[Talk-GB] UK administrative subdivisions

[Richard Fairhurst]

Frederik Ramm wrote:

> It seems obvious that "Administrative Counties" and "Unitary
> Authorities" are in England, "Districts" are in N.Ireland and "Unitary
> Districts" as well as the island regions in Scotland.
>
> But is it correct that London Boroughs are on the same level as these?
> Is there really a difference between an "Administrative County" and a
> mere "County" (as Berkshire is listed) and the three "Metropolitan
> Counties" in the list, or is this some kind of data processing
> artifact?

There really is a difference. Basically it's the result of successive  
(national) governments messing around with the local government system.

Berkshire is ceremonially a "county", dating back to n A.D., but no  
longer has a county council. The area is governed by a bunch of  
unitary authorities (e.g. Wokingham, Bracknell Forest, West  
Berkshire), which are the old district councils with their powers  
enhanced. Unitary authorities were set up in 199mumble in some areas -  
Rutland is another one - but are not formally county councils. So  
Rutland is a ceremonial county, but not an administrative county; it  
is governed by Rutland County Council alone, whose formal title is  
Rutland County Council District Council, because they can't officially  
be a County Council if they're not an administrative county.

Clear? :)

Metropolitan counties were set up in one of the earlier  
reorganisations to cover urban areas, which historically were part of  
the shire counties but had begun to overpower them since the  
Industrial Revolution. So Birmingham was once in Warwickshire, but is  
now in the West Midlands. IIRC Thatcher abolished some of the original  
metropolitan counties (e.g. Greater Manchester) because their voters  
had an inconvenient habit of electing Labour administrations.

> What's with Derry, listed as "London Borough (City)", I always thought
> Derry was in Ireland?

It is. The Unionists call it Londonderry, the Nationalists call it  
Derry. Sounds like someone's got confused.

> And why is Kingston upon Thames listed as "London Borough (royal)"?

It formally is the Royal Borough of Kingston-upon-Thames. No idea why,  
but suspect it's to do with the original charter given by the monarch  
of the day in n A.D.

OOI the list doesn't look _quite_ complete to me. Leicester should be  
on there as a unitary authority (city).

cheers
Richard