining map. There have been no county councils since 1986; these are governed by
756-517: A county in terms of local government legislation, Greater London is deemed to comprise two counties for the purposes of lieutenancy: the City of London (covering the 'square mile' at the centre of the conurbation) and a Greater London lieutenancy county covering the rest of the area, being the 32 London boroughs. The Council of the Isles of Scilly was formed in 1890 as a sui generis district council. It
840-399: A regional and economic sense from Devon. This fact underlines the importance of Celticity to Cornwall in recent years. In July 2000, Mebyon Kernow issued the "Declaration for a Cornish Assembly". "Cornwall is a distinct region. It has a clearly defined economic, administrative and social profile. Cornwall's unique identity reflects its Celtic character, culture and environment. We declare that
924-473: A sheriff or lieutenant; the same person was usually appointed to be lieutenant of both Cumberland and Westmorland until 1876, whilst Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire shared a sheriff until 1965. The counties' role as constituencies effectively ceased following the Reform Act 1832 and the associated Parliamentary Boundaries Act 1832 . Most counties were divided into smaller constituencies, with
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#17327811798271008-594: A type of subdivision of England . Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purposes of lieutenancy ; the 84 metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties for local government ; and the 39 historic counties which were used for administration until 1974 . The historic counties of England were mostly formed as shires or divisions of
1092-439: A union centred on a nearby town, whether or not that town was in the same county. The unions were administered by elected boards of guardians , and formed the basis for the registration districts created in 1837. Each union as a whole was assigned to a registration county , which therefore differed in places from the legal counties. The registration counties were used for census reporting from 1851 to 1911. The unions also formed
1176-526: A unitary authority performing both county and district functions, and one ( Berkshire ) is governed by six unitary authorities whilst remaining legally one county. For the purposes of lieutenancy England (including Greater London and the Isles of Scilly) is divided into 48 counties, which are defined as groups of one or more local government counties. Counties are also frequently used for non-administrative purposes, including culture, tourism and sport, with many organisations, clubs and leagues being organised on
1260-408: Is also administered by eight smaller authorities that have their own district , borough or city councils. The responsibilities of these councils include local planning, council housing, refuse collection, sports and leisure facilities, and street cleaning. The district areas are further divided into civil parishes , which have " parish councils " or " town councils "; the latter of which often use
1344-504: Is as follows: The council has been under Conservative majority control since 2009. Political control of the council since the 1974 reforms has been as follows: The leaders of the council since 1974 have been: Devon County Council's responsibilities include schools, social care for the elderly and vulnerable, road maintenance, libraries and trading standards. It is the largest employer in Devon , employing over 20,000 people, and has
1428-464: Is based at Devon County Hall on Topsham Road in Exeter, which was completed in 1964 to the designs of Donald McMorran . Prior to 1964 the council was based at Rougemont Castle (also known as Exeter Castle) in Exeter, where the quarter sessions for the county had been held for many years prior to the creation of the county council. An office building for the county council was built in 1895 adjoining
1512-570: The Earl of Morley ). On 11 October 1926, the county council received a grant of arms from the College of Arms . The main part of the shield displays a red crowned lion on a silver field, the arms of Richard Plantagenet, Earl of Cornwall . The chief or upper portion of the shield depicts an ancient ship on waves, for Devon's seafaring traditions. The Latin motto adopted was Auxilio Divino ("by divine aid"), that of Sir Francis Drake . The 1926 grant
1596-489: The Local Government Act 1972 which reorganised local government from 1 April 1974 into a two-tier structure of counties and districts across the whole of England apart from the Isles of Scilly and Greater London (which retained its two-tier structure of the Greater London Council and London boroughs which had been introduced in 1965). The administrative counties and county boroughs were all abolished, and
