Richard J. wrote:
Clive D. W. Feather wrote:
In article m,
Martin Underwood writes
Ask a resident which county they live in and they'll
say "Berkshire" not "Windsor and Maidenhead" or "Bracknell Forest".
According to Simon Gardner who regularly posts in
uk.local.thames-valley, the strictly correct, hair-splitting answer
to the question would be "I don't" - because Bracknell Forest etc
aren't even counties - they are Unitary Authorities.

I haven't checked the case of Bracknell Forest, but the correct
titles of two other unitary authorities are the County of
Peterborough and
the County of Southend-on-Sea.

I don't think that's strictly true. There is a County of
Southend-on-Sea (and also a County of Thurrock), and those areas are
no longer part of the (administrative) county of Essex. But these
new counties do not have councils. The relevant unitary authority
for Southend is still Southend-on-Sea Borough Council. Indeed there
is no mention of the "County of Southend-on-Sea" on
www.southend.gov.uk .

And the situation is similar for Peterborough. The functions of
Cambridgeshire County Council in respect of Peterborough were transferred to
the *city* council, i.e. the unitary authority.

I don't know why it was necessary to create these new formal counties.
Presumably the original legislation creating the unitary authorities was
botched. Why didn't they just re-create County Boroughs?
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

In article ,
(Richard J.) wrote:

I don't know why it was necessary to create these new formal counties.
Presumably the original legislation creating the unitary authorities was
botched. Why didn't they just re-create County Boroughs?

The 1990s unitaries were made to fit in with post-1972 local government
legislation which didn't include County Boroughs. They are essentially the
same though modern unitaries are not the same as the old County Boroughs
in a number of respects. Peterborough shares a number of services with
Cambridgeshire including the Fire and Rescue service, Police, Waste
Disposal arrangements, structure plan and a Lord Lieutenant.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

In article ,
Colin Rosenstiel writes
The 1990s unitaries were made to fit in with post-1972 local government
legislation which didn't include County Boroughs. They are essentially the
same though modern unitaries are not the same as the old County Boroughs
in a number of respects. Peterborough shares a number of services with
Cambridgeshire including the Fire and Rescue service, Police, Waste
Disposal arrangements, structure plan and a Lord Lieutenant.
The old county borough sometimes shared functions with the counties
around them, too.

Smethwick, a county borough since 1907, shared a police force with
Staffordshire pre 1966. Solihull and Warwickshire shared a children's
home during Solihull's brief period as a County Borough (1966-74) and I
think that Brighton and the two Sussexes shared a common police force,
too (but I might be wrong on that one).

They *all* shared Lords Lieutenant, since that was (and is) an office
pertaining to the geographical (now "ceremonial" county, rather than the
administrative one. Even Birmingham was ultimately under the Lord
Lieutenant of Warwickshire and Manchester under Lancashire, although
they were obviously self governing in all respects.
--
Ian Jelf, MITG, Birmingham, UK
Registered "Blue Badge" Tourist Guide for
London & the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk