LOCAL GOVERNMENT THROUGH THE AGES
Local Government has its roots deep in the past, the Witan ( also called Witenagemot ) council of the Anglo-Saxon's, advised the king on all matters on which he chose to ask its opinion. It was usually attended by the greater nobles and bishops, the Witan was in no sense a popular assembly, it confirmed the grants of land to churches or laymen, and sanctioned new laws. The present-day structure of local government roughly corresponds with that of Saxon days, the county borough may be compared with, the burh, or large fort, town, the shire, hundred and township where the freemen assembled in their moots maintaining local usage and ancient custom, and keeping the peace through the tythingman and frankpledge.
After the Norman Conquest the Saxon moots were abolished, government was controlled by the king and his curia regis (or council ) made up of the King and his barons, nobles and bishops who were bound to the him by grants of land ( feudal ties ), who in turn granted rights and land to their sub tenants.the county district subject to a count or earl. The county court or court leet are an ancient institution in England, their jurisdiction was restricted, but has had extensive powers conferred on them by acts of parliament.
The Earl of Chester, the Bishop of Durham, and the Duke of Lancaster were the Counts Palatine of England, the corresponding counties being called counties palatine. These counties were under a count, who exercised regal prerogatives within his county in virtue of which he had his own court of law appointed judges and law officers, and could pardon murders treason's, and felonies. All write and judicial processes proceeded in his name, while the king's writ, were of no avail within the palatinate.
However local power was mainly concentrated in the lord of the manor, to obtain freedom from the lord of the manor and his courts, application was often made to the king, by merchant guilds, for a charter of incorporation creating part of the manor a borough free from the jurisdiction of the lord of the manor and with its own bailiffs and courts.
From the late Middle Ages, there were three types of civil authority becoming established, the parish , the shire and the corporate towns ( called ' borough ' in England and Wales, ' burghs ' in Scotland ).
PARISH
The Parish, is a district originally marked out as that belonging to one church, and whose spiritual wants are to be under the particular charge of its own minister. Parishes have existed in England for more than a thousand years. They were originally ecclesiastical divisions, but now, in England especially, a parish is an important subdivision of the country for purposes of local self-government, most of the local rates and taxes being confined within that area, and to a certain extent self-imposed.
In Scotland the division into parishes was complete about the beginning of the 13th century, and as in England the parish is recognized for certain civil purposes as well as for purposes purely ecclesiastical. Formerly each parish in Scotland had a parish school, and there was a body, the parochial board, which managed the relief of the poor. By an act passed in 1894 similar to the English act, there is now a parish council in each of the parishes, having similar powers with similar to the English parish councils, and also charged with the relief of the poor.
The ecclesiastical vestry meeting ( a local committee which in some places was elected, in others appointed or self-selected ) survived and constituted a basis along with the lord of the manor for the administration of the welfare of the poor, administration of common land and property, but the essential factors of local government was in fact to be dealt with by various bodies such as charities and the guilds .The parish became responsible for local law and order (appointing a local constable), for providing common facilities (through a surveyor of highways) and for dealing with social misery (through overseers of the poor). These officers were elected or served in turn.
COUNTY CORPORATE
Some urban areas obtained a charter from the Crown to
establish their own administration in the form of a 'corporation'. They had possession of corporate property (
guild halls ) and had a separate ' bench ' of magistrates or Justice's of the Peace; they may also have been entitled
to call themselves ' cities '. County Corporate, a city or town possessing the privilege of being governed by its
on sheriffs and other magistrates, irrespective of the county in which it is situated, as London, York, Bristol,
&c
The sheriff became so powerful that Edward III appointed Justices in Eyre to tour the provinces to administer justice
and Henry VIII appointed lord lieutenants to be the king's representative in the county. Holding the king's commission,
they visited the localities to supervise local administration and ensured law and order was exercised on a county-wide
basis. They were responsible for the administration, of local affairs and inspecting accounts and making appointments,
but had no legal responsibility for such matters as highways, bridges, weights and measures, or the customary duty
of maintaining the peace by the punishment of minor crimes.
PRIVY COUNCIL
The Privy Council descended from the curia regis, and by the time of Henry VII, had become the instrument of the crown; it was made up of the Privy Council, the courts of Chancery, Star Chamber, and High Commission, and their local subsidiaries.
