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24-628: Northampton was a rural district in Northamptonshire , England from 1894 to 1974. It was created under the Local Government Act 1894 based on the Northampton rural sanitary district . In 1932, under a County Review order , it took in the disbanded Hardingstone Rural District and two parishes from Pottersbury Rural District . The district was abolished in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 . Part of it

48-460: A level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government . As the structure of local government in England is not uniform, there are currently four principal types of district-level subdivision. There are a total of 296 districts made up of 36 metropolitan boroughs , 32 London boroughs , 164 two-tier non-metropolitan districts and 62 unitary authorities , as well as

72-405: 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

96-457: A single district, but have non-metropolitan county councils with no district council. In practice, these function in the same way as other unitary authorities. Berkshire is unusual, being the only non-metropolitan county, with no county council, that has more than one unitary authority district within it, each of which is not a county. The 32 London boroughs are sub-divisions of Greater London . They were established in 1965. Between 1965 and 1986

120-487: 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

144-668: A two-tier structure of government existed in Greater London and the boroughs shared power with the Greater London Council (GLC). When the GLC was abolished in 1986 they gained similar status to the unitary authorities. In 2000 the Greater London Authority was established and a two-tier structure was restored, albeit with a change to the balance of powers and responsibilities. Each London borough

168-529: The City of London and the Isles of Scilly which are also districts but do not correspond to any of these other categories. Some districts are styled as cities , boroughs or royal boroughs ; these are purely honorific titles and do not alter the status of the district or the powers of their councils. All boroughs and cities (and a few districts) are led by a mayor who in most cases is a ceremonial figure elected by

192-503: The County of London . The setting-down of the current structure of districts in England began in 1965, when Greater London and its 32 London boroughs were created. They are the oldest type of district still in use. In 1974, metropolitan counties and non-metropolitan counties (also known as " shire counties ") were created across the rest of England and were split into metropolitan districts and non-metropolitan districts . The status of

216-742: 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

240-574: 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

264-459: The London boroughs and metropolitan districts changed in 1986, when they absorbed the functions and some of the powers of the metropolitan county councils and the Greater London Council , which were abolished. Since 2000, powers are again shared (on a different basis) with the Greater London Authority . During the 1990s a further kind of district was created, the unitary authority , which combined

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288-418: The basis for sanitary provision . In 1894, based on these earlier subdivisions, the Local Government Act 1894 created urban districts and rural districts as sub-divisions of administrative counties , which had been created in 1889. At the same time, parish-level local government administration was transferred to civil parishes . Another reform in 1900 created 28 metropolitan boroughs as sub-divisions of

312-550: 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

336-435: The creation of single-tier unitary authorities in the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020s, their numbers were reduced to 164 by 2023. These single-tier non-metropolitan districts are responsible for running all local services in their areas, combining county and district functions. They were created in the mid-1990s, and often cover large towns and cities as this is deemed more efficient than a two-tier structure. In addition, some of

360-438: The district council, but—after local government reform—is occasionally a directly elected mayor who makes most of the policy decisions instead of the council. Before the establishment of districts in the 1890s, the basic unit of local government in England was the parish, overseen by the parish church vestry committee . Vestries dealt with the administration of both parochial and secular governmental matters. Parishes were

384-409: 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

408-463: 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

432-573: The functions and status of county and district. Metropolitan boroughs are a subdivision of a metropolitan county . These are similar to unitary authorities, as the metropolitan county councils were abolished in 1986. Most of the powers of the county councils were devolved to the districts but some services are run by joint boards and organisations. The districts typically have populations of 174,000 to 1.1 million. Non-metropolitan districts are second-tier authorities, which share power with county councils . They are subdivisions of shire counties and

456-479: The most common type of district. These districts typically have populations of 25,000 to 200,000. In this two-tier system, county councils are responsible for some local services, such as education, social services, and roads, while district councils run other services, such as waste collection, local planning, and council housing . The number of two-tier non-metropolitan districts (also known as shire districts ) has varied over time. Initially, there were 296; after

480-676: 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. Districts of England The districts of England (officially, local authority districts , abbreviated LADs ) are

504-410: 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

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528-547: The smaller counties such as Rutland , Herefordshire and the Isle of Wight are unitary authorities. There are a total of 62 unitary authorities, the latest ones introduced in 2023. Unitary authority areas are a type of non-metropolitan district; most are established as individual counties containing a single district, with a district council but no county council. Cornwall , Durham , the Isle of Wight , Northumberland , Shropshire and Wiltshire were established as counties with

552-492: The successors of the manorial system and historically had been grouped into hundreds , which had exercised some supervising administrative function. However, these powers ebbed away as more and more civic and judicial powers were centred on county towns . From 1834 these parishes were grouped into Poor Law Unions , creating areas for administration of the Poor Law . These areas were later used for census registration and as

576-403: Was added to the new Northampton district, with the rest going to form the new district of South Northamptonshire . 52°12′N 0°51′W  /  52.2°N 0.85°W  / 52.2; -0.85 Rural district 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

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