The Council of the Isles of Scilly is a sui generis local government authority covering the Isles of Scilly off the west coast of Cornwall, England. It is currently made up of 16 seats, with all councillors being independents. The council was created in 1891 as the Isles of Scilly Rural District Council and was renamed in 1974.
The Local Government Act 1888 allowed the Local Government Board to establish in the Isles of Scilly "councils and other local authorities separate from those of the county of Cornwall"... "for the application to the islands of any act touching local government." Accordingly, in 1891, the Isles of Scilly Rural District Council (the RDC) was formed as a sui generis local government authority, outside the administrative county of Cornwall.[5]Cornwall County Council provided some services to the Isles, for which the RDC made financial contributions. The Isles of Scilly Order 1930 granted the council the "powers, duties and liabilities" of a county council.[6] Section 265 of the Local Government Act 1972 allowed for the continued existence of the RDC, but renamed as the Council of the Isles of Scilly.[7][8]
This unusual status also means that much administrative law (for example relating to the functions of local authorities, the health service and other public bodies) that applies in the rest of England applies in modified form in the islands.[9]
The Isles of Scilly do not form part of the non-metropolitan county of Cornwall; the Council of the Isles of Scilly is therefore administratively separate from Cornwall Council. However, for the purposes of lieutenancy the islands are classed as part of the ceremonial county of Cornwall. With a total population of just over 2,000, the council represents fewer inhabitants than many English parish councils, and is by far the smallest English unitary council.
Some aspects of local government are shared with Cornwall, including health, and the Council of the Isles of Scilly together with Cornwall Council form a local enterprise partnership. In July 2015 a devolution deal was announced by the government under which Cornwall Council and the Council of the Isles of Scilly are to create a plan to bring health and social care services together under local control. The Local Enterprise Partnership is also to be bolstered.[12]
As of 2015[update], 130 people are employed full-time by the council[13] to provide local services (including water supply and air traffic control). These numbers are significant, in that almost ten per cent of the adult population of the islands is directly linked to the council, as an employee or a councillor.[14]
Political control
The main national political parties do not routinely field candidates for elections to the Council of the Isles of Scilly. Since the 2009 elections, all but two of the candidates have been independents. Two Green Party candidates stood in 2013, but neither was elected. The elected council has therefore entirely comprised independent councillors since at least 2009.[15]
Political leadership is provided by the chairman of the council, unlike in other English local authorities where the chairman is now a largely ceremonial role. The chairmen since the formation of the council in 1891 have been:[16][17][18]
Town Hall, The Parade, Hugh Town, St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, TR210LW: Council's offices
The council has its offices at Town Hall on The Parade in Hugh Town on St Mary's, the largest island. The town hall was built in 1887–1889.[19] Council meetings are held a short distance away at the council chamber, which is the Old Wesleyan Chapel on Garrison Lane, which was built in 1828.[20][21]
The council consists of 16 elected councillors – 12 of which are returned by the ward of St Mary's, and one from each of four "off-island" wards (St Martin's, St Agnes, Bryher, and Tresco). The latest elections took place on 6 May 2021; independents won all seats, with the off-island wards all seeing uncontested elections.[22] The number of councillors elected in each ward was reduced by one for the 2017 local elections, with the islands previously being represented by 21 councillors representing unchanged ward boundaries.[23]
Whilst each of the inhabited isles is formally a civil parish, none of them possess a council or meeting in their own right.
The administrative geography of the United Kingdom is complex, multi-layered and non-uniform. The United Kingdom, a sovereign state to the northwest of continental Europe, consists of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. For local government in the United Kingdom, England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales each have their own system of administrative and geographic demarcation. Consequently, there is "no common stratum of administrative unit encompassing the United Kingdom".
The subdivisions of England constitute a hierarchy of administrative divisions and non-administrative ceremonial areas.
St Mary's is the largest and most populous island of the Isles of Scilly, an archipelago off the southwest coast of Cornwall in England, United Kingdom.