Owing to the dissolution of the monasteries in 1536. provision had to be made for certain functions to be maintained locally the care of pauper's, the sick, the aged, the destitute and vagrants. Thus the poor law developed at first on a parochial basis and the laws promulgated were consolidated in the Poor Relief Act, 1601. Under the Highway Act, 1555, the vestry elected way wardens who were the precursors of our modem surveyors of highways. Similarly the vestries became the unit for the administration of local matters, and the justices in their quarter sessions became burdened with numerous functions of Local Government over wider areas roads, bridges, explosives, diseases of animals, weights and measures, fisheries and police.
The Privy Council system worked well but during the reign of the Stuart kings, jealousy and anger grew among parliamentarians and common lawyers. Amid the religious and constitutional controversies of the mid-17th century, the system was swept away. The powerful, Privy Council was revived under Charles II, but the crown turned more and more to the cabinet, an attempt to return the Privy Council to power was made in the Act of Settlement of 1701, but it proved futile.
From the time of the accession of George I. the Privy Council became a purely formal body with the lord president of the council as responsible minister. The Privy Council has never been formally abolished it is now concerned with the making of orders in council and with a wide variety of functions derived mainly from the power of the sovereign in council to issue royal charters, chiefly to municipal corporations and to charitable bodies engaged in education, research, and the encouragement of literature, science, and the arts.
Local government at the end of the eighteenth century was very complex, with many variations, in some areas the
charities were powerful, in others responsibility had been taken over by statutory bodies, such as Turnpike Trusts
(to build and maintain roads) or Improvement Commissioners (to provide water, lighting or sanitation).The 'system
was basic, many local authorities were inept and deceitful, there was considerable variation in the method of election
or selection of officers, vestries and corporations.
19th CENTURY
Until the 19th century the growth of Local Government was slow and haphazard in its development. The borough councils were unfit to deal with the problems created, and so public-spirited individuals obtained powers from Parliament to carry out the necessary services. Boards of guardians, highway boards, burial boards, local boards of health and many others were formed.Ad hoc Turnpike Trusts and Improvement Commissioners had been created by Local or Private Acts of Parliament in the eighteenth century. These bodies proliferated in the nineteenth century (often by-passing the existing public authorities), so that we find local commissions or 'boards for cleaning, paving or lighting the streets, for road building, for slum clearance, sewers, burial and for water supply.
The vastly growing population gathered around the newly developing industrial towns. Houses were built without any proper regard to public health requirements and existing houses became grossly overcrowded. Devastating infectious diseases carried off large numbers of the population in early life. Private enterprise developed estates and provided water and gas; voluntary groups and charities provided schools, housing and hospitals;
The industrial revolution altered the entire basis of the economic and social structure of the country and created many problems for Local Government, it was soon apparent that the existing authorities could not cope with the problems they were now facing. The parishes were too small or inept, and they began to lose some of their traditional functions to higher authorities. Under the ad hoc system, Local Government became a chaos of areas, authorities and rates; and it became evident that more effective administration of these new bodies was needed.
One of the changes parliament (government) inaugurated by the Reform Act, 1832, was the allocation of parliamentary representatives which reflected the changed distribution of the population. This Act was followed closely by 2 royal commissions, one to inquire into the abuses of the poor law and the other into the administration of the notoriously corrupt boroughs.
Financial assistance to Local Government from the State may
be considered to have started with grants for the building of schools in 1833, although voluntary bodies were undertaking
the task at that time. Aid to many other services followed.
Local Government Reorganisation.
The Poor Law Amendment Act, 1834, abolished the former parochial system replacing this with groups (or 'unions) of parishes, which then operated under ad hoc elected Boards of Guardians.
Furthermore, general Acts of Parliament led to the creation of more ad hoc bodies, just as the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 had created Boards of Guardians.Local health boards were set up under the Public Health Act 1848, highways boards under the Highways Acts 1835 and 1862, and elementary school boards under the Education Act 1870.
Each of these local boards had its own elected body (the board itself), its own officials and its own rates.Some existing local authorities showed initiative and foresight: they promoted local Acts and obtained the powers to take action themselves.2 There was thus some administrative tidying-up, as corporations, and especially Boards of Health, took over some of the functions of the Improvement Commissioners.
