Roger Mardon fire service history - Local Government & the Fire Service

Fire service historian and author

Roger Mardon

www.romar.org.uk

Tiers of local government from the top level downwards -

Regional assemblies are unelected bodies appointed in anticipation of overwhelming public support for regional government in England, or perhaps in anticipation of Government moves to take us yet further away from the democratic process. Their existence is not directly relevant to the interest of this site, but anyone wishing to find out more might start with the 2002 Government White Paper, "Your Region, Your Choice", outlining its plans for the possible establishment of elected regional assemblies. The public, in the one area where the proposal has been put to the test, voted 78% against the idea.

The London Assembly is effectively a form of regional government for London but this is elected and does have a statutory framework within which to operate.

County councils were first established in England & Wales by the Local Government Act 1888 and comprised a chairman, aldermen and councillors. They came to administer certain ‘main’ services including education, town & country planning, police, fire and highways. Some of these functions were often delegated to the non-county boroughs, urban districts and rural districts within the county. Aldermen were abolished in 1974 and there has been a major redistribution of functions but county councils fulfil the same sort of role today. From 1948 to date county councils have been fire authorities.

A municipal corporation was a county borough or a non-county borough, governed by a council comprising the Mayor (or Lord Mayor in some cities), aldermen and councillors. From 1938 to the creation of the National Fire Service (NFS) in 1941 municipal corporations were fire authorities.

The county boroughs were the equivalent of today's unitary authorities and had the powers of both a county council and a non-county borough council. They were not subject to the jurisdiction of the county within which they were geographically situated. These all-purpose authorities were first created by the Local Government Act 1888 and were abolished in 1974. They were fire authorities in their own right.

The non-county boroughs were originally incorporated by Royal Charter. Their powers and functions included housing, refuse collection, cemeteries, markets, libraries and parks. ‘Main’ services were provided by the county council. From 1938 to the creation of the NFS in 1941 non-county boroughs were fire authorities. Boroughs were effectively abolished in 1974 but some of the then new district councils were granted borough status, which meant little more than that they could have a mayor instead of a chairman to preside over council meetings. Tradition was maintained.

Urban district councils were created by the Local Government Act 1894 and were the old urban sanitary authorities and local boards of health. They comprised a chairman and councillors. They did not have the history and tradition of the non-county boroughs but their powers and functions were almost the same. ‘Main’ services were provided by the county council. From 1938 to the creation of the NFS in 1941 urban districts were fire authorities. UDCs were abolished in 1974.

Rural district councils were also created by the Local Government Act 1894 and were the old rural sanitary districts. They comprised a chairman and councillors. Their principal powers and functions included housing, water supply, sewerage and refuse collection. ‘Main’ services were provided by the county council. From 1938 to the creation of the NFS in 1941 rural districts were fire authorities. RDCs were abolished in 1974.

Parish councils have powers relating to the provision of local amenities, such as village halls, playing fields and street lighting. Some parishes have adopted the status of a town, where the chairman of the council is known as the town mayor, but this does not confer any additional powers. Until 1938 parish councils were empowered to maintain fire brigades.

The Fire Brigades Act 1938 introduced the first compulsory provision of fire brigades by local authorities and the municipal corporations and county district councils, as above, were made fire authorities. For part of the Second World War and a few years afterwards the fire service was nationalised, from 18 August 1941 until 1948. The Fire Services Act 1947 returned the fire brigades to local authority control with effect from 1 April 1948 in England and Wales and from 16 May 1948 in Scotland. The new fire authorities were the 63 county councils (including London and the Isles of Scilly) and the 83 county borough councils in England and Wales, joint schemes reducing the number of brigades to 135. In Scotland 11 new brigades were created. Under separate legislation Northern Ireland had four fire authorities from 1 January 1948 but in 1950, apart from Belfast which reverted to a municipal brigade, the province became protected by the Northern Ireland Fire Authority. On 1 October 1973 Belfast Fire Brigade and the Northern Ireland Fire Brigade amalgamated.

A major reorganisation took place under the Local Government Act 1972, and in 1974 England ended up with 39 non-metropolitan county councils and six metropolitan county councils. Wales had eight non-metropolitan county councils. Within each metropolitan county there were metropolitan districts and within each other county there were (non-metropolitan) districts.

The Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 abolished the counties, cities and burghs, and districts of Scotland with effect from 1975. In their place were set up nine regional councils, with responsibility for the fire service, among other things, and 53 district councils.

The metropolitan counties (Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, Tyne & Wear, West Midlands and West Yorkshire) were responsible, among other things, for strategic planning, traffic and transportation, passenger transport authority, highways, police, fire and refuse disposal. Along with the Greater London Council, the metropolitan counties were abolished in 1986 because they represented a challenge to the government of the day.

The metropolitan districts were responsible for municipal airports, education, libraries, planning, social services, housing and refuse collection, among other things. They became autonomous upon abolition of the metropolitan counties in 1986 and the fire service in the metropolitan areas became run by joint authorities with members drawn from the constituent districts.

The non-metropolitan counties were responsible for many of the functions of their metropolitan counterparts and also education and social services, but not passenger transport undertakings.

The non-metropolitan districts were responsible for many of the functions of their metropolitan counterparts but not education and social services. They were responsible for public transport undertakings.

Another upheaval took place following the Local Government Act 1992. Some of the new counties, like Avon, created in 1974 were abolished and some of the old county names, like Rutland, reappeared. The new Rutland is a unitary authority and not a county but don't let that confuse you!

Unitary authorities were created between 1996 and 1998 in some areas of England to act independently of the counties. All Welsh counties were abolished in 1996 and 22 unitary authorities were created in their place, some reintroducing the title of county borough. These changes led to the compulsory establishment of a number of joint fire authorities between counties and unitary councils, creating 47 fire brigades in England (including the Isles of Scilly) and three in Wales. Since the merger of Devon and Somerset fire & rescue services on 1 April 2007 there are now 46 fire brigades in England.

With effect from 1 April 2009, new whole county unitary authorities were created in Cornwall, County Durham (Darlington was already a unitary authority), Northumberland, Shropshire (Telford & Wrekin was already a unitary authority) and Wiltshire (Swindon was already a unitary authority). In Bedfordshire, where Luton was already a unitary authority, Bedford borough and Central Bedfordshire came into existence as two new unitary authorities. Cheshire, where Halton and Warrington were already unitary authorities, was divided into the unitary authorities of Cheshire East & Cheshire West and Chester. The constitution of the fire authorities changed in these areas but the territory of the brigades remained generally unchanged. Following the change of Government after the May 2010 general election, plans for new unitary authorities affecting Devon, Norfolk and Suffolk were scrapped.

The Scottish regional and district councils were swept aside by the Local Government Act 1992 and Scotland now has 32 unitary councils. The fire service is one of the devolved responsibilities of the Scottish Parliament and there are eight brigades in Scotland. The whole of Northern Ireland is served by the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service.

If you are remotely interested in London government, see London Government & the London Fire Brigade

The structure and financing of local government has long been something for politicians of all persuasions to fiddle with whether it needs it or not. This is doubtless because, whatever the structure and financing arrangements, all created by politicians in the first place, the public are never happy with having to pay for the services they routinely expect to be immediately available. Local government thus becomes a political expedient and an easy target for ill-conceived and indecently rushed change which will never be able to satisfy a public need to have only the best at minimal cost. Particular and identified problems can, and should, be addressed but there is no need to wreck everything that is decent in the process.