Buckinghamshire Council is a
unitary
Unitary may refer to:
Mathematics
* Unitary divisor
* Unitary element
* Unitary group
* Unitary matrix
* Unitary morphism
* Unitary operator
* Unitary transformation
* Unitary representation
* Unitarity (physics)
* ''E''-unitary inverse semigrou ...
local authority
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...
in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
, the area of which constitutes most of the ceremonial county of
Buckinghamshire. It was created in April 2020 from the areas that were previously administered by
Buckinghamshire County Council
Buckinghamshire County Council was the upper-tier local authority for the administrative county and later the non-metropolitan county of Buckinghamshire, in England, the United Kingdom established in 1889 following the Local Government Act 1888 ...
including the districts of
South Bucks
South Bucks was one of four local government districts in the non-metropolitan county of Buckinghamshire, in South East England.
The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, by the amalgamation of the area of Beac ...
,
Chiltern,
Wycombe and
Aylesbury Vale
The Aylesbury Vale (or Vale of Aylesbury) is a geographical region in Buckinghamshire, England, which is bounded by the Borough of Milton Keynes and South Northamptonshire to the north, Central Bedfordshire and the Borough of Dacorum (Hertford ...
; since 1997 the
City of Milton Keynes
The City of Milton Keynes is a unitary authority area with both borough and city status, in Buckinghamshire. It is the northernmost district of the South East England Region. The borough abuts Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and the remainder ...
has been a separate unitary authority.
History
The plan for a single unitary authority was proposed by Martin Tett, leader of the county council, and was backed by
Communities Secretary
The secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, also referred to as the levelling up secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the overall leadership and strategic direction o ...
James Brokenshire
James Peter Brokenshire (8 January 1968 – 7 October 2021) was a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party, he served in Theresa May's cabinet as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2016 to 2018, ...
. District councils had also proposed a different plan in which Aylesbury Vale becomes a unitary authority and the other three districts becomes another unitary authority. The district councils opposed the (single) unitary Buckinghamshire plan.
Statutory instruments for a single unitary authority were made on 22 May 2019 and a shadow authority of 202 members was subsequently formed.
The council is based at The Gateway in Aylesbury, the site of the old district council. The new authority came into being on 1 April 2020.
Composition
At the first meeting of the shadow authority, Richard Scott was elected chair of the authority and Martin Tett as chair of the seventeen member shadow executive committee.
Due to the postponement of the
2020 United Kingdom local elections until 2021, it was announced on 18 March 2020 that all of the current shadow authority members would become councillors and the shadow executive members would form the cabinet.
They would stay in post until the
inaugural election took place in May 2021.
When founded, the council had 200 councillors, made up of members from the former County Council and District Councils, although only 199 were listed on the council website. Since the result of boundary changes, from the
2021 Buckinghamshire Council election
The 2021 Buckinghamshire Council election took place on 6 May 2021, alongside 2021 United Kingdom local elections, nationwide local elections. The election was originally due to take place in May 2020, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pand ...
, there are now 147 seats, all of which were contested.
Logo
The logo of Buckinghamshire Council consists of a blue circle with a white swan flying above the hills, with a row of three trees. The words 'Buckinghamshire Council' and 'est.2020' are written above and below respectively.
See also
*
2019–21 structural changes to local government in England
References
External links
*
{{Unitary authorities of England
Unitary authority councils of England
Local education authorities in England
Local authorities in Buckinghamshire
Major precepting authorities in England
Leader and cabinet executives