Subdivisions of England

The subdivisions of England constitute a hierarchy of administrative divisions and non-administrative ceremonial areas.

Subdivisions of England
Subdivisions of England (as of 2019) that have a principal local authority: two-tier non-metropolitan counties and their non-metropolitan districts; metropolitan boroughs; unitary authorities; London boroughs; and the sui generis City of London and Isles of Scilly.
Location	England
Subdivisions	Type Number Region 9 Ceremonial county 48 Metropolitan county 6 Non-metropolitan county 77 District 314^D1 Civil parish ~4,500

Overall, England is divided into nine regions and 48 ceremonial counties, although these have only a limited role in public policy. For the purposes of local government, the country is divided into counties, districts and parishes. In some areas, counties and districts form a two-tier administrative structure, while in others they are combined under a unitary authority. Parishes cover only part of England.

The current system is the result of incremental reform which has its origins in legislation enacted in 1965 and 1972.[1]

Regions

Main article: Regions of England

East of
England

London

South East

South West

East
Midlands

West
Midlands

Yorkshire and
the Humber

North
East

North West

At the highest level, all of England is divided into nine regions that are each made up of a number of counties and districts. These 'government office regions' were created in 1994,[2] and since the 1999 Euro-elections, they have been used as the European Parliament constituencies in the United Kingdom and in England's European Parliament constituencies.

The regions vary greatly in their areas covered, populations and contributions to the national economy.[2] All have the same status, except London which has substantive devolved powers.[3]

There was a failed attempt to create elected regional assemblies outside London in 2004 and since then the structures of regional governance (regional assemblies, regional development agencies and local authority leaders' boards) have been subject to review. Following the change of government in 2010, these were scheduled for abolition by 2012.

Counties and districts

Main articles: Counties of England and Districts of England

  regional boundary

  ceremonial county boundary

  unitary authority boundary

  two-tier non-metropolitan county

  metropolitan county

  Greater London (including City of London)

  unitary authority (non-metropolitan county)

For non-administrative purposes, England is wholly divided into 48 counties,[4] commonly known, but not named in statute, as ceremonial counties. These counties are used for the purposes of appointing Lords Lieutenant[4] who are historically the Crown's representatives in those areas. Ceremonial counties are often different from the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties used for local government as they include the areas covered by unitary authorities. They are taken into consideration when drawing up Parliamentary constituency boundaries.

For local government, England is divided into areas with a two-tier structure of counties and districts governed by two local authorities, and unitary authority areas where there is one local authority. The arrangement varies in different parts of the country and there are four main configurations: non-metropolitan two-tier 'shire' areas, six metropolitan counties, unitary authorities, and Greater London.

Two-tier non-metropolitan counties

Most of the geographical area of England is within a two-tier non-metropolitan arrangement. In 25 of these areas the county councils provide the majority of services, including education and social services, and the 188 district councils have a more limited role.[1] Non-metropolitan districts can additionally have the status of borough or city, although this has no effect on their powers or functions. All two-tier non-metropolitan counties are also ceremonial counties.^C3 Berkshire is an anomaly in this arrangement whereby its districts are unitary authorities, but the non-metropolitan county was not formally abolished[5] and it is also a ceremonial county.[4] Bedfordshire and Cheshire are two former non-metropolitan counties that continue to exist only as ceremonial counties.

Metropolitan counties

Six large conurbations of England correspond to metropolitan counties.[1] Each metropolitan county had a county council providing limited strategic services, such as public transport and planning, from 1974 to 1986.[1] Despite no longer having county councils the metropolitan counties still legally exist, and are each a ceremonial county. County-level functions, such as public transport, are exercised by joint-boards and other arrangements organised by the district councils. In the metropolitan counties, the 36 district councils operate effectively as unitary authorities and provide the majority of services, including education and social services.[2] All metropolitan districts additionally have the status of borough, and some are cities, although this has no effect on their powers or functions. From April 2011 there has been a formal upper-tier structure in Greater Manchester with the creation of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.[6]

London

The Greater London administrative area created in 1965 corresponds to the London region. Through incremental change, culminating in 2000, the upper-tier authority is the Greater London Authority, comprising an elected Mayor of London and the London Assembly.[7] Greater London is divided into 32 London boroughs, also dating from 1965, each governed by a London borough council. The ancient City of London forms a 33rd division and is governed by the City of London Corporation, a sui generis authority unlike any other in England[7] that has largely avoided any of the reforms of local government in the 19th and 20th centuries.[8] The City of London, and the rest of Greater London, each form a ceremonial county. The London borough councils and the City of London Corporation provide the majority of services, for example they are education authorities and co-ordinate waste management, whereas the Greater London Authority is responsible for the key strategic services of public transport, the police, economic development and emergency planning.[7]

