 | This article needs to be updated.(August 2023) |
| Districts of Somerset Areas shown in yellow are the unitary authorities and those in pink are districts administered by Somerset County Council |
|---|
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| 1 South Somerset |
| 2 Somerset West and Taunton |
| 3 Sedgemoor |
| 4 Mendip |
| 5 Bath and North East Somerset (unitary) |
| 6 North Somerset (unitary) |
The ceremonial county of Somerset, England is divided into 417 areas known as civil parishes, which are lowest unit of local government in England. Parishes arose from Church of England divisions, and were given their current powers and responsibilities by the Local Government Act 1894. [1] The Local Government Act 1972 retained civil parishes in rural areas. Many former urban districts and municipal boroughs were replaced by new successor parishes; urban areas that were considered too large to be single parishes became unparished areas. [2]
Contents
- History
- Current position
- Bath and North East Somerset
- Mendip
- North Somerset
- Sedgemoor
- South Somerset
- Somerset West and Taunton
- See also
- References
The county of Somerset consists of a non-metropolitan county administered by Somerset County Council, divided into four districts and two unitary authorities. The districts of Somerset are South Somerset, Somerset West and Taunton, Mendip and Sedgemoor. The two administratively independent unitary authorities, which were established on 1 April 1996 following the break-up of the county of Avon, are North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset. These unitary authorities include areas that were part of Somerset before the creation of Avon in 1974. [3]
The city of Bath is the largest centre of population in Bath and North East Somerset. Areas of the city that were formerly within the Bath County Borough are now unparished, but the rest of the authority is divided into 49 parishes. All of North Somerset, the other unitary authority, is covered by its 39 parishes ranging from the village Loxton with a population of 192, [4] to the town of Weston-super-Mare with 76,143 inhabitants. [4]
In 2019 the former districts Taunton Deane and West Somerset (a largely rural area, with a population of 35,712) [5] were merged to form the largest district, Somerset West and Taunton. [6] South Somerset covers an area of 958 square kilometres (370 sq mi) from the borders with Devon and Dorset to the edge of the Somerset Levels. [7] It has a population of about 156,100. [7] The largest settlement in the district is Yeovil, with a population of 30,378. [8] Sedgemoor has 54 parishes ranging in population from Greinton with 71 [9] to Bridgwater with 33,698. [9] The Mendip district covers a largely rural area of 738 square kilometres (285 sq mi), [10] ranging from the Mendip Hills through on to the Somerset Levels. It has a population of about 108,300, [10] living in 62 parishes, the largest of which, Frome has 24,510 residents; [11] the smallest, Sharpham has a population of 71. [11]