1680-582: The Metropolitan Board of Works since 1856, which covered the City of London and parts of Middlesex , Surrey and Kent . In those counties where the quarter sessions had been held separately for different parts of the county, separate county councils were created for each part. The area controlled by a county council was termed an administrative county . The 1888 Act also adjusted the county boundaries for all other purposes, including judicial functions, sheriffs and lieutenants, to match groups of
1764-460: The 13th century onwards, the counties formed part of the system for electing members of parliament . Certain towns and cities were parliamentary boroughs sending their own representatives, and the remainder of each county served as a county constituency , with the MPs for such constituencies being known as knights of the shire . From Tudor times onwards a lord-lieutenant was appointed to oversee
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#17327811798271848-510: The Devonwall constituency proposal would not be good for Cornwall as-a-whole, with only 4 percent believing that it would be good for Cornwall. The proposal was scrapped in 2020. On 19 September 2024, the UK government approved Devon County Council and Torbay Council's devolution plan to create a Combined county authority (CCA). Plymouth City Council had also been involved in talks to form
1932-499: The ICO said "It would be far too easy to consider these breaches as simple human error . The reality is that they are caused by councils treating sensitive personal data in the same routine way they would deal with more general correspondence. Far too often in these cases, the councils do not appear to have acknowledged that the data they are handling is about real people, and often the more vulnerable members of society." The county council
2016-794: The adjoining new town . Four of the non-metropolitan counties established in 1974 were given names that had not previously been used for counties: Avon , Cleveland , Cumbria , and Humberside . Another was a merger of two former counties and combined both their names: Hereford and Worcester . The pre-1974 counties of Cumberland, Rutland, Westmorland, and Huntingdon and Peterborough were considered too small to function efficiently as separate counties, and did not have their names taken forward by new counties. Cumberland and Westmorland were both incorporated into Cumbria (alongside parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire). Huntingdon and Peterborough became lower-tier districts within Cambridgeshire, and Rutland
2100-449: The administrative counties and county boroughs. As such, Cambridgeshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Suffolk and Sussex retained a single sheriff and lieutenant each, despite being split between multiple administrative counties. Yorkshire kept a single sheriff, whilst each of its ridings retained a separate lieutenant and formed their own administrative counties. In 1890 the Isle of Wight
2184-476: The administrative functions of the magistrates. The functions and territories of the counties have evolved since then, with significant amendments on several occasions, notably in 1889, 1965 and 1974. Following the 1974 reforms, England (outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly ) had a two-tier structure of upper-tier county councils and lower-tier district councils, with each county being designated as either
2268-407: The administrative functions of the quarter sessions. Some towns and cities were considered large enough to run their own county-level services and so were made county boroughs , independent from the new county councils. Urban sanitary districts which straddled county boundaries were placed entirely in one county. A new County of London was created covering the area which had been administered by
2352-517: The application did not meet all their strict criteria. Had the bid succeeded, Devon County Council, headquartered in Exeter , would have had no local governmental control of the City of Exeter. The Boundary Committee was asked to look at the feasibility of a unitary Exeter in the context of examining options for unitary arrangements in the wider Devon county area, and reported back in July 2008 recommending
2436-558: The basis for the sanitary districts created in 1872, which took on various local government functions. The county of Westmorland was formed in 1227. From then until 1889 there were generally agreed to be 39 counties in England, although there were some liberties such as the Liberty of Ripon which were independent from their host counties for judicial purposes. The Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 formally absorbed Wales into
2520-557: The beginning of 2008 to 2013 and was worth £445 million. There were many complaints from Cornish people that the management of the Objective One investment is largely controlled from outside Cornwall, by the South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA), in Exeter and Bristol . Cornwall was the only Objective One region in the UK and Europe where the project is administered from outside
