Public Affairs Test: County/District Councils

County and District Councils

One of the biggest differences between county and district councils is their area of influence. While district councils are only concerned with a certain smaller area, the aptly named county council is responsible for an entire county. There can be overlap between the two councils however, which can lead to disputes and tensions; particularly where land or shared responsibilities are involved.




Despite this, both the district and county councils are part of the same two-tier system of administration. This means that there does need to be some degree of co-operation between the two. However, in some larger cities there will be a single-tier system of administration, called a Unitary Authority - this means that the council there assumes the same duties and responsibilities as both a district and county council. Southampton City Council is an example of such an authority.

The district council is smaller and has a smaller budget than the county council; this reflects the size of the area that each respective council is responsible for. Winchester City Council, for example, has a budget of £12.5 million - this sounds high, but is nothing in regards to Hampshire County Council's £1.8 billion budget.

There are varying states of democracy in the county council. While members of the cabinet are elected every four years by the public, there are a vast number of civil servants who not elected by the public. Some of these civil servants act as advisory bodies and are supposed to be completely impartial, offering the same advice in confidence to everyone regardless of their political affiliation and never spreading information about one party to another. The members of the cabinet then vote amongst themselves to elect a council leader. If political attitudes stay stable for the most part though, then the vote for cabinet members can be almost meaningless as it will generally be the same people from the same political parties in charge for a number of years.

The district council is responsible for services such as emptying bins, ensuring that establishments comply with environmental health rules, maintaining car parks, controlling traffic, elements of waste disposal, providing housing benefits and running council housing. A meeting we attended for Hampshire County Council discussed wider-ranging plans that would affect a great number of people, e.g. social care reform and implementing broadband. County Councils are responsible for education, social care (as discussed at the meeting), roads, pavements, emergency services, the other side of waste disposal and libraries.

District councils are smaller and therefore more involved with the community; parish councils have the right to vote on some decisions held by the district council. Cabinet members in the County Council will also vote on each issue as it is raised in the meeting, but the portfolio holder who has the most knowledge of that issue will put forward some of their thoughts on the matter. This can influence the way that the other members vote, but ultimately the choice will still be theirs to make.

'Transparency' in councils has recently been established as a requirement, and because of this they have had to publish potentially sensitive information such as the payroll. As Councillor Kelsie Learney says though, "Transparency is really good thing within councils, and improves the way that [they] work a lot of the time."

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