Borough of Halton

Halton is a local government district in the ceremonial county of Cheshire in North West England, with borough status and administered by a unitary authority. It was created in 1974 as a district of the non-metropolitan county of Cheshire, and became a unitary authority area on 1 April 1998. Since 2014 it has been a member of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. The borough consists of the towns of Runcorn and Widnes and the civil parishes of Hale, Daresbury, Moore, Preston Brook, Halebank and Sandymoor. The district borders Merseyside, Warrington and Cheshire West and Chester. The borough straddles the River Mersey - the area to the north (including Widnes) is historically part of Lancashire, that to the south (including Runcorn) part of Cheshire.

History

Although Halton town dates back to the 12th century (and beyond) when land on both sides of the river belonged to the Barony of Halton, the origin of the District Council was the outcome of the local government commission's suggested reforms of England, in 1969, the Redcliffe-Maud Report. This proposed to create metropolitan counties constituted of metropolitan district councils in the most urbanised parts of England. The model was that of the London Boroughs and Greater London Council formed in 1965. Southern Lancashire and northern Cheshire were among these urban areas, and two new metropolitan Counties were to be formed around Liverpool (as Merseyside) and Manchester (as Greater Manchester). However, the towns of Widnes and Runcorn (and the County Borough of Warrington) which lay between these were reluctant to join either. The Commission agreed that Halton and Warrington would become districts within Cheshire, as they would be detached from Lancashire by the two new metropolitan counties controlling the territory to the north.

Halton

Halton may refer to:

Places in the United Kingdom

Places in Canada

Other

Halton (electoral district)

Halton was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1988 before being abolished in an electoral district redistribution, and again from 1997 to 2015, when it was again abolished in another electoral district redistribution. When it was last contested in 2011, its population was 203,437, of whom 115,255 were eligible electors.

Electoral district

1867-1966

Halton riding was created by British North America Act in 1867, and defined as Halton County.

1966-1976

In 1966, the riding was redefined to consist of the Towns of Milton and Oakville and the Township of Esquesing in the County of Halton, and the Township of Erin in the County of Wellington.

1976-1987

In 1976, it was redefined to consist of the Towns of Milton and Oakville, and southern the part of the Town of Halton Hills.

The electoral district was abolished in 1987 when it was redistributed between Halton—Peel and Oakville—Milton ridings.

1996-2015

Halton (barony)

The Barony of Halton, in Cheshire, England, comprised a succession of 15 barons who held under the overlordship of the County Palatine of Chester ruled by the Earl of Chester. It was not therefore an English feudal barony which was under full royal jurisdiction, which is the usual sense of the term, but a separate class of barony within a palatinate. After the Norman conquest, William the Conqueror created three earldoms to protect his border with Wales, namely Shrewsbury, Hereford and Chester. Hugh Lupus was appointed Earl of Chester and he appointed his cousin, Nigel of Cotentin, as the first Baron of Halton.Halton was a village in Cheshire which is now part of the town of Runcorn. At its centre is a rocky prominence on which was built Halton Castle, the seat of the Barons of Halton; the castle is now a ruin.

The Barons

In order, with the dates they held the title, the Barons of Halton were as follows.

1 Nigel of Cotentin

He was also the hereditary Constable of Chester. In 1077 he fought against the Welsh at the Battle of Rhuddlan. It is almost certain that he built a motte-and-bailey castle on Halton Hill but nothing remains of it today.

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.