2604-414: The boundaries between Gloucestershire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire were adjusted to transfer 26 parishes between the three counties, largely to eliminate the remaining exclaves not addressed in 1844. The functions of county councils gradually grew. Notable expansions in their responsibilities included taking over education from the abolished school boards in 1902, and taking over the assistance of
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2688-639: The boundaries were. Boundaries were recorded by the Ordnance Survey gradually in a process which started in 1841 and was not fully completed until 1888. Many counties had detached exclaves , away from the main body of the county. Most exclaves were eliminated by boundary adjustments under the Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 . The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 created poor law unions , which were defined as groups of parishes and frequently crossed county boundaries. Parishes were typically assigned to
2772-787: The boundary of the historical division between Devon and Cornwall, one of which took place in October 2010. It was announced in September 2011 that the proposed new seat would include Bude in North Cornwall and Bideford in West Devon. The idea resurfaced following the Conservative Party's outright victory in the 2015 UK general election , within which they took every Cornish seat. The PFA Research "What Cornwall Thinks" study found that 56 percent of respondents believe that
2856-427: The counties as had been adjusted for all other purposes. This lasted until the constituencies were next reviewed in 1918 , when they were realigned to nest within the newer versions of the counties. The 1888 Act used the term 'entire county' to refer to the wider version of the county, including any associated county boroughs or parts which had been made administrative counties. The informal term 'geographical county'
2940-456: The counties for the purposes of lieutenancy (the latter being informally known as ceremonial counties). The local government counties today cover England except for Greater London and the Isles of Scilly. There are six metropolitan counties and 78 non-metropolitan counties. Of the non-metropolitan counties, 21 are governed in a two-tier arrangement with an upper-tier county council and a number of lower-tier district councils , 56 are governed by
3024-555: The county council in 1998 when both were made unitary authorities. In 2012 the Council was fined £90,000 by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) after it sent confidential and sensitive information about twenty-two people, including criminal allegations and information about their mental health , to the wrong recipient. Commenting on Devon and other authorities who had made similar data protection breaches,
3108-490: The county until 1926: the arms of the City of Exeter were often used to represent Devon, for instance in the badge of the Devonshire Regiment . During the formation of a county council by the Local Government Act 1888 , adoption of a common seal was required. The seal contained three shields depicting the arms of Exeter along with those of the first chairman and vice-chairman of the council ( Lord Clinton and
3192-499: The earlier kingdoms , which gradually united by the 10th century to become England. The counties were initially used primarily for the administration of justice, overseen by a sheriff . They subsequently gained other roles, notably serving as constituencies and as areas for organising the militia , which was the responsibility of the lord-lieutenant . The county magistrates also gradually took on some administrative functions. Elected county councils were created in 1889, taking over
3276-655: The electorate of each county division , almost all being nominated by the major national political parties. The population of the area administered by the council was estimated at 795,286 in 2018, making it the largest local authority in South West England . Devon is an area with "two-tier" local government, meaning that the county is divided into non-metropolitan districts carrying out less strategic functions, such as taking most planning decisions . In Devon there are eight such districts, each with its own district, borough, or city council. Devon County Council
3360-489: The end of the year. As a result of a number of legal challenges to the process and also dissatisfaction on the part of the Secretary of State with the manner in which the Boundary Committee assessed proposals, a recommendation was unlikely until March or April 2009. The Boundary Committee was delayed again following legal challenge by a group of councils in the county of Suffolk . The Court of Appeal rejected
3444-518: The existing counties and districts and having most local government functions exercised by all-purpose unitary authorities. Following the change in government at the 1970 general election , the incoming Conservative administration of Edward Heath abandoned the Redcliffe-Maud proposals, having campaigned against them as part of their election manifesto. Instead, the Heath government produced