Unitary authorities

Main article: Unitary authorities of England

Outside London and the metropolitan counties, some parts of England are governed by a single council, commonly called (but not named in statute) as a unitary authority.[1] Unitary authorities are a combined non-metropolitan county and non-metropolitan district, undertaking the functions of both.[9] Unitary authorities can additionally have the status of borough or city, although this has no effect on their powers or functions.

46 unitary authorities were created between 1995 and 1998 and nine more were created in 2009, followed by further changes in 2019 and 2020. They were formed either by non-metropolitan districts taking on county-level functions, or by counties taking on district-level functions. In some cases, borders were altered or districts were combined during this reorganisation. Berkshire is an anomaly in this arrangement whereby its districts became unitary authorities, but the non-metropolitan county was not formally abolished.[5]

For ceremonial purposes, unitary authorities are considered to be part of the county to which they formerly belonged. Politically, however, they are fully independent entities, unaffiliated with the council of their former county. For instance, the unitary authority of Plymouth is traditionally considered part of Devon, though politically it is not part of the county. In the case of Berkshire, there is no county council, as all of its former territory is now covered by six unitary authorities, unaffiliated with each other politically. Although there is no county council in Berkshire, these six unitary authorities comprise the ceremonial county of Berkshire.

Isles of Scilly

The Isles of Scilly are governed by a sui generis local authority called the Council of the Isles of Scilly. The authority was established in 1890 as the Isles of Scilly Rural District Council. It was renamed but otherwise unreformed by the changes in local government that occurred in 1974 in the rest of England outside Greater London.[10] Although effectively a unitary authority, for example it is an education authority,[11] the Isles of Scilly are part of the Cornwall ceremonial county and combine with Cornwall Council for services such as health[12] and economic development.[13]

Civil parishes

The civil parish is the most local unit of government in England.[1] A parish is governed by a parish council or parish meeting, which exercises a limited number of functions that would otherwise be delivered by the local authority. There is one civil parish in Greater London (Queen's Park, in the City of Westminster),[14] and not all of the rest of England is parished. The number of parishes and total area parished is growing.

Lists of subdivisions

Regions

Type	Created	Number	Units
Region	1994	9	East of England East Midlands London North East North West South East South West West Midlands Yorkshire and the Humber

Two-tier non-metropolitan counties

Type	Created	Number	Units
Non-metropolitan county	1974	25	Cambridgeshire Cumbria Derbyshire Devon East Sussex Essex Gloucestershire Hampshire Hertfordshire Kent Lancashire Leicestershire Lincolnshire Norfolk Northamptonshire North Yorkshire Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Somerset Staffordshire Suffolk Surrey Warwickshire West Sussex Worcestershire
Non-metropolitan district	1974	188	List of districts

Metropolitan counties

Type	Created	Number	Units
Metropolitan county	1974	6	Greater Manchester	Merseyside	South Yorkshire	Tyne and Wear	West Midlands	West Yorkshire
Metropolitan district	1974	36	Bolton Bury Manchester Oldham Rochdale Salford Stockport Tameside Trafford Wigan	Knowsley Liverpool Sefton St Helens Wirral	Barnsley Doncaster Rotherham Sheffield	Gateshead Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside South Tyneside Sunderland	Birmingham Coventry Dudley Sandwell Solihull Walsall Wolverhampton	Bradford Calderdale Kirklees Leeds Wakefield

London

Type	Created	Number	Units
London borough	1965	32	Barking and Dagenham Barnet Bexley Brent Bromley Camden City of Westminster Croydon Ealing Enfield Greenwich Hackney Hammersmith and Fulham Haringey Harrow Havering Hillingdon Hounslow Islington Kensington and Chelsea Kingston upon Thames Lambeth Lewisham Merton Newham Redbridge Richmond upon Thames Southwark Sutton Tower Hamlets Waltham Forest Wandsworth
Sui generis	in antiquity	1	City of London
Total		33

Unitary authorities

Type	Created	Number	Units
District(s) gained county functions	2020	1	Buckinghamshire U.A.[lower-alpha 1]^C2
District(s) gained county functions	2019	1	Dorset[lower-alpha 1]^C2
District(s) gained county functions	2019	1	Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole[lower-alpha 1]
County gained district functions	2009	5	Cornwall^C2 Durham^C2 Northumberland^C1 Shropshire^C2 Wiltshire^C2
District(s) gained county functions	2009	4	Bedford Central Bedfordshire[lower-alpha 1] Cheshire East[lower-alpha 1] Cheshire West and Chester[lower-alpha 1]
District(s) gained county functions	1998	21	Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Bracknell Forest Halton Herefordshire[lower-alpha 1]^C1 Medway[lower-alpha 1] Nottingham Peterborough Plymouth Reading Slough Southend-on-Sea Stoke-on-Trent Swindon Telford and Wrekin Thurrock Torbay Warrington West Berkshire Windsor and Maidenhead Wokingham
District(s) gained county functions	1997	11 9	Bournemouth[lower-alpha 2] Brighton and Hove[lower-alpha 1] Derby Darlington Leicester Luton Milton Keynes Poole[lower-alpha 2] Portsmouth Rutland^C1 Southampton
District gained county functions	1996	13	Bath and North East Somerset[lower-alpha 1] Bristol^C1 East Riding of Yorkshire[lower-alpha 1]^C2 Hartlepool Kingston upon Hull Middlesbrough North East Lincolnshire[lower-alpha 1] North Lincolnshire[lower-alpha 1] North Somerset Redcar and Cleveland South Gloucestershire[lower-alpha 1] Stockton-on-Tees York
County gained district functions	1995	1	Isle of Wight^C1
Sui generis	1890	1	Isles of Scilly
Total		57

1. A new district was created, merging previous districts, to form the basis of the unitary authority
2. merged into Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in 2019

