Subdivisions of England

Subdivisions of England
Subdivisions of England (as of 1 April 2023) 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 78 District 296D1 Civil parish 10,449

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

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.

Regions

Main article: Regions of England

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, and from the 1999 Euro-elections up until the UK's exit from the EU, they were 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. All have the same status, except London which has substantive devolved powers.

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.

Local government subdivisions

East of
England

London

South East

South West

East
Midlands

West
Midlands

Yorkshire and
the Humber

North
East

North
West

Regions of England

  two-tier non-metropolitan county

  metropolitan county

  unitary authority (non-metropolitan county)

  non-metropolitan county with multiple unitary authorities (which are not counties)

  Greater London (including City of London)

   regional boundary 
   ceremonial county boundary 
   non-metropolitan county boundary 

England has a non-universal structure of local government subdivisions. There are two tiers of local government subdivision - (administrative) counties and districts (known as boroughs in London).

Different local authorities exist across England:

• county council
• district council
• unitary authority
• metropolitan district
• London borough

Unitary authorities

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. As of April 2023, there are 62 unitary authorities. Unitary authorities are a combined non-metropolitan county and non-metropolitan district, undertaking the functions of both. Unitary authorities can additionally have the status of borough or city, although this has no effect on their powers or functions.

There is a general push towards the reorganisation of English local government as unitary authorities. Often reorganisation is a condition of the devolution of new powers.

46 unitary authorities were created between 1995 and 1998 and nine more were created in 2009, followed by further changes in 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2023. 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.

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. Although effectively a unitary authority, for example it is an education authority, the Isles of Scilly are part of the Cornwall ceremonial county and combine with Cornwall Council for services such as health and economic development.

Two-tier counties

Most of the geographical area of England is within a two-tier non-metropolitan arrangement. In 21 of these areas the county councils provide the majority of services, including education and social services, and the 164 district councils have a more limited role. Non-metropolitan districts can additionally have the status of borough or city, although this has no effect on their powers or functions. Every two-tier non-metropolitan county forms either the whole or a part of a ceremonial county of the same name.^C3 Berkshire is an anomaly in this arrangement whereby its districts are unitary authorities, but the non-metropolitan county was not formally abolished and it is also a ceremonial county. Bedfordshire, Cheshire, Cumbria and Northamptonshire are four former non-metropolitan counties that continue to exist only as ceremonial counties. Buckinghamshire, County Durham, Dorset, North Yorkshire, Northumberland, Shropshire, Somerset, and Wiltshire were formerly two-tier non-metropolitan counties that are now single-tier non-metropolitan counties (that is, unitary authority areas) and ceremonial counties.

Metropolitan counties

Six large conurbations of England correspond to metropolitan counties. Each metropolitan county had a county council providing limited strategic services, such as public transport and planning, from 1974 to 1986. 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. 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.

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, the successors to the earlier Greater London Council, which existed from 1965 until 1986. 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 that has largely avoided any of the reforms of local government in the 19th and 20th centuries. 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 outside the City, economic development and emergency planning.

Ceremonial and historic counties

For non-administrative purposes, England is wholly divided into 48 counties, commonly known, but not named in statute, as ceremonial counties. These counties are used for the purposes of appointing Lords Lieutenant 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.

Civil parishes

Main article: Civil parishes in England

The civil parish is the most local unit of government in England. 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), and not all of the rest of England is parished. The number of parishes and total area parished is growing.

Lists of subdivisions

See also: List of county councils in England

See also: List of English districts

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	21	Cambridgeshire Derbyshire Devon East Sussex Essex Gloucestershire Hampshire Hertfordshire Kent Lancashire Leicestershire Lincolnshire Norfolk Nottinghamshire Oxfordshire Staffordshire Suffolk Surrey Warwickshire West Sussex Worcestershire
Non-metropolitan district	1974	164	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
County gained district functions	2023	2	North YorkshireC2 SomersetC2
District(s) gained county functions	2023	2	Cumberland Westmorland and Furness
District(s) gained county functions	2021	2	North Northamptonshire West Northamptonshire
District(s) gained county functions	2020	1	BuckinghamshireC2
District(s) gained county functions	2019	2	Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole DorsetC2
County gained district functions	2009	5	CornwallC2 DurhamC2 NorthumberlandC1 ShropshireC2 WiltshireC2
District(s) gained county functions	2009	4	Bedford Central Bedfordshire Cheshire East Cheshire West and Chester
District(s) gained county functions	1998	21	Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Bracknell Forest Halton HerefordshireC1 Medway 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 Brighton and Hove Derby Darlington Leicester Luton Milton Keynes Poole Portsmouth RutlandC1 Southampton
District gained county functions	1996	13	Bath and North East Somerset BristolC1 East Riding of YorkshireC2 Hartlepool Kingston upon Hull Middlesbrough North East Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire North Somerset Redcar and Cleveland South Gloucestershire Stockton-on-Tees York
County gained district functions	1995	1	Isle of WightC1
Sui generis	1890	1	Isles of Scilly
Total		59

