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 1.4 million. The term shire county is, however, an unofficial usage. Many of the non-metropolitan counties bear historic names and most, such as Wiltshire and Staffordshire, end in the suffix "-shire". Of the remainder, some counties had the "-shire" ending but have lost it over time, such as Devon and Somerset.
Origins
Prior to 1974 local government had been divided between single-tier county boroughs and two-tier administrative counties which were subdivided into municipal boroughs and urban and rural districts. The Local Government Act 1972, which came into effect on 1 April 1974, divided England outside Greater London and the six largest conurbations into thirty-nine non-metropolitan counties. Each county was divided into anywhere between two and fourteen non-metropolitan districts. There was a uniform two-tier system of local government with county councils dealing with "wide-area" services such as education, fire services and the police, and district councils exercising more local powers over areas such as planning, housing and refuse collection.As originally constituted, the non-metropolitan counties were largely based on existing counties, although they did include a number of innovations. Some counties were based on areas surrounding large county boroughs or were formed by the mergers of smaller counties. Examples of the first category are Avon and Cleveland. Examples of the second category are Hereford and Worcester and Cumbria. The counties were adopted for all statutory purposes: a lord-lieutenant and high sheriff was appointed to each county, and they were also used for judicial administration, and definition of police force areas. The Royal Mail adopted the counties for postal purposes in most areas.
Changes
1995–1998
A Local Government Commission was appointed in 1992 to review the administrative structure of the non-metropolitan counties. It was anticipated that a system of unitary authorities would entirely replace the two-tier system. The Commission faced competing claims from former county boroughs wishing to regain unitary status and advocates for the restoration of such small counties as Herefordshire and Rutland. The review led to the introduction of unitary local government in some areas but not in others. In the majority of unitary authorities an existing district council took over powers from the county council. The 1972 Act required that all areas outside Greater London form part of a non-metropolitan county, and that all such counties should contain at least one district. Accordingly, the statutory instruments that effected the reorganisation separated the unitary districts from the county in which they were situated and constituted them as counties. The orders also provided that the provisions of the 1972 Act that every county should have a county council should not apply in the new counties, with the district council exercising the powers of the county council.An exception was made in the case of Berkshire, which was retained with its existing boundaries in spite of the abolition of its county council and the creation of six unitary authorities. This was done in order to preserve its status as a royal county.
With the creation of numerous new non-metropolitan counties, the areas used for lieutenancy and shrievalty began to diverge from local government areas. This led to the development of ceremonial counties for these purposes, a fact recognised by the Lieutenancies Act 1997.
2009
A further wave of unitary authorities were created in 2009 under the terms of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007. While a number of new counties were created, several of the new authorities continued to have the boundaries set in 1974.2019–2021
The 2019–2021 structural changes to local government in England have involved, and will involve, changes to the non-metropolitan counties of Dorset and Northamptonshire.List of non-metropolitan counties
The following list shows the original thirty-nine counties formed in 1974, subsequent changes in the 1990s, and further changes since then.| Non-metropolitan county 1974 | Changes 1995–1998 | Changes 2009 | Changes 2019-2020 |
| Avon ‡ | 1996: North West Somerset 2005: renamed North Somerset† | None | None |
| Avon ‡ | 1996: Bath and North East Somerset | None | None |
| Avon ‡ | 1996: South Gloucestershire | None | None |
| Avon ‡ | 1996: City of Bristol | None | None |
| Bedfordshire | 1997: Bedfordshire | Bedford | None |