In removing the parliamentary franchise from many ancient boroughs ('rotten or 'pocket boroughs), the disfranchised boroughs were left somewhat powerless and exposed. Hence the reforms brought about by the Municipal Corporation Act 1835
In an attempt to remove corruption and inefficiency, 178 of the corporate boroughs in England and Wales, were required to be elected by rate payers, to hold council meetings open to the public and to have their accounts regularly audited. In this way, a uniform constitution for most (about two thirds) of the boroughs was established.
In 1835 the boroughs of England and Wales were required (counties 1839 & 1856 ) due to the inadequacy of the parish constables, to provide a police force modeled on the Metropolitan Police, ( created in 1829 ) . A number of statutes followed to amalgamate and reform other bodies and to simplify ' this adhoccery ', as Bentham called the former chaotic conditions.
A number of the old corporations dwindled into insignificance as the ad hoc bodies assumed power. In towns and villages there was no common pattern either: the vestry, manorial officers, guardians, Improvement Commissioners, charity trustees, Justices of the Peace, jostled for authority. Consequently local government was fittingly described in the 1870s as 'a chaos of areas, a chaos of authorities and a chaos of rates'.
New county courts were established 1846, chiefly with the view of affording a speedy and cheap mode of recovering debts under £50, but their jurisdiction is now much wider and varied.
The first general Public Health Act, 1848, set up the General Board of Health as a controlling and coordinating central authority. In 1871 it became the Local Government. Board .Uniformity was enhanced by the Public Health Act 1872, which required the establishment of health authorities throughout England and Wales - whether they took the form of borough councils (for the towns and cities), Boards of Health (for urban areas) or Boards of Guardians (for rural areas) - and the obligatory performance of health functions and responsibilities.The Public Health Act 1872, divided the country into rural and urban areas for the purpose of public health services.
LOCAL AUTHORITY
Local Authority is the name applied more especially to the administrators of the Public Health Act of 1875 in districts established under the act as either rural or urban sanitary districts, the local authorities thus including town councils, municipal authorities, improvement commissioners, boards of guardians, &e.
But demand was for reform, which was resisted by the country gentry, because of fear of an increased rates burden .The Municipal Corporations Act 1882 added another twenty-five old boroughs, and in the meantime all new boroughs (some sixty-two were created between 1835 and 1876) adopted the election by rate payers form of local government.
The Reform Act 1884, extended the parliamentary vote to agricultural workers, drawing attention to the anomaly of the non-elected character of the county authorities composed of Justices of the Peace.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD
Local Government Board, a department of the British government established in 1871, and having under its supervision all matters of local government, public health, relief of the poor, registration of births, deaths, and marriages, &c. The president of the board is a. member of the government, who may or may not be in the cabinet. Under the board is a large staff of inspection, medical officers, clerks, &c.
The Local Government Act, 1888, transferred from the justices their Local Government functions to elected county councils and newly created county boroughs. These were to be all-purpose authorities, independent of the county councils and based on existing boroughs. The criterion for their creation was population: a town with a population of 50,000 or more could claim county borough status. Some eighty-two towns did so, much to the dismay of the county MPs, who had originally sought a qualifying figure of 150,000 population. Those boroughs which failed to gain county borough status remained as non-county boroughs and became district councils, for local government purposes, within the counties.
In 1888 a separate London county area was created by removing parts of Middlesex, Kent and Surrey, and the London County Council was established on a similar basis to other county councils.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
In England and Wales a uniform system of local government was introduced by the Local Government (England and Wales) Act, 1888, based on the direct representation of the inhabitants, a principle already recognized in regard to urban communities, The administrative county, as defined by the act, has been divided into electoral divisions, each returning one member to the county council The electors of these county councilors, were defined by the County Electors Act, 1888, being those persons who, in the county, possess the burgess, qualification in a borough (as required by the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882), or who occupy land to the value of ten pounds.
