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19-686: Hatfield Rural District was a rural district in Hertfordshire , England , from 1894 to 1974, covering an area in the south of the county. The district had its origins in the Hatfield Rural Sanitary District . This had been created under the Public Health Acts of 1872 and 1875, giving public health and local government responsibilities for rural areas to the existing boards of guardians of poor law unions . The Hatfield Rural Sanitary District covered

38-405: A rural district was a doughnut-shaped ring around a town (which would be either an urban district or a municipal borough ). A good example of this is Melton and Belvoir Rural District , which surrounded the town of Melton Mowbray . Some rural districts were fragmented, consisting of a number of detached parts , such as Wigan Rural District . Some rural districts had a more rounded shape and had

57-727: A single parish , while a rural district might contain many. Urban districts were considered to have more problems with public health than rural areas, and so urban district councils had more funding and greater powers than comparable rural districts. Urban districts normally covered smaller towns, usually with populations of fewer than 30,000. When the 1894 Act came into force on 31 December 1894 there had been 753 urban districts, of which 692 had previously been local government districts , 30 had been improvement commissioners districts and 31 were places newly given urban powers in 1894. The number of urban districts initially increased after 1894 as more places sought urban powers, but implementation of

76-542: A small town or village as the administrative centre. A few rural districts consisted of only one parish (for example, Tintwistle Rural District , Alston with Garrigill Rural District , South Mimms Rural District , King's Lynn Rural District , Disley Rural District and Crowland Rural District ). In such districts there was no separate parish council, and the rural district council exercised its functions. All rural districts in England and Wales were abolished in 1974 (by

95-813: The Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898 . They were subdivided into district electoral divisions . In 1921, Ireland was partitioned with Northern Ireland remaining within the United Kingdom, and the rest of the country leaving as the Irish Free State in 1922. In the Irish Free State, rural districts outside of County Dublin were abolished in 1925 under the Local Government Act 1925 amid widespread accusations of corruption . Their functions were transferred to

114-574: The Local Government Act 1972 ) and were typically merged with nearby urban districts or boroughs to form " districts ", which included both urban and rural areas. See Rural districts formed in England and Wales 1894–1974 for the districts created in 1894; List of rural and urban districts in England , and List of rural and urban districts in Wales for a list of rural districts at abolition in 1974. Rural districts were created in Ireland in 1899 under

133-779: The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 ): these had a slightly higher status and the right to appoint a mayor . Urban districts in the outer London area were absorbed into London Boroughs in 1965 as a consequence of the London Government Act 1963 . All remaining urban districts in England and Wales were abolished in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 , and replaced with a uniform system of larger districts – see Districts of England and Districts of Wales – which often covered both urban and rural areas. Many parish councils in England were created for towns previously covered by urban districts and, as

152-780: The Hatfield Board of Guardians were the same group of people. The council was granted a coat of arms on 11 May 1945. Hatfield Rural District contained the following civil parishes . In the early years, the Hatfield Rural District Council met at the board room in the Hatfield Union Workhouse, which stood on Wellfield Road (then called Union Lane). In 1930 the council moved to purpose-built offices at 16 St Albans Road in Hatfield, designed by Percival Blow. Hatfield Rural District

171-550: The county councils The remaining rural districts in County Dublin were similarly abolished in 1930 by the Local Government (Dublin) Act 1930 . The former boundaries of the rural districts in the Republic of Ireland continue to be used for statistical purposes and defining constituencies. In Northern Ireland, rural districts continued to exist until 1973 when they were abolished (along with all other local government of

190-409: The earlier system of sanitary districts (themselves based on poor law unions , but not replacing them). Each rural district had an elected rural district council (RDC), which inherited the functions of the earlier sanitary districts, but also had wider authority over matters such as local planning, council housing , and playgrounds and cemeteries. Matters such as education and major roads were

209-463: The following decades led to some rural districts being redefined as urban districts or merging with existing urban districts or boroughs. Other rural districts proved to be too small or poor to be viable, and under the Local Government Act 1929 , 236 rural districts were abolished and merged or amalgamated into larger units. Further mergers took place over following decades and by 1965 the number of districts had been reduced to 473. The typical shape of

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228-648: The old pattern) and replaced with a system of unitary districts . Rural districts also existed in the Canadian province of Newfoundland to govern certain rural communities. Under Newfoundland's Local Government Act , rural districts and towns together formed the province's municipalities. Under the Municipalities Act , effective April 1, 1980, rural districts where abolished and automatically turned into towns. Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) In England and Wales , an urban district

247-444: The recommendations of a series of county reviews as established by the Local Government Act 1929 saw a net decrease of 159 between 1932 and 1938. In many instances smaller urban districts were merged with their surrounding rural districts, with the result that new districts emerged covering rural as well as urban parishes. At the same time, a number of larger urban districts became municipal boroughs (as already created, in 1835 under

266-410: The responsibility of county councils . Until 1930 the rural district councillors were also poor law guardians for the unions of which they formed part. Each parish was represented by one or more councillors. Originally there were 787 rural districts in England and Wales, as they were based directly upon the sanitary districts and poor law unions which had preceded them. Gradual urbanisation over

285-512: The same area as the Hatfield Poor Law Union. Under the Local Government Act 1894 , rural sanitary districts became rural districts from 28 December 1894. The link with the poor law union continued, with all the elected councillors of the rural district council being ex officio members of the Hatfield Board of Guardians. As there were no urban districts within the Hatfield Poor Law Union, the Hatfield Rural District Council and

304-485: Was a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England , Wales , and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the administrative counties . In England and Wales rural districts were created in 1894 by the Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) along with urban districts . They replaced

323-449: Was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected urban district council ( UDC ), which shared local government responsibilities with a county council . In England and Wales , urban districts and rural districts were created in 1894 by the Local Government Act 1894 ( 56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) as subdivisions of administrative counties . A similar model of urban and rural districts

342-406: Was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972 , merging with Welwyn Rural District and the urban district of Welwyn Garden City to form the new district of Welwyn Hatfield . The council's former offices at 16 St Albans Road continued to be used by the new council for some years, before being converted to flats and renamed Tudor House around 2011. Rural district A rural district

361-560: Was also established in Ireland in 1899, which continued separately in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland after 1921. They replaced the earlier system of urban and rural sanitary districts (based on poor law unions ) whose functions were taken over by the district councils. The district councils also had wider powers over local matters such as parks, cemeteries and local planning. An urban district usually contained

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