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3528-428: The existing courthouse which had been built in 1773 within the castle. In Devon, most county councillors who are elected have been nominated by one of England's major political parties, although there are also a small number of independents . At present the majority of councillors in the chamber are Conservatives , who hold 38 of the 60 seats. The council currently operates the local government Cabinet system which
3612-564: The fact that of the 56 most deprived areas in Devon and Cornwall, 51 were in Cornwall. Cornwall also had less than 75% of the average European GDP but these statistics were hidden when Devon—with its higher GDP—was viewed together with Cornwall under a shared stastical area. In 1998, the new Labour Government recognised Cornwall as having "distinct cultural and historical factors reflecting a Celtic background", thus allowing it to be separated in
3696-476: The first female councillor was elected in 1931. From the beginning in 1889, the boroughs of Exeter, Devonport and Plymouth were considered large enough to provide their own county-level services and so they were made county boroughs , outside the jurisdiction of the county council. Devonport was subsequently absorbed into Plymouth in 1914. Torbay received county borough status and left the area of Devon County Council in 1968. In 1971, Devon County Council signed
3780-411: The functions of the abolished councils, with some functions (such as emergency services, civil defence and public transport) being delivered through joint committees. Further reform in the 1990s allowed the creation of non-metropolitan counties containing a single district, where one council performed both county and district functions. These became informally known as unitary authorities . The first
3864-633: The group of constituencies within each county being termed the 'parliamentary county'. County boundaries were sometimes adjusted, for example by some of the Inclosure Acts of the 18th and 19th centuries. County and other boundaries were not centrally recorded with any accuracy before the 19th century, but were instead known by local knowledge and custom. When the Ordnance Survey started producing large scale maps, they had to undertake extensive research with locals to establish where exactly
3948-952: The kingdom of England and completed its division into 13 counties on the English model. Contemporary lists after that sometimes included Monmouthshire as a 40th English county, on account of its assizes being included in the Oxford circuit rather than one of the Welsh circuits . The 39 historic counties were: By the late 19th century, there was increasing pressure to reform the structure of English counties; borough councils and boards of guardians were elected, but there were no elections for county-level authorities. Some urban areas had also grown across county boundaries, creating problems in how they were administered. The Local Government Act 1888 sought to address these issues. It established elected county councils, which came into being in 1889 and took over
4032-457: The largest minor road length (7,373 miles (11,866 km) — 2014) of any UK local authority; major roads are managed by National Highways . Devon County Council appoints eleven members to the Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Authority . The Office for National Statistics estimated that the mid-2014 population of the non-metropolitan area of Devon was 765,302, which is the largest in the South West England region. The county council's area
4116-636: The late 1990s. Conversely, Mebyon Kernow opposed the process, and it did not receive widespread support from the Cornish public. After the 1997 general election , the Liberal Democrats withdrew their support as they said that they agreed that the "Devonwall" process undermined Cornwall's claims to European Objective One funding. Cornish demands for Objective One grant aid in the early 1990s for regeneration were often dismissed by Government officials as unrealistic and unobtainable, but this ignored
4200-468: The legal challenge in December 2009 and the Boundary Committee was expected to return to making recommendations on the proposals, to be published at an unknown date. On 10 February 2010, local government ministers gave the go-ahead for Exeter's unitary authority status and ruled out the chance of Devon's unitary authority status, leaving it as a rural county. However, following the 2010 general election
4284-530: The loss of judicial functions in 1972, the counties' roles were the administrative functions of local government, plus the limited ceremonial roles of the sheriffs and lieutenants. As part of the reforms under the Local Government Act 1972 the post of sheriff was renamed ' high sheriff ', and both they and the lieutenants were appointed to the new counties created in 1974. Whilst the administrative counties and county boroughs were abolished in 1974,
