Borough of Fylde

Coordinates: 53°45′47″N 2°56′02″W / 53.763°N 2.934°W / 53.763; -2.934

The Borough of Fylde is a local government district with borough status in Lancashire, England. It covers part of the Fylde plain, after which it is named. The council's headquarters are in St Annes. Some council departments, including Planning and an office of the Registrar, were previously located in Wesham, but in 2007 these offices were transferred to the ownership of the NHS North Lancashire Primary Care Trust and have since been replaced by a new housing development. The population of the Non-metropolitan district at the 2011 census was 75,757.

Fylde borough was formed under the Local Government Act 1972, on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the borough of Lytham St Annes, Kirkham Urban District, and Fylde Rural District. It borders the unitary Authority of Blackpool, along with the Preston, South Ribble, West Lancashire and Wyre districts.

The armorial arms of the borough bear the motto of the former Fylde RDC "Gaudeat Ager" from Psalm 96: ‘Let the field (Fylde) be joyful' - "Let Fylde Prosper". The armorial bearings comprise a complete Achievement of Arms, that is - shield, crest and helm and mantling, supporters, badge and motto. They reflect the union of the three local authorities in the area: Lytham St Annes Borough Council, Kirkham Urban District Council and Fylde Rural District Council.

Fylde

Fylde could refer to

Fylde (UK Parliament constituency)

Fylde is a Lancashire constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Mark Menzies, a Conservative.

History

The Fylde constituency was originally formed for the 1918 general election, but was abolished for the 1950 general election, when it was split into Fylde North and Fylde South. For the 1983 General Election those two constituencies were merged to form a new Fylde constituency.

The seat was reduced in the boundary review leading to the United Kingdom general election, 2010, losing most of its elements from the Borough of Wyre and the City of Preston to the new seat of Wyre and Preston North.

Constituent areas

1918-1950: The Urban Districts of Fleetwood, Kirkham, Longridge, Poulton-le-Fylde, Thornton, and Walton-le-Dale, the Rural District of Preston, and part of the Rural District of Fylde.

1983-1997: The Borough of Fylde, and the Borough of Preston ward of Preston Rural West.

1997-2010: The Borough of Fylde, the Borough of Preston wards of Ingol and Preston Rural West, and the Borough of Wyre ward of Great Eccleston.

Borough

A borough is an administrative division in various countries. In principle, the term borough designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.

The word borough derives from common Germanic *Burg, meaning fort: compare with bury, burgh and brough (England), burgh (Scotland), Burg (Germany), borg (Scandinavia), burcht (Dutch), boarch (West Frisian), and the Germanic borrowing present in neighbouring Indo-european languages such as borgo (Italian), bourg (French), burgo (Spanish and Portuguese), burg (Romanian), purg (Kajkavian) and durg (दर्ग) (Hindi) and arg (ارگ) (Persian). The incidence of these words as suffixes to place names (for example, Aldeburgh, Bamburgh, Tilbury, Tilburg, Strasbourg (Strossburi in the local dialect), Luxembourg, Edinburgh, Grundisburgh, Hamburg, Gothenburg) usually indicates that they were once fortified settlements.

In the Middle Ages, boroughs were settlements in England that were granted some self-government; burghs were the Scottish equivalent. In medieval England, boroughs were also entitled to elect members of parliament. The use of the word borough probably derives from the burghal system of Alfred the Great. Alfred set up a system of defensive strong points (Burhs); in order to maintain these settlements, he granted them a degree of autonomy. After the Norman Conquest, when certain towns were granted self-governance, the concept of the burh/borough seems to have been reused to mean a self-governing settlement.

Borough (Connecticut)

In the US state of Connecticut, a borough is an incorporated section of a town. Borough governments are not autonomous and are subordinate to the government of the town to which they belong. A borough is a clearly defined municipality and provides some municipal services, such as police and fire services, garbage collection, street lighting and maintenance, management of cemeteries, and building code enforcement. Other municipal services not provided by the borough are provided by the parent town. Connecticut boroughs are administratively similar to villages in New York.

Borough government

Borough elections are held biennially in odd years on the first Monday in May.

Historical background

Bridgeport (now a city) was the state's first borough, formed in 1800 or 1801 as a subdivision of the town of Stratford. Numerous additional boroughs were established thereafter, mostly during the 19th century, to serve a variety of local governmental purposes. There were 18 boroughs in the state as of 1850 and a total of 26 as of 1910. Most Connecticut boroughs have subsequently disincorporated or have become cities.

Administrative divisions of Virginia

The administrative divisions of Virginia are the areas into which the Commonwealth of Virginia, a U.S. state, is divided for political and administrative purposes. Some are local governments; others are not. However, all local governments (counties, independent cities, and incorporated towns) are political subdivisions of the state.

According to the 2002 Census of Governments, Virginia ranked 43rd among the 50 states in the number of local governments, with 521 as of June 2002.

Counties

Virginia has 95 counties, covering all of the territory not within the independent cities. Under Virginia law, counties are an arm of the state itself, and exist at the will of the state government. Their populations vary widely; 2010 census population counts ranged from 2,321 for Highland County to 1,081,726 for Fairfax County.

Since Virginia has no civil townships, and since incorporated towns cover such a small area of the state, the county is the de facto municipal government for much of the state, from rural areas to densely populated unincorporated communities such as Tysons Corner. In fact, Arlington County, while entirely urbanized, has no towns at all; the county is the only general-purpose local government and is thus similar to a unitary authority.