Civil parishes

• List of civil parishes in England

Hierarchical list of regions, counties and districts

Region	Ceremonial county	Metropolitan or non-metropolitan county	Districts, boroughs and cities
East of England	Essex	1. Thurrock U.A.
		2. Southend-on-Sea U.A.
		3. Essex †	a) Harlow, b) Epping Forest, c) Brentwood, d) Basildon, e) Castle Point, f) Rochford, g) Maldon, h) Chelmsford, i) Uttlesford, j) Braintree, k) Colchester, l) Tendring
	4. Hertfordshire †		a) Three Rivers, b) Watford, c) Hertsmere, d) Welwyn Hatfield, e) Broxbourne, f) East Hertfordshire, g) Stevenage, h) North Hertfordshire, i) St Albans, j) Dacorum
	Bedfordshire	5. Luton U.A.
		6. Bedford U.A.
		7. Central Bedfordshire U.A.
	Cambridgeshire	8. Cambridgeshire †	a) Cambridge, b) South Cambridgeshire, c) Huntingdonshire, d) Fenland, e) East Cambridgeshire
		9. Peterborough U.A.
	10. Norfolk †		a) Norwich, b) South Norfolk, c) Great Yarmouth, d) Broadland, e) North Norfolk, f) Breckland, g) King's Lynn and West Norfolk
	11. Suffolk †		a) Ipswich, b) East Suffolk, c) Babergh, d) Mid Suffolk, e) West Suffolk
East Midlands	Derbyshire	1. Derbyshire †	a) High Peak, b) Derbyshire Dales, c) South Derbyshire, d) Erewash, e) Amber Valley, f)  North East Derbyshire, g) Chesterfield, h) Bolsover
		2. Derby U.A.
	Nottinghamshire	3. Nottinghamshire †	a) Rushcliffe, b) Broxtowe, c) Ashfield, d) Gedling, e) Newark and Sherwood, f) Mansfield, g) Bassetlaw
		4. Nottingham U.A.
	Lincolnshire (part only)	5. Lincolnshire †	a) Lincoln, b) North Kesteven, c) South Kesteven, d) South Holland, e) Boston, f) East Lindsey, g) West Lindsey
	Leicestershire	6. Leicestershire †	a) Charnwood, b) Melton, c) Harborough, d) Oadby and Wigston, e) Blaby, f) Hinckley and Bosworth, g) North West Leicestershire
		7. Leicester U.A.
	8. Rutland U.A.
	9. Northamptonshire †		a) South Northamptonshire, b) Northampton, c) Daventry, d) Wellingborough, e) Kettering, f) Corby, g) East Northamptonshire
London (Greater London)	1. Greater London	a) City of Westminster, b) Kensington and Chelsea, c) Hammersmith and Fulham, d) Wandsworth, e) Lambeth, f) Southwark, g) Tower Hamlets, h) Hackney, i) Islington, j) Camden, k) Brent, l) Ealing, m) Hounslow, n) Richmond, o) Kingston upon Thames, p) Merton, q) Sutton, r) Croydon, s) Bromley, t) Lewisham, u) Greenwich, v) Bexley, w) Havering, x) Barking and Dagenham, y) Redbridge, z) Newham, aa) Waltham Forest, ab) Haringey, ac) Enfield, ad) Barnet, ae) Harrow, af) Hillingdon
	2. City of London	City of London
North East England	1. Northumberland U.A.
	2. Tyne and Wear *		a) Newcastle upon Tyne, b) Gateshead, c) North Tyneside, d) South Tyneside, e) Sunderland
	Durham	3. County Durham U.A.
		4. Darlington U.A.
		5. Hartlepool U.A.
		6. Stockton-on-Tees U.A.
	North Yorkshire (part only)
		7. Redcar and Cleveland U.A.
		8. Middlesbrough U.A.
North West England	Cheshire	1. Cheshire East U.A.
		2. Cheshire West and Chester U.A.
		3. Halton U.A.
		4. Warrington U.A.
	5. Cumbria †		a) Barrow-in-Furness, b) South Lakeland, c) Copeland, d) Allerdale, e) Eden, f) Carlisle
	6. Greater Manchester *		a) Bolton, b) Bury, c) Manchester, d) Oldham, e) Rochdale, f) Salford, g) Stockport, h) Tameside, i) Trafford, j) Wigan
	Lancashire	7. Lancashire †	a) West Lancashire, b) Chorley, c) South Ribble, d) Fylde, e) Preston, f) Wyre, g) Lancaster, h) Ribble Valley, i) Pendle, j) Burnley, k) Rossendale, l) Hyndburn
		8. Blackpool U.A.
		9. Blackburn with Darwen U.A.
	10. Merseyside *		a) Knowsley, b) Liverpool, c) St. Helens, d) Sefton, e) Wirral
South East England	1. Berkshire †		a) West Berkshire U.A., b) Reading U.A., c) Wokingham U.A., d) Bracknell Forest U.A., e) Windsor and Maidenhead U.A., f) Slough U.A.
	Buckinghamshire	2. Buckinghamshire U.A.
		3. Milton Keynes U.A.
	East Sussex	4. East Sussex †	a) Hastings, b) Rother, c) Wealden, d) Eastbourne, e) Lewes
		5. Brighton & Hove U.A.
	Hampshire	6. Hampshire †	a) Fareham, b) Gosport, c) Winchester, d) Havant, e) East Hampshire, f) Hart, g) Rushmoor, h) Basingstoke and Deane, i) Test Valley, j) Eastleigh, k) New Forest
		7. Southampton U.A.
		8. Portsmouth U.A.
	9. Isle of Wight U.A.
	Kent	10. Kent †	a) Dartford, b) Gravesham, c) Sevenoaks, d) Tonbridge and Malling, e) Tunbridge Wells, f) Maidstone, g) Swale, h) Ashford, i) Folkestone and Hythe, j) Canterbury, k) Dover, l) Thanet
		11. Medway U.A.
	12. Oxfordshire †		a) Oxford, b) Cherwell, c) South Oxfordshire, d) Vale of White Horse, e) West Oxfordshire
	13. Surrey †		a) Spelthorne, b) Runnymede, c) Surrey Heath, d) Woking, e) Elmbridge, f) Guildford, g) Waverley, h) Mole Valley, i) Epsom and Ewell, j) Reigate and Banstead, k) Tandridge
	14. West Sussex †		a) Worthing, b) Arun, c) Chichester, d) Horsham, e) Crawley, f) Mid Sussex, g) Adur
South West England	Somerset	1. Bath and North East Somerset U.A.
		2. North Somerset U.A.
		10. Somerset †	a) South Somerset, b) Somerset West and Taunton, c) Sedgemoor, d) Mendip
	3. Bristol U.A.
	Gloucestershire	4. South Gloucestershire U.A.
		5. Gloucestershire †	a) Gloucester, b) Tewkesbury, c) Cheltenham, d) Cotswold, e) Stroud, f) Forest of Dean
	Wiltshire	6. Swindon U.A.
		7. Wiltshire U.A.
	Dorset	8. Dorset U.A.
		9. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole U.A.
	Devon	11. Devon †	a) Exeter, b) East Devon, c) Mid Devon, d) North Devon, e) Torridge, f) West Devon, g) South Hams, h) Teignbridge
		12. Torbay U.A.
		14. Plymouth U.A.
	Cornwall	15. Isles of Scilly sui generis U.A.
		13. Cornwall U.A.
West Midlands	1. Herefordshire U.A.
	Shropshire	2. Shropshire U.A.
		3. Telford and Wrekin U.A.
	Staffordshire	4. Staffordshire †	a) Cannock Chase, b) East Staffordshire, c) Lichfield, d) Newcastle-under-Lyme, e) South Staffordshire, f) Stafford, g) Staffordshire Moorlands, h) Tamworth
		5. Stoke-on-Trent U.A.
	6. Warwickshire †		a) North Warwickshire, b) Nuneaton and Bedworth, c) Rugby, d) Stratford-on-Avon, e) Warwick
	7. West Midlands *		a) Birmingham, b) Coventry, c) Dudley, d) Sandwell, e) Solihull, f) Walsall, g) Wolverhampton
	8. Worcestershire †		a) Bromsgrove, b) Malvern Hills, c) Redditch, d) Worcester, e) Wychavon, f) Wyre Forest
Yorkshire and the Humber	1. South Yorkshire *		a) Sheffield, b) Rotherham, c) Barnsley, d) Doncaster
	2. West Yorkshire *		a) Wakefield, b) Kirklees, c) Calderdale, d) Bradford, e) Leeds
	North Yorkshire (part only)	3. North Yorkshire †	a) Selby, b) Harrogate, c) Craven, d) Richmondshire, e) Hambleton, f) Ryedale, g) Scarborough
		4. York U.A.
	East Riding of Yorkshire	5. East Riding of Yorkshire U.A.
		6. Kingston upon Hull U.A.
	Lincolnshire (part only)	7. North Lincolnshire U.A.
		8. North East Lincolnshire U.A.
	† non-metropolitan county        (all two-tier except for Berkshire)		non-metropolitan district
	U.A. unitary authority (non-metropolitan county and district)        (except for Berkshire districts which are not counties)
	* metropolitan county		metropolitan district
	Local government district in London (the London boroughs and City of London)

