A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national government.
36-602: The Packhorse Inn in Southstoke within the English county of Somerset is a Grade II listed building which was largely rebuilt in 1674. It was changed from a farmhouse to a pub in the 19th century but closed in 2012. A local campaign has achieved designation as an asset of community value has raised money to renovate it. The pub reopened in March 2018. The building existed as a farmhouse although its date of construction
72-479: A council or other authority. An authority can be a unit of a county or combined authority . In Canada, each province creates its own system of local government, so terminology varies substantially. In certain provinces (e.g. Alberta , Nova Scotia ) there is only one level of local government in that province, so no special term is used to describe the situation. British Columbia has only one such municipality, Northern Rockies Regional Municipality , which
108-491: A 17th-century fireplace which had been hidden for years was revealed and restored. The Packhorse reopened to the public on 18 March 2018. The church is dedicated to St James. It dates from the 12th century, was altered in the 15th, and further restored with the chancel and south aisle being rebuilt between 1845 and 1850. It is Grade II* listed. Unitary authority Typically unitary authorities cover towns or cities which are large enough to function independently of
144-467: A Grade II listed building . Despite this long history, the pub closed unexpectedly in 2012, and was bought by a private individual wishing to use it as a dwelling-house. However, there was vigorous opposition to this by the local community. Planning permission for the change of use was refused; the building was registered as a resource of community interest under the Localism Act , and ultimately
180-697: A single tier of local government with some functions shared between groups of adjacent authorities. A single-tier system has existed in Northern Ireland since 1973. For many years the description of the number of tiers in UK local government arrangements has routinely ignored any current or previous bodies at the lowest level of authorities elected by the voters within their area such as parish (in England and Wales) or community councils; such bodies do not exist or have not existed in all areas. Northern Ireland
216-472: Is a small village and civil parish in north east Somerset , England. It is 2 miles (3 km) south of the city of Bath , on the River Avon and the route of the disused Somerset Coal Canal . In 2004, the parish council requested that the name be formally changed to South Stoke, as "this is historically the more established spelling (rather than the single word spelling Southstoke) and better reflects
252-559: Is a territorial collectivity, with legal personality and fiscal autonomy. In New Zealand , a unitary authority is a territorial authority (district, city or metropolitan area) that also performs the functions of a regional council (first-level division). There are five unitary authorities, they are (with the year they were constituted): Gisborne District Council (1989), Tasman District Council (1992), Nelson City Council (1992), Marlborough District Council (1992), and Auckland Council (2010). The Chatham Islands , located east of
288-611: Is divided into eleven districts for local government purposes. In Northern Ireland local councils have no responsibility for education, road building or housing (though they do nominate members to the advisory Northern Ireland Housing Council ). Their functions include waste and recycling services , leisure and community services, building control and local economic and cultural development. Since their reorganisation in 2015 councils in Northern Ireland have also taken on responsibility for planning functions. The collection of rates
324-543: Is handled by the Land and Property Services agency. Local authorities in Scotland are unitary in nature but not in name. The Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 created a single tier of local government throughout Scotland. On 1 April 1996, 32 local government areas, each with a council , replaced the previous two-tier structure , which had regional, islands and district councils. Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (formerly
360-651: Is not subdivided into cantons , but its 20 districts are considered equivalent. The department councils of the two departments of Corsica and of the region merged into a unitary authority, officially a collectivité territoriale . Its area of competence covers the whole administrative region and the two administrative departments (which were kept at state level with their two prefectures and their respective subprefectures for state-managed services). The overseas departements and regions were all proposed to merge their single departmental council ( conseil départemental ) coexisting with their regional council ( conseil régional ) on
396-702: Is the equivalent term for a city with the competences of both the Gemeinde (municipality) and the Kreis (district, literally circle ) administrative level. The directly elected chief executive officer of a kreisfreie Stadt is called Oberbürgermeister (literally Superior Burgomaster , in English "Chief Mayor" or "Lord Mayor"). The British counties have no directly corresponding counterpart in Germany. This German system corresponds to statutory cities in Austria and in