The county councilors thus elected form three fourths of the council, and the other fourth, called county aldermen, are selected by the council. The chairman is appointed by the council from among their number, and the councilors, after serving three years, retire together. Thus constituted, the council has superseded quarter sessions in conducting the administrative and financial business of the county. Its powers and duties are the levying and expending of all county, hundred, police, and other such rates; the borrowing of money for a period not to exceed 30 years; the licensing of race-courses, pawnbrokers, houses for music, dancing, and stage plays; the management of asylums for pauper lunatics; the establishment and maintenance of school reformatories; the purchase and upkeep of bridges and roads; the appointment of a public analyst, a coroner, and a medical officer of health; the administration of the acts relating to weights and measures, contagious diseases of animals, wild fowl preservation, fish conservancy, explosives, and the pollution of rivers; the certifying of places of worship; and the opposing of bills in parliament. As regards the county police they are now managed by a joint committee of quarter sessions (that is, the justices of peace), and the county council. To defray its expenditure the council receives the proceeds of local taxation, licenses, as collected by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, as also four-fifths of one-half of the probate duties.
For the purposes of this act the following boroughs were formed into administrative counties, viz.
Barrow, Bath, Birkenhead, Birmingham, Blackburn, Bolton, Bootle, Bournemouth, Bradford, Brighton, Bristol, Burnley, Bury, Canterbury, Cardiff, Chester, Coventry, Croydon, Derby, Devonport, Dudley, Exeter, Gateshead, Gloucester, Grimsby, Halifax, Hanley, Hastings, Huddersfield, Hull Ipswich, Leeds, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, Manchester, Middlesborough, Newcastle-upon- Tyne, Newport (Mon.), Northampton, Norwich, Nottingham, Oldham, Oxford, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Preston, Reading, Rochdale, St. Helen's, Salford, Sheffield, Southampton, South Shields, Stockport, Sunderland, Swansea, Walsall, West Bromwich, West Ham, Wigan, Wolverhampton, Worcester, Yarmouth, York.
As settled, the mayor, aldermen, and burgesses of these county boroughs have now, with modifications, the powers
of a county council under the act. The modifications are in those clauses which deal with the election and constitution
of the council, the appointment of its officers, the joint committee of Quarter Sessions and the Council, and the
powers connected with the county and other rates, for those do not apply to the county boroughs. The adjustment
of financial matters between the county and borough authorities is arrived at by mutual agreement, or if necessary
by reference to the commissioners appointed under the act.
Under this act also, London by itself is erected into an administrative county. The area thus designated (which
includes portions of Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent) had a lord lieutenant, a sheriff, a commission of the peace,
and a court of quarter sessions. The number of county councilors for London was to be double the number of the
members of parliament for the Metropolitan boroughs; that was to be 118, and the number of county aldermen elected
by these is to be not more than one sixth of their number, or 19. To this council the powers, duties, and liabilities
of the Metropolitan Board of Works were now transferred, that authority having ceased to exist. It is also provided
that the powers, duties, and liabilities of county councils as defined by the act and enumerated above, shall apply
to London county council.
By an act of 1899 the administrative County of London (the City excluded) was divided into 28 municipal boroughs, each with a municipal council, aldermen, and mayor.
The provisions for local government was further extended by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, taking effect from May 1890. By this act a county council is established for the management of the administrative and financial business of each county. The county having been divided into electoral division, by the Boundary Commission, one councilor is elected for each division; the term of office is three years, and the whole number retire together. To be registered as a county elector is the qualification for election (women excepted), and the electors are the registered parliamentary electors with the addition of women and peers. it is further provided that every burgh (that is, a parliamentary or royal burgh) which contains less than 7000 inhabitants becomes, for the purposes of this act, merged in the county, contributes to its finances, and is entitled to he represented on the County Council, the representatives being elected by the town council from among their own number.
