Latest news with #unitaryauthorities
BBC News
21-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Cambridgeshire MPs put forward alternative council proposal
Cambridgeshire MPs have put forward alternative proposals for local government re-organisation, which they say would protect "what makes Peterborough great".Original plans put forward by the county's eight councils suggested there should be two new unitary authorities covering the whole county, with different options being Labour MPs Andrew Pakes and Sam Carling said this was not in the best interests of Peterborough, and have made their own suggestion. They want a "Greater Peterborough" area, along with a "Greater Cambridge" and a "Mid Cambridgeshire" authority. The proposal will be considered by Peterborough City Council at a full council meeting on Wednesday. The changes are happening because the government announced it wants all local councils to become unitaries. Currently, Cambridgeshire operates under a two-tier system, with a county council in charge of things like social care, education and local highways. Smaller district councils then look after planning, bin collections and social housing. Peterborough already operates as a unitary authority, with a population of about 220,000. The government has previously indicated it wants each authority to oversee at least 500,000 residents in with a large amount of growth in the area, some people think there could be an argument for authorities to be slightly Carling, the MP for North West Cambridgeshire, said he believed the three-council model would be best for residents. "A Mid Cambridgeshire council would allow rural areas across East Cambridgeshire, Fenland and parts of Huntingdonshire to form an authority that can deliver effectively on residents' priorities, while a Greater Peterborough council encompassing the most high-growth areas of northern and western Cambridgeshire could better regulate and plan that growth."Peterborough MP Andrew Pakes said: "Putting Peterborough into a mega council would make it harder to attract investment and focus on the challenges we have as a city."He thinks a Greater Peterborough council "would allow a renewed focus on protecting what makes Peterborough great". He said it would also ensure there was "a local lens on areas in western Huntingdonshire", which would not be "lost or swallowed up into a super-council covering a huge geographical area". Follow Peterborough news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
Telegraph
17-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
Places and people
Britons not Britishers or Brits except in quotations, Great Britain includes England, Scotland and Wales. Normally write about Britain or, when there is an Irish angle to the story, 'mainland Britain'. The United Kingdom, or the abbreviation UK, ought to be avoided whether as a noun or an adjective unless the story has a specific relevance to Northern Ireland that would make the use of 'Britain' or 'British' wrong. Local and regional government in Britain is complicated. For a full explanation of local government in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, read the guide. In many parts of England there are two tiers of local government, with different responsibilities. These are county councils, and district, borough or city councils. However in some areas, there is just one (unitary) tier of local government providing all the services. The three main types are unitary authorities, London boroughs and metropolitan boroughs. Below this structure are parish and town councils. Our style is only to cap up the proper names of councils: Leeds City Council, Suffolk County Council. Otherwise, say Suffolk council, Kent council, Tameside council. Parish and town councils are always lower case. Counties County names should be written in full unless we are placing a town such as Evesham, Worcs. Abbreviate counties in lists. In this instance we should refer to the ceremonial county, not the administrative area. Many traditional counties no longer exist as administrative entities and are split into separate local authorities: Berkshire comprises six unitary authorities but we should still refer to Newbury, Berks rather than Newbury, West Berkshire. We should not refer to counties that no longer exist (it is Enfield, north London, not Enfield, Middlesex), or give geographical distinctions for major places (Sheffield, South Yorks). A good rule of thumb is that if a town or city has a football league team, you do not need to say which county it is in. Addresses should help readers locate a place: small towns with counties; villages in relation to nearby towns; districts (not boroughs or postal codes) for cities. Avoid house numbers unless widely known or relevant. Use 'Street', 'Road', etc., in full and with capital letters. Counties in England: Bedfordshire, Berkshire, Bristol (a city and county), Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cheshire, Cornwall, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Devon (not Devonshire), Dorset, Co Durham, East Riding of Yorkshire, East Sussex, Essex, Gloucestershire, Greater London, Greater Manchester, Hampshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Isle of Wight, Kent, Lancashire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Merseyside, Norfolk, North Yorkshire, Northamptonshire, Northumberland, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Rutland, Shropshire, Somerset, South Yorkshire, Staffordshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Tyne & Wear, Warwickshire, West Midlands, West Sussex, West Yorkshire, Wiltshire, Worcestershire. Abbreviations: Beds, Berks, Bucks, Cambs, Derbys, Co Dur, E Yorks, E Susx, Gloucs, Hants, Heref, Herts, Lancs, Leics, Lincs, Northants, Northumb, N Yorks, Notts, Oxon, Shrops (not Salop), Somerset, S Yorks, Staffs, Surrey, Warks, W Mids, W Susx, W Yorks, Wilts, Worcs Former counties: Cumberland, Huntingdonshire, Middlesex, Westmorland, and the North, West and East Ridings of Yorkshire were abolished in 1974 (although Cumberland was recreated as a unitary authority within Cumbria in 2023, Huntingdonshire exists as a local government district within Cambridgeshire, and Westmorland is now part of Westmorland and Furness council in Cumbria. Middlesex remains only as a cricket team and a postal address). The counties of Avon, Cleveland and Humberside existed from 1974-1996. Rutland was abolished in 1974 and resurrected in 1997. Scottish local government authorities: Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Argyll and Bute, East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, Clackmannanshire, Dumfries and Galloway, East Dunbartonshire, West Dunbartonshire, Dundee City, Edinburgh (City of), Falkirk, Fife, Glasgow (City of), Highland, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire, South Lanarkshire, East Lothian, West Lothian, Midlothian, Moray, Orkney (not Orkneys), Perth and Kinross, Renfrewshire, East Renfrewshire, Scottish Borders, Shetland (not Shetlands), Stirling, Western Isles (Comhairle nan Eilean Siar) Welsh administrative areas: Isle of Anglesey, Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly, Cardiff, Ceredigion, Carmarthenshire, Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Gwynedd, Merthyr Tydfil, Monmouthshire, Neath Port Talbot, Newport, Pembrokeshire, Powys, Rhondda Cynon Taff, Swansea, Torfaen, Vale of Glamorgan, Wrexham Ireland is the country and the island - the style guide used to rule that Ireland should describe the island only. Use the Irish Republic or the Republic if required to differentiate from Northern Ireland, but not Eire. Ulster is acceptable for Northern Ireland. Never the Six Counties. Co Down, Co Cork etc, not County Down, County Cork. Capital letters for regions: the North, the North East (no hyphen in any region), West Country, East Anglia, Home Counties, but eastern England. East Midlands, West Midlands, but south Devon, north Lancashire except in titles. Although North, South, East and West take caps for regions of the world or countries which are regarded as political, economic, cultural or historical entities, they remain lower case for sections of continents and countries, unless the name of the country is left understood. Thus: Far East, but south-east Asia (apart from in Travel articles such as 'Explore South-East Asia'). The East-West political divide, the Deep South, the southern United States, South Africa but southern, north, west or east Africa. Central America. Foreign words in place names Names of geographical features often include words which should not be repeated in translation (Rio Grande, not Rio Grande river or the river Rio Grande; Sierra Nevada, not Sierra Nevada mountains) A-Z of place names Alpine to describe the geographical region, alpine to describe a generic sport Altrincham (no G) American refers to the United States of America unless the context dictates otherwise. North America can be used to refer to the United States, Canada and Mexico Andalusia Arctic: the Arctic, Arctic Circle, Arctic Ocean, but Arctic current Argentina: never The Argentine. The people are Argentines, not Argentinians. The adjective is Argentine, not Argentinian Asian or Asians, not Asiatic or Asiatics Atlanta, Georgia; Atalanta, Italian football team Baghdad Bahamians (people of the Bahamas) Bahrain Banjul, capital of Gambia Barbadians (or Bajan) Basel, Switzerland (not Basle) Basutho (the people of Lesotho, sing and pl). Adjective is Basotho Batswana (the people of Botswana, sing, pl and adj) Bayreuth (Germany); Beirut (Lebanon) Beijing not Peking Belize (formerly British Honduras). Capital is Belmopan Bermudians Bern Berwick-upon-Tweed Bhutan Bosnia-Herzegovina Bosphorus, not Bosporus Botswana Brasilia (capital of Brazil) Buenos Aires Cairngorms Cambodia, Cambodians. Khmers are the ethnic group Cameroon, not Cameroons, nor Cameroun Cape Town Caribbean Chinese cities: Beijing (not Peking), Chengdu, Nanjing (not Nanking), Chongqing (not Chungking), Guangzhou (not Canton), Hangzhou (not Hangchow), Tianjin (not Tientsin), Hong Kong (not Xianggang), Tibet (not Xinzhang), Lhasa (not Lasa), Taiwan, Taipei (not Taibei), Kaohsiung (not Gaoxiong); but Macau (not Macao) Christchurch (Hampshire and New Zealand); Christ Church (Oxford - never Christ Church college) City: cap only when part of the official title or in references to the City (financial centre). New York City only when readers may think there is a reference to New York state Colombia (South American country); British Columbia (Canadian province); District of Columbia (Washington) Comoros – not Comoro Islands Congo: the Republic of Congo, capital Brazzaville, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire, capital Kinshasa. Our style is to use the full titles at first reference, then to call the Republic Congo-Brazzaville (as is widely done in Africa) and to call the Democratic Republic 'Congo' at subsequent uses Continent and Continental take caps only to distinguish 'mainland' Europe. We should remember that Britain is geographically in Europe Czech Republic preferred to Czechia Dakar (Senegal), Dhaka (Bangladesh) Darfur is a region of Sudan, not a province. It is divided into three provinces: Northern Darfur (local capital El Fasher), Southern Darfur (local capital Nyala) and Western Darfur (local capital El Geneina) Dhahran (Saudi Arabia) Djibouti Dnipro - city and river. Dominica and the Dominican Republic are separate countries in the Caribbean. Always clarify Dutch (preferred) or Netherlanders but never Hollanders East Asia (Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, North and South Korea. Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam). Avoid being specific about boundaries of the region Ecuador not Equador. Ecuadorean Eswatini, no longer Swaziland (it may be necessary to explain the name change in copy) French Canadians (no hyphen), Latin Americans/Latinos, but Irish-Americans, German-Americans The Gambia Guinea, formerly French Guinea; Guinea-Bissau, formerly Portuguese Guinea. Equatorial Guinea, another altogether Gulf: not Iranian, nor Persian, nor even Arabian: just the Gulf Guyana, formerly British Guiana. Guyanese for the people Hague: The Hague takes a cap T Hispaniola, the island comprising the Dominican Republic and Haiti Hong Kong but Hongkongers Indian place names: Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru instead of Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, Bangalore. The Telegraph style guide retained the cities' old names until the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, at which point referring to the 'Bombay terror attacks' in a digital world seemed out of place. However, use the traditional names when writing about British India. Indo-China/Indo-Chinese: (NOT Indochina) Inuit, not eskimos (taken by Canadian eskimos as an insult) Iran, Iranians Iraq, Iraqis Isles of Scilly, not the Scillies Istanbul: Constantinople only in historical references Izmir: Smyrna only in historical references Jakarta Kathmandu Khan Younis, Gaza Khartoum Kilimanjaro, not Mount Kilimanjaro Kolkata, not Calcutta (but the Black Hole of Calcutta) Kosovo Kyiv, not Kiev Lesotho. The people and the adjective are Basotho Liege (but Liegeois) Livorno, not Leghorn Llanelli Lod (Israel), formerly Lydda Londonderry Luhansk, Ukraine (not Lugansk) Luxembourg Lviv, no longer Lvov Lyon, no longer Lyons Macedonia Madagascar. The people (sing and pl) and the adjective are Malagasy Mallorca, no longer Majorca (Menorca not Minorca, but Ibiza not Eivissa) Malaysia is the nation of which Malaya is a part. The people are Malaysian unless there is a specific reference to the Malays, or preferably, Malayans, as an ethnic group Marseille, no longer Marseilles Middle East. Mid-East only in heads. Do not use Near East Middlesbrough (not Middlesborough) Midwest: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin Mogadishu (Somalia) Monaco: the people are Monegasque(s) Mount Fuji, not Fujiyama Mumbai, not Bombay Myanmar, no longer Burma Native Americans, not American Indians N'Djamena (capital of Chad) Neuchatel is in Switzerland, Neufchatel in France Netherlands has supplanted Holland, even when referring to the national football team Newcastle-under-Lyme Newcastle upon Tyne (no hyphens) Nigerians come from Nigeria Nigeriens come from Niger North Macedonia, formerly the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Nuremberg Papua New Guinea (no hyphens) Pathan is preferable to Pashtu or Pushtu Philippines: adjective is Philippine; but adjective for the people, Filipino; Filipina for women Phnom Penh Port-au-Prince (Haiti) Port of Spain (Trinidad) Qom. Iranian Holy Place Quebecois (people and adjective) only in references to the French Canadian people and culture: though a reference to a female would be Quebecoise Richmond, N Yorks; Richmond, south-west London Riyadh Romania Rwanda Sahara. Sahara Desert is tautological Saint John, New Brunswick; St Johns, Quebec; St John's, Newfoundland Salzburg Sana'a is the capital of Yemen. The Bab al-Mandab strait separates Yemen