Many parts of England have 2 tiers of local government:
- county councils (e.g. Worcestershire County Council)
- district, borough or city councils (e.g. Redditch Borough Council)
Worcestershire County Council is a principal tier council, meaning it is slightly ‘higher’ than Redditch Borough Council, which is known as a ‘lower tier’ council.
In some parts of the country, there’s just 1 (unitary) tier of local government providing all the local services. The 3 main types are:
- unitary authorities in shire areas (e.g. Herefordshire Council)
- London boroughs (e.g. London Borough of Camden)
- metropolitan boroughs (e.g. Coventry City Council)
County councils
These are responsible for services across the whole of a county, like:
- education
- transport
- planning
- fire and public safety
- social care
- libraries
- waste management
- trading standards
District, borough and city councils
These cover a smaller area than county councils. They’re usually responsible for services like:
- rubbish collection
- recycling
- Council Tax collections
- housing
- planning applications