Ian Lewis

Local government is often complex and can differ greatly from region to region. They are generally separated into principal authorities and parishes, which usually refer to urban and rural areas. There are four levels: regional, county, district and parish.

There are several different types of local government, categorised in terms of how many different levels there are within the government, which in turn is dependant on the type of area it governs. Shire counties are separated into two tiers, both of which deal with different aspects of local government, such as the lower level dealing with housing and waste collection, and the higher tier dealing with education and social services.

It is a similar situation in Greater London as there are two tiers of government, though there are different aspects in each of the tiers in comparison to shire counties. In the lower tier, the base is more general, with education and waste collection in the same tier. In the higher tier however, there are far more specific aspects of local government that are highlighted, such as strategic planning and the police. This may be due to the fact that London itself is more like a small country than a local government, especially in comparison to smaller governments such as Leeds in West Yorkshire.

Metropolitan and unitary counties do not use a two tier system, and these smaller types include the vast majority of the local governments in this country. Unitary authorities are controlled by only one level of local government, and are a relatively modern type of government, as most have been created after the 1990s.