Local authorities in the United Kingdom

Local authorities in the United Kingdom are local government bodies responsible for the provision of services such as refuse collection, education, leisure facilities, transport and planning applications. In Scotland, there are 32 local authorities, each responsible for a council area. In Wales, the 22 local authorities each provide these services for their principal area. Local authorities in England are not standardised and consist of four main types; unitary authority councils, London borough councils, metropolitan borough councils, of which all are effectively functionally identical to the Scottish and Welsh local authorities, plus two-tier non-metropolitan county council areas, in which the provision of services is shared between a county council and non-metropolitan district councils. Holistically, the areas covered by the various types of local authorities in Great Britain may be referred to as administrative counties or council areas. Northern Ireland is divided into 11 single-tier local government areas known as Local Government Districts, although the function of these differs substantially to the local authorities of Great Britain.