The counties of England are divisions of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are two main legal definitions of the counties in modern usage: the 84 counties for the purposes of local government, and the 48 counties for the purposes of lieutenancy, also termed the ceremonial counties.
Torridge is a local government district in north-west Devon, England. Its council is based in the town of Bideford. The district also includes the towns of Great Torrington, Holsworthy and Northam, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. The island of Lundy forms part of the district. The district is named after the River Torridge.
The Duchy of Cornwall is one of two royal duchies in England, the other being the Duchy of Lancaster. The eldest son of the reigning British monarch obtains possession of the duchy and the title of Duke of Cornwall at birth or when his parent succeeds to the throne, but may not sell assets for personal benefit and has limited rights and income while a minor.
Local government in England broadly consists of three layers: civil parishes, local authorities, and regional authorities. Every part of England is governed by at least one local authority, but parish councils and regional authorities do not exist everywhere. In addition, there are 31 police and crime commissioners, four police, fire and crime commissioners, and ten national park authorities with local government responsibilities. Local government is not standardised across the country, with the last comprehensive reform taking place in 1974.
The Local Government Act 1972 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Government of 1970–74.
St Ives is a parliamentary constituency covering the western end of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The constituency has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Derek Thomas, a Conservative MP.
Cornwall Council, known between 1889 and 2009 as Cornwall County Council, is the local authority which governs the non-metropolitan county of Cornwall in South West England. Since 2009 it has been a unitary authority, having taken over district-level functions when the county's districts were abolished. The non-metropolitan county of Cornwall is slightly smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes the Isles of Scilly. The council has had a Conservative Party majority since the 2021 local elections. Its headquarters is Lys Kernow in Truro.
The Local Government Act 1888 was an Act of Parliament which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales. It came into effect on 1 April 1889, except for the County of London, which came into existence on 21 March at the request of the London County Council.
The wards and electoral divisions in the United Kingdom are electoral districts at sub-national level, represented by one or more councillors. The ward is the primary unit of English electoral geography for civil parishes and borough and district councils, the electoral ward is the unit used by Welsh principal councils, while the electoral division is the unit used by English county councils and some unitary authorities. Each ward/division has an average electorate of about 5,500 people, but ward population counts can vary substantially. As of 2021 there are 8,694 electoral wards/divisions in the UK. An average area of wards in the United Kingdom is 27 km2.
The unitary authorities of England are a type of local authority responsible for all local government services in an area. They combine the functions of a non-metropolitan county council and a non-metropolitan district council, which elsewhere in England provide two tiers of local government.
The Isles of Scilly is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. One of the islands, St Agnes, is over four miles further south than the most southerly point of the British mainland at Lizard Point.
Elections to the Council of the Isles of Scilly, a sui generis unitary authority in the far southwest of England, were held on 4 June 2009.
This article documents the strengths of political parties in the 317 local authorities of England, 32 local authorities of Scotland, 22 principal councils of Wales and 11 local councils of Northern Ireland.
The Cornwall National Landscape covers 958 square kilometres (370 sq mi) in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom; that is, about 27% of the total area of the county. It comprises 12 separate areas, designated under the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 for special landscape protection. Of the areas, eleven cover stretches of coastline; the twelfth is Bodmin Moor. The areas are together treated as a single Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB): all AONBs have been rebranded as National Landscapes since November 2023. Section 85 of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 places a duty on all relevant authorities when discharging any function affecting land within an AONB to have regard to the purpose of conserving and enhancing natural beauty. Section 89 places a statutory duty on Local Planning Authorities with an AONB within their administrative area to produce a 5-year management plan.
The 2013 Council of the Isles of Scilly election took place on 2 May 2013 as part of the 2013 local elections in the United Kingdom The council is a sui generis unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Cornwall.
The Council of the Isles of Scilly is a sui generis authority in the ceremonial county of Cornwall, England, UK. It is elected every four years.
The 2017 Council of the Isles of Scilly election took place on 4 May 2017 as part of the 2017 local elections in the United Kingdom. The council is a sui generis unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Cornwall.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
