Annex 1: UK Authorities

Administrative Areas of England.

In order to understand the planning process that applies to mineral extraction, it is necessary to know how England is broken up into different administrative units, and which authorities have responsibility for the different parts of the process. The National Parks in England are also the Mineral Planning Authorities for the land within their boundaries, but this is not the case in Wales or Scotland.

Significant changes over the last 25 years have resulted in quite a complex system and an attempt to describe this system is given below. Further explanation can be found in the following site. www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Subdivisions-of-England

For local government purposes, England is divided into four types of areas

• non-unitary authorities;
• unitary authorities;
• London boroughs;
• National Parks;

Non-unitary authorities (county and district councils)

Non-unitary authorities are administrative counties with a two-tier structure, consisting of a county council and a number of district councils. The two levels have different sets of responsibilities; for example, education is administered at the county level, local planning at the district level.

These are sometimes known as the "shire counties" and include the following: Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cornwall, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, County Durham, East Sussex, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Shropshire, Somerset, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Warwickshire, West Sussex, Wiltshire and Worcestershire.

Unitary authorities

Unitary authorities are single-tier authorities, combining the functions of county and district councils. There are three types of unitary authorities:

• administrative counties;
• metropolitan districts;
• non-metropolitan districts

They are defined either as administrative counties consisting of a single district, or districts of a county (such as Berkshire or the metropolitan counties such as West Yorkshire or Greater Manchester) that has no county council. The council of a unitary authority is referred to as a "district council", "borough council", "county council", "city council", "metropolitan borough council" or "council", depending upon various factors.

Administrative counties

Only one of these, the Isle of Wight, is a county which doesn't have any districts and so is a Unitary Authority at the county level.

The others are defined as legal counties with one district and no county council. They include the following: Bath and North East Somerset, Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Bournemouth, Brighton and Hove, Bristol, Derby, Darlington, East Riding of Yorkshire, Halton, Hartlepool, Herefordshire, Kingston upon Hull, Leicester, Luton, Medway, Middlesbrough, Milton Keynes, North East Lincolnshire, North Lincolnshire, North Somerset, Nottingham, Peterborough, Plymouth, Poole, Portsmouth, Redcar and Cleveland, Rutland, Southampton, Southend-on-Sea, South Gloucestershire, Stockton-on-Tees, Stoke-on-Trent Swindon, Telford and Wrekin, Thurrock, Torbay, Warrington and York.

Metropolitan Districts

These are defined as districts of a metropolitan county, which has had its county council abolished. They include the following: Barnsley, Birmingham, Bolton, Bradford, Bury, Calderdale, Coventry, Doncaster, Dudley, Gateshead, Kirklees, Knowsley, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle Upon Tyne, North Tyneside, Oldham, Rochdale, Rotherham, Salford, Sandwell, Sefton, Sheffield, Solihull, South Tyneside, St Helens, Stockport, Sunderland, Tameside, Trafford, Wakefield, Walsall, Wigan, Wirral, Wolverhampton

Non-Metropolitan Districts

This only applies in one non-metropolitan county (Berkshire) which has had its county council abolished and so is left with its former districts as Unitary Authorities (Bracknell Forest, Reading, Slough, West Berkshire, Windsor and Maidenhead, Wokingham).

In Greater London, the 32 London borough councils have a similar status to the unitary authorities, although the Greater London Authority exists to coordinate their activities across the county. The boroughs include: Barking and Dagenham, Barnet, Bexley, Brent, Bromley, Camden, City of London, 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 and Westminster.

The following English National Parks are the Mineral Planning Authorities for the land within their boundaries: Norfolk Broads, Dartmoor, Exmoor, Lake District, North York Moors, Northumberland, Peak District and Yorkshire Dales.

Administrative Areas of Wales

National Assembly

The National Assembly for Wales (known in Welsh as Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru) was established in 1998. Unlike the Scottish Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly, the National Assembly for Wales cannot pass its own primary legislation, nor can it raise its own taxes, as these powers remain with Westminster. This is because unlike those other parts of the UK, Wales has had the same legal and administrative system as England.

Unitary Authorities

For local government purposes, Wales is divided into 22 unitary authorities. There are 9 counties, 3 cities, and 10 county boroughs, although all have equal status. Collectively these are known as the principal areas of Wales and they came into being on April 1, 1996. Further information can be found at www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Unitary-Authorities-of-Wales.

Principal areas of Wales (Welsh language forms are given in parentheses, where they differ from the English).

Counties
Monmouthshire (Sir Fynwy)
Carmarthenshire (Sir Gaerfyrddin)
Ceredigion
Powys
Flintshire (Sir y Fflint)
Denbighshire (Sir Ddinbych)
Gwynedd
Anglesey (Ynys M n)
Pembrokeshire (Sir Benfro)

Cities
Newport (Casnewydd)
Cardiff (Caerdydd)
Swansea (Abertawe)

County Boroughs
Merthyr Tydfil (Merthyr Tudful)
Caerphilly (Caerffili)
Blaenau Gwent
Torfaen (Tor-faen)
Vale of Glamorgan (Bro Morgannwg)
Bridgend (Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr)
Rhondda Cynon Taf
Neath Port Talbot (Castell-nedd Port Talbot)
Wrexham (Wrecsam)
Conwy

Administrative Areas of Scotland

Scottish Parliament

The Scottish Parliament has the power to pass laws on matters which have been devolved to it by the UK Parliament and has limited tax raising capability. It also holds the Scottish Executive to account. The "devolved matters" over which it has responsibility include education, health, agriculture, and justice. Much domestic authority, and all foreign policy, remains with the British Parliament in Westminster.

Unitary Authorities

The Council areas of Scotland form the local government areas of Scotland, all of them unitary authorities. They have been in use since April 1, 1996.

Administrative Areas of Northern Ireland

National Assembly

As a whole, Northern Ireland is currently directly elected by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in Westminster. The Northern Ireland Assembly and Northern Ireland Executive established under the Good Friday Agreement are currently suspended.

Unitary Authorities

Northern Ireland is divided into 26 local government districts, which are unitary authorities. Some of the districts have city status such as Belfast and Derry.