| Bedfordshire | 1997: Bedfordshire | Central Bedfordshire | None |
| Bedfordshire | 1997: Luton | None | None |
| Berkshire | 1998: The county council was abolished, with each of the six district councils in the county becoming unitary authorities. The Royal County of Berkshire was not abolished. | None | None |
| Buckinghamshire | 1997: Buckinghamshire | None | Buckinghamshire |
| Buckinghamshire | 1997: Milton Keynes | None | None |
| Cambridgeshire | 1998: Cambridgeshire | None | None |
| Cambridgeshire | 1998: Peterborough | None | |
| Cheshire | 1998: Cheshire | Cheshire East | None |
| Cheshire | 1998: Cheshire | Cheshire West and Chester | None |
| Cheshire | 1998: Halton | None | None |
| Cheshire | 1998: Warrington | None | None |
| Cleveland | 1996: Hartlepool | None | None |
| Cleveland | 1996: Middlesbrough | None | None |
| Cleveland | 1996: Redcar and Cleveland | None | None |
| Cleveland | 1996: Stockton-on-Tees | None | None |
| Cornwall | None | Became unitary | None |
| Cumbria | None | None | None |
| Derbyshire | 1997: Derby | None | None |
| Derbyshire | 1997: Derbyshire | None | None |
| Devon | 1998: Devon | None | None |
| Devon | 1998: Torbay | None | None |
| Devon | 1998: Plymouth | None | None |
| Dorset | 1997: Dorset | None | Dorset |
| Dorset | 1997: Bournemouth | None | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole |
| Dorset | 1997: Poole | None | Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole |
| Durham | 1997: Darlington | None | None |
| Durham | 1997: Durham | Became unitary | None |
| East Sussex | 1997: East Sussex | None | None |
| East Sussex | 1997: Brighton and Hove | None | None |
| Essex | 1998: Essex | None | None |
| Essex | 1998: Southend-on-Sea | None | None |
| Essex | 1998: Thurrock | None | None |
| Gloucestershire | None | None | None |
| Hampshire | 1997: Hampshire | None | None |
| Hampshire | 1997: Portsmouth | None | None |
| Hampshire | 1997: Southampton | None | None |
| Hereford and Worcester | 1998: Herefordshire | None | None |
| Hereford and Worcester | 1998: Worcestershire | None | None |
| Hertfordshire | None | None | None |
| Humberside | 1996: East Riding of Yorkshire | None | None |
| Humberside | 1996: City of Kingston upon Hull | None | None |
| Humberside | 1996: North Lincolnshire | None | None |
| Humberside | 1996: North East Lincolnshire | None | None |
| Isle of Wight | 1995: Became unitary | None | None |
| Kent | 1998: Kent | None | None |
| Kent | 1998: The Medway Towns 1998: renamed Medway | None | None |
| Lancashire | 1998: Lancashire | None | None |
| Lancashire | 1998: Blackburn with Darwen | None | None |
| Lancashire | 1998: Blackpool | None | None |
| Leicestershire | 1997: Leicestershire | None | None |
| Leicestershire | 1997: Leicester | None | None |
| Leicestershire | 1997: Rutland | None | None |
| Lincolnshire | None | None | None |
| Norfolk | None | None | None |
| North Yorkshire | 1996: North Yorkshire | None | None |
| North Yorkshire | 1996: York | None | None |
| Northamptonshire | None | None | None |
| Northumberland | None | Became unitary | None |
| Nottinghamshire | 1998: Nottinghamshire | None | None |
| Nottinghamshire | 1998: Nottingham | None | None |
| Oxfordshire | None | None | None |
| Salop 1980: renamed Shropshire | 1998: Shropshire | Became unitary | None |
| Salop 1980: renamed Shropshire | 1998: The Wrekin 1998: Renamed Telford and Wrekin | None | None |
| Somerset | None | None | Reduced to 4 districts through merger |
| Staffordshire | 1997: Staffordshire | None | None |
| Staffordshire | 1997: Stoke-on-Trent | None | None |
| Suffolk | None | None | Reduced to 5 districts through mergers |
| Surrey | None | None | None |
| Warwickshire | None | None | None |
| West Sussex | None | None | None |
| Wiltshire | 1997: Wiltshire | Became unitary | None |
| Wiltshire | 1997: Thamesdown 1997: renamed Swindon | None | None |
† The name of the non-metropolitan district and district council was changed to "North Somerset" by resolution of the council 11 July 1995. However this did not change the name of the county which had the same area. The Local Government Changes for England Regulations 1995 gave district councils in a "county for which there is no county council and in which there is not more than one district" the additional power to change the name of the county. This was, however, not done until 2005.
‡ Avon, as a non-metropolitan county, was abolished in 1996, in accordance with Avon Order 1995.