The powers and duties conferred on this County Council are those which have been transferred from
(1) The Commissioners of Supply, including such matters as apportioning the incidence of the land tax, the levying of county assessments, prison visiting, police management, lands valuation, division of old valued rent, &c.;
(2) The powers and duties of the County Road Trustees;
(3) The powers and duties of the Local Authority of the county under the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Acts and the Distructive Insects Act;
(4) The whole powers and duties of the Local Authority under the Public Health Acts, with the exception of burghs and police burghs;
(5) The administrative powers and duties of the Justices of the Peace of the county in respect of gas metres, explosive substances, weights and measures, habitual drunkards, and lunatic asylums; but otherwise the powers and duties of the justices are to remain as here before. For the purposes of borrowing, for the management of police, and for the undertaking of works involving capital expenditure, a standing joint-committee of equal numbers is appointed by the County Council and the Commissioners of Supply. As regards finance it is provided that after 31st March, 1890, certain duties and local licenses collected by the Commissioners of Inland revenue, together with eleven hundredth parts of one-half of the proceeds of the probate duties shall be placed at the disposal of the County Council. The ordinary revenue, however, will be derived from the rates formerly received by the Commissioners of Supply, and by contributions from. the burghs affected by the act, but if this fund is found to be insufficient the County Council is empowered to levy additional rates. All receipts of the council from whatever source shall be carried to the county fund, and all payments shall he made, in the first instance, out of that fund, It is also enacted that the debts and liabilities of any authority whose powers and duties are transferred by the act shall become the debts and liabilities of the County Council
There was considerable growth in Local Government through the middle of the 19th century, Public libraries were authorised in 1845; the first Housing Act was passed in 1851; school boards were set up in 1870; trading services were inaugurated by the Tramways Act, 1870, followed by markets and gas undertakings in 1875 and electric lighting in 1882. Many services have been nationalised. Jails were transferred to the State in 1877.
In rural areas an attempt was made to restore some of the ancient glory to the parishes. The Local Government Act
1894, coordinated the work of Local Government within the administrative counties by distributing the work in urban
areas between borough and urban district councils. The Act sometimes referred to as the 'peasants' charter established
a parish council in all rural parishes having a population of 300 or more ( parishes under 300 electors had simple
meetings of all parishioners). The council - a body of five to fifteen persons were elected by popular vote - had
various powers, such as the provision of allotments, the acquisition of land for recreation purposes, the provision
of a public water-supply, &c. ( By an act of 1898, County Councils were set up in Ireland.)
In 1899 the London area, which had at that time the largest city population in the world, established twenty-eight metropolitan borough councils. The City of London (the square mile in the heart of London) was left as a separate authority due to its unique character and tradition.
Now it had an established structure, a constitutional basis and operated on openly democratic lines, Central government
increased Local governments responsibility.
20th CENTURY
Government has maintained substantial powers to intervene in local authorities appointment of senior officers, to inspect certain local government services and to determine the charges which local authorities make for certain services. Since the nineteenth century, Local authorities have beginning with police grants, received aid from central government, between the 1930's and the 1970's the proportion of this grant revenue in local authority budgets grew substantially. Local authorities have the power of taxation and are thus able to finance their activities. Rates have never been the sole source of income, local authorities have also received income by way of rents, sales, service charges, fines and legacies.
In 1923 a Royal Commission on Local. Government under the chairmanship of Lord Onslow was appointed. It arose out of the frequency of the changes brought about by the creation of new county boroughs. and the enlargement of existing county boroughs . It was recommended that new county boroughs should be created only by a private bill submitted to Parliament; that extensions should be similarly treated if there was any opposition; and that county councils should regularly review generally the existing areas of county districts and parishes.
The decision to undertake a comprehensive review of the existing local government structure was first taken at the end of the Second World War when the Local Government Boundary Commission was set up in 1945. At that time, movements of population and the spread of large industrial areas seemed to call for substantial adjustments in local authority areas. There was, moreover, the question of examining claims for the creation and extension of County boroughs which had been held up during the war, and a series of reviews of county districts had become due. However, although the Boundary Commission carried out a thorough-going review, it was then found impracticable to adopt the far-reaching changes in local authority areas, status and functions that it recommended.
The Boards of Guardians were abolished in 1929, the local authority Public Assistance Committees were taken over in 1934, by central government setting up its own ad hoc Unemployment Assistance Board. In 1948 this became the National Assistance Board then in 1966, the Supplementary Benefits Commission, and subsequently Income Support in 1986- 88, removing completely from local government the function of public assistance.
