Buckinghamshire County Council was the upper-tier

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-l ...

for the administrative county and later the

non-metropolitan county A non-metropolitan county, or colloquially, shire county, is a county-level entity in England that is not a metropolitan county. The counties typically have populations of 300,000 to 1.8 million. The term ''shire county'' is, however, an unoffi ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-e ...

, 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 ...

, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

established in 1889 following the

Local Government Act 1888 Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

. The county council's offices were in

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...

. The county council borders changed several times, most notably in 1974 when the council lost the territory of Colnbrook, Datchet, Eton, Horton, Slough and Wraysbury to

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Ber ...

. In 1997 it lost the Borough of Milton Keynes, which became a

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

remaining within the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire. The council consisted of 49 councillors. It had been controlled by the Conservatives since the reorganisation of local government in 1974. For the 2013 elections, the number of seats was reduced from 57 to 49 following the 2012 changes in division boundaries. In March 2018

Sajid Javid Sajid Javid (; born 5 December 1969) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from June 2021 to July 2022, having previously served as Home Secretary from 2018 to 2019 and Chancellor of the Exchequer ...

, the Communities Secretary at the time, backed proposals to replace the county council and the four district councils (Aylesbury Vale, Chiltern, South Bucks, and Wycombe) with a single

, named Buckinghamshire Council. As of January 2019, Chiltern, South Bucks and Wycombe district councils had launched legal action against the "undemocratic" plans for how the unitary authority was to be set-up. Nevertheless, the Buckinghamshire Structural Changes Order 2019 was enacted, which as of 1 April 2020 abolished the County Council and the four district councils and created a single district council as a unitary authority, called ' Buckinghamshire Council'.

History

On 12 March 2020, the last meeting of the County Council took place, during which the council celebrated 131 years of service. County architect Fred Pooley designed the council's headquarters building, New County Hall, a 12-storey tower block at

built in 1966 which became known as "Fred's Fort"''The Guardian'' dated 24 March 1998, p. 14 and less flatteringly as "Pooley's Folly".

Notable members

* Frederick Verney (1846–1913), member from 1889 to 1907 * Tonman Mosley, 1st Baron Anslow (1850–1933), Chairman from 1904 to 1921 * Sir William Carlile, 1st Baronet (1862–1950) * William Joseph Ashby (1885–1953) * Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, 6th Baronet (1887–1969) * Sir Aubrey Ernest Ward (1899–1987), Chairman from 1963 to 1974 *

Edward Curzon, 6th Earl Howe Edward Richard Assheton Penn Curzon, 6th Earl Howe, (7 August 1908 – 29 May 1984), styled Viscount Curzon from 1929 to 1964, was a British peer. Early life and background Curzon was born in St George Hanover Square, London, Middlesex, the ...

(1908–1984), Vice-Chairman 1974 to 1978 * John Darling Young (1910–1988) * Sir Ralph Verney, 5th Baronet (1915–2001) * Guthrie Moir (1917–1993), member from 1949 to 1975 * Brian White (1957–2016), later member of parliament for

Milton Keynes Milton Keynes ( ) is a city and the largest settlement in Buckinghamshire, England, about north-west of London. At the 2021 Census, the population of its urban area was over . The River Great Ouse forms its northern boundary; a tributary ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Local government in Buckinghamshire Former county councils of England 1889 establishments in England 2020 disestablishments in England Local authorities in Buckinghamshire Major precepting authorities in England Leader and cabinet executives