See also

• Combined authority

Notes

• ^C1   Also a ceremonial county of identical area.
• ^C2   Also a ceremonial county covering a larger area.
• ^C3   Cumbria, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Sussex and Worcestershire occupy the same area as the ceremonial county; Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, East Sussex, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Somerset and Staffordshire are larger for ceremonial purposes, being combined with one or more unitary authorities.
• ^D1   Metropolitan (36); non-metropolitan two-tier (188); unitary authority (56); London borough (32); sui generis (2).
• ^NC   Berkshire has no county council and the districts function as unitary authorities.

References

1. Jones, B., Kavanagh, D., Moran, M. & Norton, P., Politics UK, (2004), Pearson Longman.
2. Atkinson, H. & Wilks-Heeg, S. (2000). Local Government from Thatcher to Blair. Polity.
3. Collins, S., Colville, I & Pengelly, S., A Guide to the Greater London Authority, (2000), Sweet and Maxwell
4. "Lieutenancies Act 1997". Office of Public Sector Information. 1997. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
5. "The Berkshire (Structural Change) Order 1996". National Archives(legislation.gov.uk). 1996. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
6. Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (March 2010). "Greater Manchester Combined Authority Final Scheme" (PDF). agma.gov.uk. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
7. Travers, T., The Politics of London, (2004), Palgrave
8. Hebbert, Michael (1998). London: More by fortune than design. John Wiley & Sons.
9. "Local Government Act 1992". Office of Public Sector Information. 1992. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
10. "Local Government Act 1972". Office of Public Sector Information. 1972. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
11. "Education and Learning". Council of the Isles of Scilly. Archived from the original on 4 June 2009. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
12. "About Us". Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Primary Care Trust. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
13. "The Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Enterprise Partnership". Cornwall Council. 30 July 2010. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
14. "Queen's Park parish council gets go-ahead". BBC News London. 29 May 2012. Retrieved 2 August 2014.

External links

• Map of the UK counties and unitary administrations
• Map of all UK local authorities