Chiltern District was one of four

local government districts The districts of England (also known as local authority districts or local government districts to distinguish from unofficial city districts) are a level of subnational division of England used for the purposes of local government. As the st ...

of Buckinghamshire in south central

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 ...

from 1974 to 2020. It was named after the Chiltern Hills on which the region sits. The main

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

s in the district were Amersham and

Chesham Chesham (, , or ) is a market town and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England, south-east of the county town of Aylesbury, north-west of central London, and part of the London commuter belt. It is in the Chess Valley, surrounded by farmla ...

which are both served by

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The ...

's Metropolitan line.

History

It was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the Chesham Urban District and surrounding Amersham Rural District. In 1988 it was the first Council to take up stock transfer. 4,650 homes were transferred. The district was abolished on 31 March 2020 and its area is now part of the unitary

Buckinghamshire Council Buckinghamshire Council is a unitary local authority in England, 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 Cou ...

Parishes

The

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

es that made up Chiltern District were: * Amersham *

Ashley Green Ashley Green is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England. The parish is on the boundary with Hertfordshire, midway between Chesham and Berkhamsted. Originally a hamlet within Chesham parish, its toponym is derived from the Old Eng ...

Chalfont St Giles Chalfont St Giles is a village and civil parish in southeast Buckinghamshire, England. It is in a group of villages called The Chalfonts, which also includes Chalfont St Peter and Little Chalfont. It lies on the edge of the Chiltern Hills, we ...

* Chalfont St Peter *

Chartridge Chartridge is a village in Buckinghamshire, England situated 2 miles North West of Chesham. Chartridge is also the name of a civil parish in Chiltern District which also includes the village of Bellingdon and the hamlets of Pednor, Hundridge an ...

Chenies Chenies is a village and civil parish in south-east Buckinghamshire, England. It is on the border with Hertfordshire, east of Amersham and north of Chorleywood. History Until the 13th century, the village name was Isenhampstead. There were two ...

Chesham Bois Chesham Bois (traditionally , but now more commonly ) is a village in the Chiltern Hills, in Buckinghamshire, England, adjacent to both Amersham and Chesham. History Initially a hamlet in the parish of Chesham, the manor was assessed at 1½ hi ...

* Cholesbury-cum-St Leonards * Coleshill *

Great Missenden Great Missenden is an affluent village with approximately 2,000 residents in the Misbourne Valley in the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, England, situated between the towns of Amersham and Wendover, with direct rail connections to London Mar ...

* Latimer *

Little Chalfont Little Chalfont is a village and civil parish in south-east Buckinghamshire, England. It is one of a group of villages known collectively as The Chalfonts, which also comprises Chalfont St Giles and Chalfont St Peter. Little Chalfont is located ...

Little Missenden Little Missenden is a village and civil parish on the River Misbourne in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the Chiltern Hills, about southeast of Great Missenden and west of Amersham. The village lies on the River Misbourne in the Misbourne v ...

* Penn *

Seer Green Seer Green is a village and civil parish in Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the Chiltern Hills, east-north-east of Beaconsfield and south-west of Chalfont St Giles. History The toponym "Seer" is derived from the Norman French for "dry o ...

The Lee The Lee (formally known as just Lee) is a village in Buckinghamshire, England. It is located in the Chiltern Hills, about 2 mi north east of Great Missenden and 3 mi south east of Wendover. The Lee is also the name of a civil parish ...

Premises

Chiltern District Council was initially based at the former Amersham Rural District Council offices at Elmodesham House, 42 High Street, Amersham, with the former Chesham Urban District Council's offices at 8082 The Broadway, High Street, Chesham serving as additional office space. In 1986 the council consolidated its offices into a purpose-built headquarters on King George V Road in Amersham, remaining there until its abolition in 2020.

Transport

Along with the

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 ...

district, Chiltern contains no motorways except for a very small section of the M25 in the south-eastern corner. The major roads through the district are the

A413 The A413 is a major road in England that runs between Gerrards Cross (west of London) to Towcester (northwest of Milton Keynes). It passes through or near various towns and villages including (in northbound order) Amersham, Great Missenden, ...

and the A404, the two meeting in Amersham. Railway services are provided by Chiltern Railways and

's Metropolitan line. The Great Central Main Line carried traffic between London and Manchester until 1966, the section to Aylesbury is all that remains, and is now part of the

London to Aylesbury Line London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major se ...

. The railway stations in the district are;

, Amersham, Chalfont and Latimer and

, the furthest tube station from London.

Law and order

Chiltern District fell within the Thames Valley Police area, with police stations in Amersham and Chesham. Neighbourhood policing priorities were set on a quarterly cycle, at a public meeting. This was done in conjunction with Chiltern District Council's Community Safety Team an
Chiltern Community Forum
and in line with the obligation to consult laid down by the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011. In advance of the meeting, residents were invited to make their views and priorities known through a very short survey. Results from the survey were aggregated and presented at the meeting, and votes taken on the coming quarter's priorities. The Magistrates' Court in Amersham was closed with its jurisdiction reassigned but reopened as a Crown Court dealing with either-way and more serious alleged offences.

Home ownership and quality of rural life

The district had the highest proportion of

home ownership Owner-occupancy or home-ownership is a form of housing tenure in which a person, called the owner-occupier, owner-occupant, or home owner, owns the home in which they live. The home can be a house, such as a single-family house, an apartment, c ...

of the 18 local authorities in Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire: combining the social (housing association and local authority provided) and private rented sectors, Stevenage's returns recorded in 2011 that its rented sector comprised 33.2% of its housing, whereas 10.0% of Chiltern's residents rented their homes. In May 2008, the district was assessed by

Bank of Scotland The Bank of Scotland plc (Scottish Gaelic: ''Banca na h-Alba'') is a commercial and clearing bank based in Scotland and is part of the Lloyds Banking Group, following the Bank of Scotland's implosion in 2008. The bank was established by th ...

, Halifax division as having the best rural quality of life anywhere in Britain.

Energy consumption

In May 2006, a report commissioned by

British Gas British Gas (trading as Scottish Gas in Scotland) is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Servi ...

British Gas news
showed that housing in Chiltern produced the 4th highest average carbon emissions in the country at 7,421 kg of

carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is trans ...

per dwelling.

References

External links

List of organisations within the district
{{Coord, 51.6606, N, 0.6409, W, source:dewiki_region:GB-BKM_type:landmark, format=dms, display=title Former non-metropolitan districts Non-metropolitan districts of Buckinghamshire Districts of England established in 1974 2020 disestablishments in England