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#17327811798274368-476: The lower tier of district councils was reorganised. The Heath government also reformed the judicial functions which had been organised by geographical counties; the Courts Act 1971 abolished the quarter sessions and assizes with effect from 1972. The sheriffs and lieutenants continued to exist, but both roles had lost powers to become largely ceremonial by the time of the 1970s reforms. As such, following
4452-440: The metropolitan borough councils with some joint committees. Most now form part or all of a combined authority . Upper-tier county council and multiple lower-tier district councils: County council serving as unitary authority: District council serving as unitary authority: No county council but multiple districts serving as unitary authorities: Greater London and the Isles of Scilly do not form part of any county for
4536-545: The militia, taking some of the functions previously held by the sheriff. Some larger towns and cities were made self-governing counties corporate , starting with London in c. 1132 , with the right to hold their own courts and appoint their own sheriffs. The counties corporate continued to be deemed part of the wider county for the purposes of lieutenancy, with the exception of London which had its own lieutenants. The Ridings of Yorkshire had their own lieutenants from 1660 onwards. Sometimes smaller counties shared either
4620-421: The names of historic counties and were defined by reference to the administrative and geographical counties which preceded them, retaining the same or similar boundaries where practicable. Whilst the Heath government had rejected the more radical Radcliffe-Maud proposals, they did still make adjustments to boundaries where they concluded they were necessary to better align with functional economic areas. For example,
4704-495: The new CCA, but Tudor Evans , Leader of Plymouth Council stated preference a "peninsula-wide" approach which would include Cornwall. Linda Taylor, the Leader of Cornwall Council , responded by saying that she was "open to talks" but that Cornwall "deserves further devolution in its own right". Andrew George stated that both Cornwall's MPs and Cornwall Council were in consensus that Cornwall should have devolution alone, as opposed to
4788-642: The non-metropolitan counties. Since the most recent changes in 2023, England outside Greater London and the Isles of Scilly has been divided into 84 metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties for local government purposes. The 48 ceremonial counties used for the purposes of lieutenancy have been unchanged since 1998. Since the latest changes in 2023 there have been 84 counties for local government purposes, which are categorised as metropolitan or non-metropolitan counties. The non-metropolitan counties may governed by one or two tiers of councils. Those which are governed by one tier (unitary authorities) may either be governed by
4872-577: The north". However, Cornwall Council favoured a Cornwall and Isles of Scilly LEP. Further opposition arose in 2010 to a cross-border parliamentary constituency , dubbed a "Devonwall" constituency, as part of the coalition government 's plans to reform the electoral boundaries. It was met with opposition in both Devon and Cornwall. It was condemned by Mebyon Kernow and the Keep Cornwall Whole campaign, who planned protests in Saltash by
4956-478: The north-western part of Berkshire was transferred to Oxfordshire on account of being separated from the rest of Berkshire by the Berkshire Downs hills and having better connections to the city of Oxford than to Berkshire's largest town and administrative centre of Reading . Similarly, Gatwick Airport was transferred from Surrey to West Sussex so that it could be in the same county as Crawley ,
5040-523: The people of Cornwall will be best served in their future governance by a Cornish regional assembly. We therefore commit ourselves to setting up the Cornish Constitutional Convention with the intention of achieving a devolved Cornish Assembly –Senedh Kernow." Between 2000 and 2006, £350 million of Objective One funding was made available to Cornwall and with the subsequent "tranche" (called Convergence funding) lasted between
5124-432: The police, ambulance, fire services, as well as media output such as local TV and newspapers. The term Devonwall has continued to be used to describe various other proposals that would see see Cornwall and Devon brought together in whole or in part, such as proposals for a Devonwall Parliamentary constituency The name Devonwall was initially used to describe the concept the 1970s by the Conservative government. The plan
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#17327811798275208-489: The poor from the abolished boards of guardians in 1930. A Local Government Boundary Commission was set up in 1945 which reviewed the structure of local government and recommended a significant overhaul, including extensive changes to counties and county boroughs. The commission was wound up in 1949 when the government decided not to pursue these proposals. A Royal Commission on Local Government in Greater London