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#1732793952372432-623: Is the starting point for country walks. A popular route is to visit other villages and their pubs in the area, such as Combe Hay and Midford . The village for centuries had an ancient pub , the Packhorse Inn , which had a garden and served many traditional beers and ciders , as well as food. It dated from 1498, when it was rebuilt on the site of an earlier guesthouse or hostelry built by monks to provide shelter with food and drink for travellers and pilgrims. The present building dates from 1674, and has been designated by Historic England as
468-443: Is unknown. It was rebuilt in 1674 when the date was carved into a stone over the front door. It became a pub in the mid 19th century, although another building in the village had previously been known as "The Packhorse Inn". In 1939 the licensee was Mrs Emily Rose. The inn was owned by George’s Brewery. It closed as a pub in 2012 and was sold with plans being submitted to turn it into a private house. A campaign has been instigated by
504-715: The Avon Fire and Rescue Service , Avon and Somerset Constabulary and the Great Western Ambulance Service . Bath and North East Somerset's area covers part of the ceremonial county of Somerset but it is administered independently of the non-metropolitan county . Its administrative headquarters are in Bath . Between 1 April 1974 and 1 April 1996, it was the Wansdyke district and the City of Bath of
540-610: The Council of the Isles of Scilly or any other single-tier authority formed under the older legislation and not since given the status of a unitary authority. This is distinct from the two-tier system of local government which still exists in most of England, where local government functions are divided between county councils (the upper tier) and district or borough councils. Until 1996 two-tier systems existed in Scotland and Wales , but these have now been replaced by systems based on
576-522: The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 as " principal councils ", and their areas as principal areas . Various other legislation (e.g. s.91(1) Environment Act 1995 ) includes the counties and county boroughs of Wales within their individual interpretations of the phrase "unitary authority" as an interpretive not a definitive description. In s.2 of the Act each council formed for a county is allocated
612-765: The South Island , have a council with its own special legislation, constituted (1995) with powers similar to those of a regional authority. In Poland , a miasto na prawach powiatu , or shortly powiat grodzki ( city with powiat rights , or urban county in short) is a, typically big, city which is also responsible for district (poviat) administrative level, being part of no other powiat (e.g. Kraków , Łódź , Wrocław , Poznań ). In total, 65 cities in Poland have this status. Most cities in Taiwan , in contrast to counties , have only one tier of local government. Unlike
648-703: The county of Avon . Before 1974 that the parish was part of the Bathavon Rural District . The parish is represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom as part of the Frome and East Somerset county constituency . It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. The village provides views over the surrounding area and
684-429: The hundred of Bath Forum . In the 19th century, a mine extracting Fuller's earth was dug close to the line of the Wansdyke . It closed before 1902. The parish council has responsibility for local issues, including setting an annual precept (local rate) to cover the council's operating costs and producing annual accounts for public scrutiny. The parish council evaluates local planning applications and works with
720-705: The Czech Republic . Until 1 January 2007, the municipalities of Copenhagen , Frederiksberg and Bornholm were not a part of a Danish county . The city of Paris works like a department council and a municipal council. Administratively at state level, it is both a department with a single departmental arrondissement (not to be confused with the 20 city districts of Paris, or arrondissements municipaux , which are local subdivisions existing in very populated municipalities, including Paris, Lyon and Marseille, with their own arrondissement councils and arrondissement mayors also elected during municipal elections), however
756-780: The Western Isles Council) uses the alternative Gaelic designation Comhairle . While the phrase "unitary authority" is not used in Scottish legislation (whether from the Scottish Parliament or the UK Parliament), the term can be encountered (used either descriptively or erroneously) in a few official publications and in (usually erroneous) use by United Kingdom government departments. Local authorities in Wales are unitary in nature but are described by
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#1732793952372792-540: The administrative department (which is still subdivided into two subprefectures, one of which includes the métropole). So the metropole is not a unitary authority, and no longer an EPCI (like other French metropoles), but it has a specific status, considered equivalent to a department council, except that its seats are elected during the municipal French elections (at the same time as its municipal councils in each member commune ), and that (like departments and regions, but unlike other French EPCI's including other metropoles) it
828-779: The collective term 'unitary administration' to describe all local government areas which operate as unitary authorities. In England , "unitary authorities" are those local authorities set up in accordance with the Local Government Changes for England Regulations 1994 made under powers conferred by the Local Government Act 1992 to form a single tier of local government in specified areas and which are responsible for almost all local government functions within such areas. While outwardly appearing to be similar, single-tier authorities formed using older legislation are not unitary authorities thus excluding e.g.
