England unitary authorities

England Unitary Authorities 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

England Unitary Authorities List 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Unitary Authorities of England

All 56 current England unitary authorities. Unitary authorities of England are single tier local government administration areas which provide ALL of the services provided by county councils, district councils, city councils and borough councils in 2-tier local government areas.

  • This list of unitary authorities in England list was compiled by Joe Connor and last updated on Feb 16, 2023 @ 8:11 pm

ADDucation Tips: Sort England unitary authorities and councils by creation date, population or size by clicking the arrows in the relevant column heading. Click the ➕ icon to reveal any hidden columns. Set your browser to full screen and zoom out to show as many columns as possible. Start typing in the Filter table box to find anything inside the table of all England unitary authorities.

England Unitary Authorities 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Created Council Name/s Population Pop. Rank Area (km²) Size Rank People per km²) England Region
Bath and North East Somerset 1996 Bath and North East Somerset Council 192,106 34 346 20 559 South West
Bedford 2009 Bedford Borough Council 171,623 39 476 16 389 East
Blackburn with Darwen 1998 Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council 148,942 46 137 36 1,129 North West
Blackpool 1998 Blackpool Council 139,305 49 35 54 4,041 North West
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole [2] 2019 Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council 395,784 6 161 35 2,469 South West
Bracknell Forest 1998 Bracknell Forest Borough Council 121,676 53 109 38 1,139 South East
Brighton and Hove 1997 Brighton and Hove City Council 290,395 15 83 41 3,345 South East
Bristol 1996 Bristol City Council 463,405 5 110 37 4,308 South West
Buckinghamshire [3] 2020 Buckinghamshire Council 553,078 2 1,565 9 353 South East
Central Bedfordshire 2009 Central Bedfordshire Council 283,606 16 716 13 411 East
Cheshire East 2009 Cheshire East Council 380,790 7 1,166 10 342 North West
Cheshire West and Chester 2009 Cheshire West and Chester Council 340,502 10 917 11 388 North West
York 1996 City of York Council 209,893 29 272 24 746 Yorkshire and the Humber
Cornwall [1] 2009 Cornwall Council 565,968 1 3,546 2 161 South West
Darlington 1997 Darlington Borough Council 106,566 54 198 28 546 North East
Derby 1997 Derby City Council 257,174 22 78 44 3,350 East Midlands
Dorset [2] 2019 Dorset Council 374,916 8 2,492 5 152 South West
County Durham 2009 Durham County Council 526,980 3 2,226 7 235 North East
East Riding of Yorkshire 1996 East Riding of Yorkshire Council 339,614 11 2,405 6 142 Yorkshire and the Humber
Halton 1998 Halton Borough Council 128,432 52 79 43 1,624 North West
Hartlepool 1996 Hartlepool Borough Council 93,242 55 94 39 986 North East
Herefordshire 1998 Herefordshire Council 192,107 33 2,180 8 86 West Midlands
Kingston upon Hull 1996 Hull City Council 260,645 21 28 56 3,730 Yorkshire and the Humber
Isle of Wight 1995 Isle of Wight Council 141,538 47 380 18 370 South East
Leicester 1997 Leicester City Council 355,218 9 73 46 5,027 East Midlands
Luton 1997 Luton Borough Council 214,109 27 43 50 5,196 East
Medway 1998 Medway Council 277,855 18 194 30 1,444 South East
Middlesbrough 1996 Middlesbrough Borough Council 140,545 48 54 48 2,671 North East
Milton Keynes 1997 Milton Keynes Council 268,607 19 309 22 930 South East
North East Lincolnshire 1996 North East Lincolnshire Council 159,821 42 192 31 815 Yorkshire and the Humber
North Lincolnshire 1996 North Lincolnshire Council 172,005 38 846 12 200 Yorkshire and the Humber
North Somerset 1996 North Somerset Council 213,919 28 374 19 580 South West
Northumberland 2009 Northumberland County Council 320,274 13 5,014 1 64 North East
Nottingham 1998 Nottingham City Council 331,069 12 75 45 4,338 East Midlands
Peterborough 1998 Peterborough City Council 201,041 31 343 21 628 East
Plymouth 1998 Plymouth City Council 263,100 20 80 42 3,315 South West
Portsmouth 1997 Portsmouth City Council 215,133 26 40 52 5,150 South East
Reading 1998 Reading Borough Council 163,203 41 40 53 4,313 South East
Redcar and Cleveland 1996 Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council 136,718 50 245 25 557 North East
Rutland 1997 Rutland County Council 39,697 56 382 17 108 East Midlands
Shropshire 2009 Shropshire Council 320,274 14 3,197 4 101 West Midlands
Slough 1998 Slough Borough Council 149,112 45 33 55 4,872 South East
South Gloucestershire 1996 South Gloucestershire Council 282,644 17 497 15 584 South West
Southampton 1997 Southampton City Council 252,796 24 50 49 4,991 South East
Southend-on-Sea 1998 Southend-on-Sea Borough Council 182,463 35 42 51 4,336 East
Stockton-on-Tees 1996 Stockton-on-Tees Borough Council 197,213 32 205 27 959 North East
Stoke-on-Trent 1998 Stoke-on-Trent City Council 255,833 23 93 40 2,765 West Midlands
Swindon 1998 Swindon Borough Council 221,996 25 230 26 1,014 South West
Telford and Wrekin 1998 Telford and Wrekin Borough Council 177,799 36 290 23 639 West Midlands
Thurrock 1998 Thurrock Council 172,525 37 164 34 1,074 East
Torbay 1998 Torbay Council 135,780 51 63 47 2,216 South West
Warrington 1998 Warrington Borough Council 209,547 30 181 32 1,168 North West
West Berkshire 1998 West Berkshire Council 158,527 43 704 14 229 South East
Wiltshire 2009 Wiltshire Council 498,064 4 3,255 3 157 South West
Windsor and Maidenhead 1998 Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council 150,906 44 197 29 781 South East
Wokingham 1998 Wokingham Borough Council 167,979 40 179 33 992 South East

See also: Historic Ceremonial Counties of England…

Notes: [1] Cornwall includes the Isles of Scilly. Compiled using data from the Office for National Statistics. [2] In April 2019 two new England unitary authorities were created. [3] In 2020 Buckinghamshire was added. In 2023 three new unitary authorities in England (Cumbria, North Yorkshire and Somerset) will be created.

Frequently Asked Question - FAQs About England's Unitary Authorities

England Unitary Authorities FAQs

When was the first English Unitary Authority Created?

The first Unitary Authority in England was the Isle of Wight, established in 1995. 13 more were added in 1996, 9 in 1997, 21 in 1998, 9 in 2009, 2 in 2019 and 1 in 2020.

Which is the largest Unitary Authority?

Cornwall is the biggest Unitary Authority in England by population with almost 566,000 people. Northumberland is the largest by area covering 1,936 square miles.

What is the difference between a unitary authority and district council?

A unitary authority is a 1 (unitary) tier of local government which provides all the services otherwise provided in 2 tier local government areas, including district councils, borough councils and city councils.

What Is Local Government Responsible For?

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