5292-589: The practice arose of holding the quarter sessions separately for subdivisions of the county, including the Ridings of Yorkshire , the Parts of Lincolnshire and the Eastern and Western divisions of Sussex . The quarter sessions were also gradually given various civil functions, such as providing asylums, maintaining main roads and bridges, and the regulation of alehouses. When parliaments began to be called from
5376-425: The pre-1974 powers in such cases. Whilst these unitary authorities are legally all non-metropolitan counties, they are rarely referred to as counties other than in the context of local government law. The pre-1974 counties of Rutland, Herefordshire and Worcestershire also regained their independence. Rutland was made a unitary authority in 1997, and in 1998 Herefordshire was made a unitary authority and Worcestershire
5460-681: The purposes of local government legislation. Greater London was created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963 as a sui generis administrative area, with the Greater London Council functioning as an upper-tier authority. It consists of the City of London plus 32 London boroughs . It was left unaltered by the 1972 Act. The Greater London Council was abolished along with the metropolitan county councils in 1986. Since 2000, Greater London has had an elected Assembly and Mayor responsible for strategic local government. Whilst not
5544-413: The region. New opposition emerged again in 2010, with the new government announcing that local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) would replace regional development agencies . A number of Devon councils favoured joining with Cornwall to form a "Devonwall" LEP, with Devon County Council arguing the two counties would be better united than fighting for funding against "very big regional LEPs, particularly in
5628-510: The ship emblem on the coat of arms, but following the loss in 1998 of Plymouth and Torbay re-adopted the coat of arms. In April 2006 the council unveiled a new logo which was to be used in most everyday applications, though the coat of arms will continue to be used for "various civic purposes". In 2002, the BBC Devon website held a poll in response to a discussion for a flag of Devon . Ryan Sealey's winning design of green, white, and black
5712-415: The wider geographical or historic counties were not explicitly abolished by the 1972 Act, albeit they were left with no administrative or ceremonial functions. Following the 1974 reforms there were 45 counties, six of which were classed as metropolitan counties, covering the larger urban areas: The other 39 counties were classed as non-metropolitan counties: Most of the non-metropolitan counties retained
5796-625: Was also used on Ordnance Survey maps to distinguish the wider version of the county from the administrative counties. There were various adjustments to county boundaries after 1889. There were numerous changes following the Local Government Act 1894 , which converted rural sanitary districts into rural districts and established parish councils , but said that districts and parishes were no longer allowed to straddle county boundaries. The number of county boroughs gradually increased, and boundaries were occasionally adjusted to accommodate urban areas which were developing across county boundaries. In 1931
5880-446: Was created in 1889 under the Local Government Act 1888 , which created elected county councils to take over the administrative functions previously performed by the quarter sessions , run by unelected magistrates . The first county council elections were held on 16 January 1889 and the new council formally came into being on 1 April 1889. The council's budget in its first year was £ 50,000. In 1907, women became eligible for election and
5964-503: Was deemed to be two lieutenancy counties (the City of London and the rest of Greater London) under the Administration of Justice Act 1964 . Devon County Council Devon County Council is the county council administering the English county of Devon . Based in the city of Exeter , the council covers the non-metropolitan county area of Devon. Members of the council (councillors) are elected every four years to represent
6048-541: Was established in 1957 and a Local Government Commission for England in 1958 to recommend new local government structures. The major outcomes of the work of the commissions came in 1965. The County of London was abolished and was replaced by the Greater London administrative area, which also included most of the remaining part of Middlesex (which was abolished as an administrative county) and areas formerly part of Surrey, Kent, Essex and Hertfordshire. Huntingdonshire
6132-475: Was given the "powers, duties and liabilities" of a county council in 1930. Some functions, such as health and economic development, are shared with Cornwall Council . For lieutenancy purposes the islands form part of the ceremonial county of Cornwall. From 1974 to 1996 the local government counties were also used for the purposes of lieutenancy, with the exceptions that the Isles of Scilly were deemed part of Cornwall for lieutenancy purposes, and Greater London
