Editing Unitary authority (section)

===England===
{{main|Unitary authorities of England}}
[[File:Bournemouth, Unitary Authority tree - geograph.org.uk - 1038887.jpg|thumb|[[Bournemouth]]: Unitary Authority tree. The tree on the left, on the concourse of the [[Bournemouth Town Hall]], was planted on 1 April 1997 to mark the occasion of Bournemouth council becoming a unitary authority on that day. This was part of the local government reorganisation of the late 1990s, when certain more urban districts were essentially separated from the relevant county council, with no services for Bournemouth residents now being carried out by [[Dorset County Council]].]]

In [[England]], "unitary authorities" are those local authorities set up in accordance with the Local Government Changes for England Regulations 1994 made under powers conferred by the [[Local Government Act 1992]] to form a single tier of [[local government in the United Kingdom|local government]] in specified areas and which are responsible for almost all local government functions within such areas. While outwardly appearing to be similar, single-tier authorities formed using older legislation are not ''unitary authorities'' thus excluding e.g. the [[Council of the Isles of Scilly]] or any other single-tier authority formed under the older legislation and not since given the status of a unitary authority.

This is distinct from the two-tier system of local government which still exists in most of England, where local government functions are divided between [[county council]]s (the upper tier) and [[non-metropolitan district|district]] or borough councils. Until 1996 two-tier systems existed in [[Scotland]] and [[Wales]], but these have now been replaced by systems based on a single tier of local government with some functions shared between groups of adjacent authorities. A single-tier system has existed in [[Northern Ireland]] since 1973.

For many years the description of the number of tiers in UK local government arrangements has routinely ignored any current or previous bodies at the lowest level of authorities elected by the voters within their area such as [[Civil parish|parish]] (in England and Wales) or community councils; such bodies do not exist or have not existed in all areas.