Civil parishes

• List of civil parishes in England

Hierarchical list of regions, strategic authorities, counties and districts

Region	Strategic authority	Ceremonial county	Metropolitan or non-metropolitan county	Districts May also hold borough and/or city status
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 and Peterborough	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	East Midlands (proposed; the four county-level councils only, excluding 2nd-tier district councils)	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.
		Northamptonshire	9. West Northamptonshire U.A.
			10. North Northamptonshire U.A.
London	Greater London Authority	1. Greater London	none	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	none	City of London
North East	North of Tyne	1. Northumberland U.A.
		2. Tyne and Wear *		a) Newcastle upon Tyne, c) North Tyneside
	North East			b) Gateshead, d) South Tyneside, e) Sunderland
		Durham	3. County Durham U.A.
	Tees Valley		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
		Cumbria	1. Cumberland U.A.
			2. Westmorland and Furness U.A
		Lancashire	3. 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
			4. Blackpool U.A.
			5. Blackburn with Darwen U.A.
	Greater Manchester	6. Greater Manchester *		a) Bolton, b) Bury, c) Manchester, d) Oldham, e) Rochdale, f) Salford, g) Stockport, h) Tameside, i) Trafford, j) Wigan
	Liverpool City Region	7. Merseyside *		a) Knowsley, b) Liverpool, c) St. Helens, d) Sefton, e) Wirral
		Cheshire	8. Halton U.A.
			9. Warrington U.A.
			10. Cheshire West and Chester U.A.
			11. Cheshire East U.A.
South East		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.
		Kent	6. 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
			7. Medway U.A.
		8. Oxfordshire †		a) Oxford, b) Cherwell, c) South Oxfordshire, d) Vale of White Horse, e) West Oxfordshire
		9. 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
		10. West Sussex †		a) Worthing, b) Arun, c) Chichester, d) Horsham, e) Crawley, f) Mid Sussex, g) Adur
		Hampshire	11. 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
			12. Southampton U.A.
			13. Portsmouth U.A.
		14. Isle of Wight U.A.
South West		Dorset	1. Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole U.A.
			2. Dorset U.A.
		Somerset	3. North Somerset U.A.
			4. Somerset U.A.
	West of England		5. Bath and North East Somerset U.A
		6. Bristol U.A.
		Gloucestershire	7. South Gloucestershire U.A.
			8. Gloucestershire †	a) Gloucester, b) Tewkesbury, c) Cheltenham, d) Cotswold, e) Stroud, f) Forest of Dean
		Wiltshire	9. Swindon U.A.
			10. Wiltshire 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.
			13. Plymouth U.A.
		Cornwall	none	14. Isles of Scilly sui generis U.A.
			15. 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
	West Midlands	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	South Yorkshire	1. South Yorkshire *		a) Sheffield, b) Rotherham, c) Barnsley, d) Doncaster
	West Yorkshire	2. West Yorkshire *		a) Wakefield, b) Kirklees, c) Calderdale, d) Bradford, e) Leeds
		North Yorkshire (part only)	3. North Yorkshire U.A.
			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.
	Combined authority	† Two-tier non-metropolitan county		Non-metropolitan district
		‡ Royal non-metropolitan county        (no county council)		Unitary authority district that is not a county
		U.A. Unitary authority area (non-metropolitan county and district)
		* Metropolitan county        (no county council)		Metropolitan district
	Greater London Authority			London borough or 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   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, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire are larger for ceremonial purposes, being combined with one or more unitary authorities.
• ^D1   Metropolitan (36); non-metropolitan two-tier (164); unitary authority (62); London borough (32); sui generis (2).
• ^NC   Berkshire has no county council and the districts function as unitary authorities.

External links

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