In the early years of the 20th century a number of acts were passed empowering local authorities to provide school
meals and a school medical service, to attend to maternity and child welfare and the care of the blind and mental
deficient, and to make provision for district hospitals. The Local Government Board of 1871 became the Ministry
of Health in 1919, but in 1951 the work was divided between the Ministry of Health and the new Ministry of Housing
and Local Government. Under the National Health Service Act 1946, all local authority hospitals along with the
voluntary hospitals were transferred to Regional Hospital Boards. Under the National Health Service Act 1973 local
government lost their health services when these were transferred to the newly created ad hoc Regional and Area Health
Authorities.
The Local Government Act, 1929, abolished the boards of guardians and transferred their poor law functions to the new public assistance authorities - the councils of counties and county boroughs. This however, was a short-lived reform, for the National Assistance Act, 1948, ended the poor law and set up the National Assistance Board.The State accepted responsibility for the able-bodied unemployed in 1934; The minister of transport took over financial responsibility for certain trunk roads in 1936; the veterinary service, including the Control of milk production on farms, became the responsibility of the minister of agriculture in 1947;
Most local councils provided electric light, gas and water within their areas. Local government was never the sole provider of gas and electricity, but it supplied considerable amounts of the nation's gas and electricity. Similarly, many local authorities lost responsibility for a water supply, due the Water Act 1945 & the Water Act 1973, English and Welsh local authorities lost all responsibility for water and sewerage to regional water authorities from 1989.central and regional boards took over electricity in 1947; and gas undertakings were transferred to gas board in 1948.
Local trading did not stop there, however, apart from the essential services, boroughs frequently obtained permission from Parliament to conduct enterprises which were helpful to their districts.There were municipal golf courses, resorts and seaside enterprises to encourage holidaymakers to visit these towns, docks and harbours owned by local authorities, while Doncaster and Chester even owned their own racecourse.
The control of the roads is shared between the Ministry of Transport and various local authorities. "National" roads, designated by Acts of Parliament, the main roads of the country, are controlled by the Ministry of Transport, which delegates responsibility for maintenance to the county councils. Other roads are controlled and repaired by the county or district councils, although rural district councils may maintain, repair and improve their roads only with the permission of the county council.
The county and urban district councils have powers to make new streets or roads, and to purchase land or premises in order to widen thoroughfares. The costs of repairing roads are met partly by the local authorities and partly by grants from the Ministry of Transport.
Central government has continued to take direct responsibility for a number of services, for example the building and maintenance of trunk roads (under the Trunk Roads Acts 1936 and 1946) and rating valuation (under the Local Government Act 1948).The responsibility for the valuation of property for local rates was transferred to the board of inland revenue in 1948.
During the 20th century the transfer of many major services occured from minor authorities to the control of the larger authorities -. Examples of this are education and midwifery (1902), libraries (1919). In 1944 county councils were given responsibility for providing elementary schools in district areas . Under the New Towns Act 1946, the development of New Towns was placed in the hands of appointed boards instead of the local authority . In 1946 they gained control of health and police functions, and in 1947 town and country planning and fire services.
Under the General Rate Act 1961. all rating authorities reduced the rate levied on dwelling houses by a specific number of pence in the £. In return for that relief for the domestic ratepayer, the authority is reimbursed by the Government through the domestic element grant.
The transfer of local government functions to ad
hoc bodies continued with the River Boards
Act 1948 (extended by the Water Resources Act 1963) the control of river pollution became the responsibility of
River Boards. Under the Road Traffic Act 1930, the responsibility for licensing passenger road services passed
from local authorities to regional traffic commissioners. The Transport Act 1947 transferred many canals and harbours
to the British Transport Commission, and under the Transport Act 1968 special Passenger Transport Authorities have
been established to manage the provision of local buses and trains in the larger urban areas
Local government was reorganised between 1972 and 1974, in England and Wales. The number of counties was reduced from 58 to 53 and the 1,400 or so borough, urban and rural councils were replaced by 369 district councils.The top tier of local government becoming the county council.
London's local government system, was reorganised in 1965, headed by the Greater London Council and 32 London borough councils as its second tier.The GLC had 12 boroughs which devided their services like county and district councils. The GLC was responsible for : museums and entertainment, bye-laws, fire services, licensing, planning, parks, and open spaces. The GLC covered an area of 616 square miles. The GLC area was divided into electoral areas, known as electoral divisions, each of which elected one councillor. All councillors stood for 4 years and were elected and re-elected together.