from Africa. Saudi Arabia: never just Saudi, which is the adjective Schiphol: airport outside Amsterdam Scotland: the people are Scots, the adjective Scottish, although Scotch can refer to eggs, pies, whisky, tape and wool shops South Sudan, capital Juba Soviet Union (former): the former states (preferable to the term 'republics', although can be used synonymously) are: Armenia; Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani); Belarus – not double s – (Belarussian); Georgia; Kazakhstan (Kazakh, not Kazakhi or Turkmeni etc); Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyz); Moldova (Moldovan); Russia or the Russian Federation (synonymous), but not the Russian republic; Tajikistan (Tajik); Turkmenistan (Turkmen); Ukraine (not the Ukraine, nor the Crimea); Uzbekistan (Uzbek); also, the Baltic states (not republics), Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, all now in Nato and the EU; autonomous republic: Tatarstan (not Tataria); Yakutia; Bashkiria; Chechnya; Ingushetia; Nagorno Karabakh (no hyphen); but Alma-Ata. Chisinau, capital of Moldova, not Kishinev; Lvov, not Lviv. Yekaterinburg (formerly Sverdlovsk) must have 'y' at start Sri Lanka (formerly Ceylon): the people are Sri Lankans, but differentiate when necessary between Sinhalese and Tamils Strait of Hormuz St, Ste: normally abbreviated in place names, but there are exceptions St Andrews (no possessive) St Helens, Merseyside; St Helen's, Isle of Wight Stoke-on-Trent Stratford-on-Avon district council, but Stratford-upon-Avon (town) Sudan (no 'the') Sutton, a town and borough in south London. Note there are various Suttons across England, we should always refer to their county for clarity. Taiwanese place names continue to take the system used by the Nationalist government Tbilisi (Georgia), formerly Tiflis Tehran Temple Mount: needs occasional Muslim translation, 'Temple Mount, known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary (Al Haram al Sharif)' Turkey not Turkiye Valletta Ukrainian place names: before the 2022 invasion we adopted the Russian form to Anglicise place names - Kiev, Dnieper etc. Now we use the Ukrainian form, so Kyiv, Dnipro. United Arab Emirates: abbreviate to UAE only when the full title has been used repeatedly; the Emirates. They are: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Fujairah, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah United Kingdom. Remember that it includes Northern Ireland. Do not use the phrase interchangeably with Great Britain United States: US (no full points) acceptable after first mention. Use American as the adjective unless there is danger of confusion with another country in North or South America Vienna Washington. Write in full as Washington, DC (for District of Columbia) only when necessary to distinguish from the state of Washington on the Pacific Coast West Bank: West Bank of the Jordan, the Jordan West Bank or, when the context is clear, the West Bank Windermere, not Lake Windermere (mere means lake) Yemen: the united former North Yemen and South Yemen. Capital is Sana'a Yerevan (capital of Armenia), formerly Erivan
BBC News
10-07-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Leaders voice support for Lincolnshire councils shake-up option
Two senior councillors have voiced their support for proposals to reduce the number of councils in Greater Lincolnshire from 10 to proposals have been submitted outlining how the county should be divided, including splitting up the north and Worth, leader of South Holland District Council, along with the leader of East Lindsey District Council, Craig Leyland, said this option would give residents a "stronger voice" in how services were reorganisation aims to merge councils into bigger unitary authorities, expected to be established in 2028, with projected savings of £2bn nationwide. The northern council would be made up of North Lincolnshire, North East Lincolnshire, East Lindsey and West Lindsey, with Lincoln, North Kesteven, South Kesteven, Boston and South Holland merging to create a southern said the proposal would remove the "confusing" current two-tier structure, which includes Lincolnshire County Council."Services are delivered by 10 different councils, creating duplication, inefficiency and confusion," he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that the two unitary councils would be more accessible to local people."It's built on a simple idea that services work best when they're joined up, are easily accessible and accountable to local people," he County Council previously said its preferred option was for a single unitary authority coving the whole of Lincolnshire, with district councils abolished and North and North East Lincolnshire amalgamated into a second separate will need to send their plans to the government by November before a decision is made. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. Click here to download the BBC News app from the App Store for iPhone and here to download the BBC News app from Google Play for Android devices.