864-798: The council. The parish falls within the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset which was created in 1996, as established by the Local Government Act 1992 . It provides a single tier of local government with responsibility for almost all local government functions within their area including local planning and building control , local roads, council housing , environmental health , markets and fairs, refuse collection , recycling , cemeteries , crematoria , leisure services, parks, and tourism . They are also responsible for education , social services , libraries , main roads, public transport , trading standards , waste disposal and strategic planning, although fire, police and ambulance services are provided jointly with other authorities through
900-594: The local police, district council officers, and neighbourhood watch groups on matters of crime, security, and traffic. The parish council's role also includes initiating projects for the maintenance and repair of parish facilities, such as the village hall or community centre , playing fields and playgrounds , as well as consulting with the district council on the maintenance, repair, and improvement of highways, drainage, footpaths, public transport, and street cleaning. Conservation matters (including trees and listed buildings) and environmental issues are also of interest to
936-414: The local population to save the pub and they successfully campaigned to have it designated as an asset of community value by Bath and North East Somerset council. This provides some protection from development under the Localism Act 2011 . The campaign group organised a share issue with over 200 investors raising £601,000 and made plans for the refurbishment and reopening of the pub. By September 2016
972-558: The municipalities (known as New England towns ) are the only governing tier below the state government, though the former counties still exist in the ceremonial sense. In some areas, the reverse is true; for example, Howard County, Maryland and Arlington County, Virginia , are examples of counties that, despite being densely developed, have no municipalities and are thus the only tier of general-purpose local government. In Virginia, all municipalities with city status are, by definition, independent from any county. Three other cities across
1008-428: The new owner agreed to sell it to the community. A private company with significant elements of common ownership accountability was formed, and an appeal launched. Over £1 million was raised for the purchase, along with a refurbishment made costly by the building's heritage status. But although a new car park was built and the women's lavatories brought indoors, the building's character was faithfully preserved – indeed,
1044-517: The origin and meaning of the Parish name." South Stoke is a designated Conservation Area as identified by the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 . The buildings are mainly cream oolitic limestone and many of the 42 listed structures in the parish are in and around the village, which has retained much of its original character and historic appeal. Southstoke was part of
1080-403: The prefecture of Paris is split between the prefecture of police of Paris (which covers the three other surrounding departments in the first ring) and the department prefecture (which is also the region prefecture, whose competence on police does not cover the four departments of Paris and the small ring). As the department of Paris has no department council elected during departmental elections, it
1116-568: The respective English and Welsh descriptions of " County Council " or " Cyngor Sir ", each council formed for a County Borough is allocated the respective descriptions of "County Borough Council" or " Cyngor Bwrdeistref Sirol "; in all cases the shorter alternative forms "Council" or "Cyngor" can be used. There are several types of single-tier governments in the United States. In the states of Connecticut , Rhode Island , and much of Massachusetts , county government has been abolished, and
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1152-721: The same territory (at state level they are unified as DROM for their prefectures) into a collectivité unique . The proposal was rejected by local referendum in Guadeloupe and in Réunion , but this occurred in Martinique and French Guiana whose former departemental and regional councils were merged into a single unitary authority named assemblée , elected during departmental elections. Mayotte with its newer status of department chose to keep this designation for its unitary authority, named departmental council (no regional council
1188-460: The three county-administered cities ( Chiayi , Keelung , and Hsinchu ), they are independent of their surrounding county. Special municipalities , with the exception of a few mountain indigenous districts within them, are also unitary. Each of the four countries of the United Kingdom uses a different term to describe their unitary authorities. However, the Office for National Statistics uses
1224-399: The total raised reached £685,000, enough to buy the building. In March 2018 the pub reopened. The two-storey stone building has freestone quoins and a tiled roof. The gabled dormers contain attics. Underneath the building is a cellar . It has a taproom which can seat 20 people and a lounge bar for another 20 with a large garden. Southstoke South Stoke or Southstoke
1260-470: Was established in 2009. In Ontario the term single-tier municipalities is used, for a similar concept. Their character varies, and while most function as cities with no upper level of government, some function as counties or regional municipalities with no lower municipal subdivisions below them. They exist as individual census divisions , as well as separated municipalities . In Germany, kreisfreie Stadt ( lit. ' circle-free city ' )
1296-405: Was ever created), but which also has the competence of a regional council (plus a few specific competences transferred from the state like other French overseas). The Métropole de Lyon was created as a metropole from an earlier EPCI ( public establishment of intercommunal cooperation ) but gained the competences of the departmental council. The departmental council of Rhône only covers the rest of
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