6216-516: Was introduced by the Local Government Act 2000 , with the Leader of the Cabinet (and effective head of the authority) elected by the full council. In practice, the Leader is chosen from among the majority Conservative group. After being elected, the Leader chooses the other cabinet members, currently nine, all from the Conservative group. As of November 2024 the political makeup of the council
6300-664: Was legally a new non-metropolitan county and a district covering the same area, with the district council also performing county functions. Rather than appoint lieutenants and high sheriffs for these new counties created in 1996, it was decided to resurrect the pre-1974 practice of defining counties for the purposes of lieutenancy and shrievalty separately from the local government counties. Several other unitary authorities were created between 1996 and 1998. Many of these were districts based on larger towns and cities, including several places that had been county boroughs prior to 1974. Being made unitary authorities therefore effectively restored
6384-445: Was made a district of Leicestershire. The metropolitan county councils were abolished in 1986 after just 12 years in operation. The Greater London Council was abolished at the same time. The metropolitan counties and Greater London continued to legally exist as geographic areas and retained their high sheriffs and lieutenants despite the loss of their upper-tier councils. The lower-tier metropolitan boroughs and London boroughs took on
6468-402: Was made an administrative county whilst remaining part of Hampshire for other purposes. Constituencies were not changed by the 1888 Act and so the parliamentary counties continued to be defined as they had been when the constituencies were last reviewed in 1885 , by reference to the counties as they had then existed. This led to a mismatch in some areas between the parliamentary counties and
6552-547: Was merged with the Soke of Peterborough to form Huntingdon and Peterborough , and the original administrative county of Cambridgeshire was merged with the Isle of Ely to form Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely . A Royal Commission on Local Government in England was set up in 1966 and produced the Redcliffe-Maud Report in 1969, which recommended the complete redrawing of local government areas in England, replacing
6636-488: Was of arms alone. On 6 March 1962 a further grant of crest and supporters was obtained. The crest is the head of a Dartmoor Pony rising from a "Naval Crown". This distinctive form of crown is formed from the sails and sterns of ships, and is associated with the Royal Navy . The supporters are a Devon bull and a sea lion . The County Council adopted a 'ship silhouette' logo after the 1974 reorganisation, adapted from
6720-554: Was raised outside County Hall in 2006 to celebrate Local Democracy Week and is endorsed by Devon County Council. From 2007 to 2010 there was a strong possibility that Devon's two-tier council structure might be reorganised. In December 2007, a bid by Exeter City Council to become a unitary council was referred by the Department for Communities and Local Government to the Boundary Committee for England , as they felt
6804-422: Was re-established as a two-tier county. Berkshire County Council was abolished in 1998 and the county's six districts became unitary authorities, but unusually the non-metropolitan county of Berkshire was not abolished. The six Berkshire unitary authorities are the only ones not to also be non-metropolitan counties. Further reforms in 2009 and between 2019 and 2023 saw more unitary authorities created within
6888-474: Was the Isle of Wight, where the two districts were abolished and the county council took over their functions in 1995. In 1996, Avon, Cleveland and Humberside were abolished after just 22 years in existence. None of those three had attracted much public loyalty, and there had been campaigns to abolish them, especially in the case of Humberside. Those three counties were split into unitary authorities, each of which
6972-614: Was to link the Cornwall and Devon counties together in an economic, political, administrative and statistical sense. This would see the combining and centralising some local government functions and services such as the police, ambulance, fire services, as well as media output such as local TV and newspapers. Cornwall County Constabulary was merged with Devon and Exeter Police and Plymouth City Police to form Devon and Cornwall Constabulary (now known as Devon and Cornwall Police). The Liberal Democrats supported these processes until
7056-479: Was usually appointed by the monarch but in some cases, known as the counties palatine , the right to appoint sheriffs rested elsewhere; for example with the Bishop of Durham for County Durham , and with the Earl of Chester for Cheshire . A county's magistrates sat four times a year as the quarter sessions . For more serious cases judges visited each county twice a year for the assizes . In some larger counties
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