Subdivisions of England

The 1974 reform of local government established the tier structure throughout England with county authorities in metropolitan and Greater London also existing, 1986 reform abolished these. From the 1996 reform the structure's use has been declining, 21 tiered areas remain out of the original 48. The county tier provides the majority of services, including education and social services while the 164 district-tier councils have a more limited role. New local administrative subdivisions in England have generally evolved through path dependence, with new units often created by merging smaller, lower-tier areas. == Regional divisions ==

Regions 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. There was a failed attempt to create elected regional assemblies outside London in 2004 and after then the structures of regional governance (regional assemblies, regional development agencies and local authority leaders' boards) have been subject to review. Prior to the government office regions established in 1994, England was divided into eight economic planning regions. These originated in the civil defence regions established during the Second World War. List of regions Combined authority areas Outside London, the primary administrative body above the upper-tier or unitary local authority is the combined authority or combined county authority. Each combined authority covers a combined authority area, made up of the territories of each constituent council. The combined authority areas can be coterminous with another, pre-existing subdivision, such as counties. The first combined authority was the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, established in 2010, covering the ceremonial and metropolitan county of Greater Manchester. Other combined authorities exist within or beyond previously existing boundaries. For example, the unitary authority area of the Borough of Halton, part of Cheshire for ceremonial purposes, joined with the metropolitan boroughs of Merseyside to form the Liverpool City Region. == Counties ==

Counties have been a subdivision of England since they were established in the period between the 7th and 11th centuries. Counties have served an administrative role since then; Parr (2020) describes them as the 'most noticeable example' of path dependence in England's local government geography. These are used for the purposes of appointing Lords Lieutenant Each correspond to an administrative body. Non-metropolitan districts can also be a borough, city or district. Unitary authority areas are joint non-metropolitan counties and non-metropolitan districts. List of two-tier non-metropolitan counties == Sub-county divisions ==

Local government districts The districts of England originate in the 1834 Poor Law reforms, which amalgamated multiple parishes to form Poor Law unions. These areas were later used as the basis for census registration districts and sanitary districts. 1984 reforms to sub-county government created urban districts and rural districts as a standard lower-tier layer of local government beneath administrative counties. The 1970s local government reforms replaced the administrative counties and county boroughs with non-metropolitan counties and metropolitan counties, covering the whole of England outside of London. The lower tier of government below the non-metropolitan counties were non-metropolitan districts. Miscellaneous 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. The ancient City of London is the only part of Greater London not within a London borough; it is governed by the City of London Corporation, a sui generis authority unlike any other in England Civil parishes The civil parish is the most local unit of government in England. and not all of the rest of England is parished. The number of parishes and total area parished is growing. List of unitary authority areas • == Hierarchical list of regions, strategic authorities, counties and districts ==