BBC News
22-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Lancashire councils urged by government to work together
Lancashire's 15 main councils have been urged to work together in order to agree a vision for what will replace them when they are leaders had been given a March deadline to submit initial plans for how they will reorganise themselves into new authorities, but failed to reach an Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has written to council leaders and said "effective collaboration" would be "crucial" ahead of a November letter, seen by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, went on to say that "we would encourage you to continue to build strong relationships and agree ways of working". The shake-up being demanded by the government, as part of a nationwide overhaul, would see Lancashire County Council and the 12 district authorities in Preston, South Ribble, Chorley, West Lancashire, Fylde, Wyre, Lancaster, Ribble Valley, Burnley, Hyndburn, Rossendale and Pendle – along with the standalone councils in Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen – all would be replaced by a handful of new unitary authorities covering much larger areas, which will each be responsible for delivering all council services in their new Reform UK leader of Lancashire County Council, Stephen Atkinson, wants to hold a referendum on the future of the county and is believed to favour the status quo of holding on to its 15 met with Local Government Minister Jim McMahon in London on Thursday for a private discussion. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
BBC News
04-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Devolution: Councils in Oxfordshire put together rival plans
Rivals plans are being put to the public for local government reorganisation in Oxfordshire and part of councils have backed a plan for two new authorities covering Oxfordshire and West City Council has said it wants three authorities for the same area - including an expanded "Greater Oxford".Oxfordshire County Council has said just one unitary authority should cover the whole county, and does not include West Berkshire in its plan. The plans have been put forward after the government announced in December 2024 its intention to abolish district councils and introduce large mayoral combined authorities in changes will be the most significant reforms to local government since councils - West Berkshire, Cherwell, South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse and West Oxfordshire - have backed a plan for two new unitary authorities covering Oxfordshire and West proposals would see an "Oxford and Shires Council" for the areas currently covered by Cherwell District Council, Oxford City Council and West Oxfordshire District Council.A "Ridgeway Council" would be made up of West Berkshire Council's area, along with South Oxfordshire and Vale of White Bethia Thomas, Leader of the Vale of White Horse District Council, said: "This is a once in a generation opportunity – change is coming to the way councils work and so we can't let it pass without doing everything we can to make sure those changes work for our communities. "The two councils we're proposing aim to build councils that deliver high-quality services that are based on the needs of local people." Oxford City Council instead wants three authorities covering Oxfordshire and West would consist of a "Greater Oxford Council", an authority covering the North and West of the county and a "Ridgeway Council" covering much of South Oxfordshire, Vale of White Horse and West authority said that a "Greater Oxford" council would give local residents control of the green belt for the first time - as it currently sits outside the city's a statement it said: "Rather than incrementally building around every town and village across the county, as is currently the case, Greater Oxford can ensure that high-quality, suitably dense and sustainable developments are built near to existing jobs and community facilities, with good public transport."Oxfordshire County Council is backing plans for a single unitary authority, running all services, for the said it would save taxpayers £27m a engagement events are being held across the county by Oxford City Council and the five council coalition in June and County Council said it would also be carrying out engagement later this month. You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
