| Isle of Man |
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Local government (Manx: gurneilys ynnydagh) in the Isle of Man was formerly based on 6 sheadings, which were divided into 17 parishes (today referred to as "ancient parishes"). The Island is today divided into town districts, village districts and parish districts for local government purposes as follows:
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The Isle of Man is divided into six sheadings, Ayre, Glenfaba, Garff, Michael, Rushen and Middle, which are now only significant as:—
(The Coroners are responsible for process-serving and enforcement of judgments, not for holding inquests of death; that function is carried out by the High Bailiff, who is ex officio Coroner of Inquests.)
The origins of the term sheading are unclear. There are three main possibilities:
The parishes have ecclesiastical roots, and are thought to have introduced to the island in the 11th century from Scotland, the bishopric having been established in the 10th century. Civil parishes also existed from at least the late 15th century, their boundaries diverging significantly in some cases, where one or more Treens might pay their ecclesiastical tithes to one parish, but their Lord's Rent to another.[1] Parish boundaries broadly followed physical features such as rivers and water-divides, but there were many detailed divergences. For example, a mill and its croft, located on the west bank of a river could be included in the adjoining parish east of the river by a loop in the boundary.
The parishes of each sheading of the Isle of Man are:
An Act of Tynwald of 1777[2] provided for the appointment of a High Bailiff for each of the 4 towns, Castletown, Douglas, "Peeltown" (Peel) and Ramsey, with various judicial and administrative responsibilities..
The Towns Act 1852[3] provided for the first elected local authorities in the Island, enabling a board of Town Commissioners to be elected for each of the 4 towns, with responsibility for street-cleaning, lighting and sewerage. However, the Act was not adopted by any of the towns,[4] and special Acts were passed establishing Commissioners for each town: Douglas 1860,[5] Ramsey 1865,[6] Castletown 1883[7] and Peel 1884.[8] The boundaries of the town districts have been extended over time to incorporate new developments.
In 1896, Douglas was incorporated as a municipal borough by the Douglas Municipal Corporation Act 1895,[9] which replaced the Town Commissioners with a municipal corporation named "The Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of the Borough of Douglas", acting through a borough council, consisting of a mayor, aldermen and councillors. In 1989[10] the office of alderman was abolished, leaving the council composed of the mayor and councillors. The 18 councillors are elected from 6 wards, each for a 4-year term expiring on 1 May 2012, 2016, and so on. The mayor is elected annually by the councillors, usually (but not necessarily) from their own number. Although there are no longer any aldermen, the corporation's legal title is unchanged. As its name implies, it is a body corporate, but the borough council is not.
The Public Health Act 1884 [11] permitted the creation of elected sanitary authorities for sanitary districts. Port Erin was the only sanitary district so defined.
The Local Government Act 1886[12] provided for elected boards of Village Commissioners and the creation, by resolution of Tynwald, of new village districts. The existing sanitary authority of Port Erin became Commissioners, and Port St Mary was created a village district in 1890, Laxey and Onchan in 1895, and Michael in 1905.
In 1986 the existing village district and parish district of Onchan were merged to form a “local government district of Onchan” under a single body of Commissioners (but with a separate consultative “rural committee” representing the former parish district).[13] In 1989 similar provision (but without a rural committee) was made for the village district and parish district of Michael.[14] The new districts are village districts.
The Local Government Amendment Act 1894[15] created boards of Parish Commissioners for 17 parish districts, each of which comprised so much of the corresponding ancient parish as was not comprised in a town or village district. As noted above, Onchan and Michael parish districts have been amalgamated with the corresponding village districts.
In 1938 the Local Government Board was empowered[16] to create a board (commonly referred to as a combination authority) consisting of members of 2 or more local authorities to exercise specified functions of those authorities. Such an authority, now called a joint board,[17] is a body corporate, and its members are appointed from the members of the constituent local authorities (and in some cases representatives of the Department of Local Government and the Environment). Joint boards are created for a specified purpose, and existing boards deal with refuse collection, sheltered accommodation, civic amenity sites, and swimming pools. (Local authorities also have power[18] to set up joint committees, which are similar to joint boards but are not bodies corporate.)
A Local Government Board was established in 1894 with responsibility for supervising the new local authorities.[19] It was reconstituted in 1922, 1946 (when it was renamed "Isle of Man Local Government Board"), 1952 and 1957.[20]
In 1987 the Board was dissolved and its functions transferred to a new Department of Local Government and the Environment, headed by a Minister for Local Government and the Environment.[21]
The structure of local government in the Isle of Man has been recognised as unsatisfactory since before the Second World War, but no consensus on how it should be reformed has been achieved. Proposals for reform were made by the Local Government Board and various committees in 1934, 1949, 1963 and 1967.[22]
A Select Committee of Tynwald in 1985 recommended a thorough review,[23] and an interim report of a further Select Committee in 1986[24] led to a consultation document Time for Change containing proposals by the Department of Local Government and the Environment, issued in December 1991. Two interim reports[25] were succeeded in 1994 by a final report by the Department making recommendations for reorganisation, itself incorporated in a report by the Council of Ministers,[26] which however failed to endorse those recommendations.
No progress was made by 1999, when the Council of Ministers admitted that it had been unable to agree on proposals, and Tynwald set up a further Select Committee which reported in 2001 with a scheme to reduce the local authorities to 4.[27] However, it merely "received" the report, declining to approve its recommendations.[28]
The next set of proposals, also for 4 local authorities, were made by the Department of Local Government and the Environment in 2004,[29] but were shelved because of opposition from the existing authorities.[30] An alternative plan, which would have preserved the existing authorities but transferred their waste collection and housing functions to joint boards, was produced shortly afterwards but also abandoned. The Department revived its previous proposals in 2005,[31] but shelved them again for lack of support.[32]
After 30 years, the only step taken towards any reorganisation of local government, apart from the mergers in Onchan and Michael (above), has been to confer on the Department power by order to merge 2 or more local authorities with their consent.[33] The power has not been exercised.
| Map № | Local Authority | Type | Sheading | Keys Constituency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Andreas | parish | Ayre | Ayre |
| 2 | Arbory | parish | Rushen | Rushen |
| 3 | Ballaugh | parish | Michael | Michael |
| 4 | Braddan | parish | Middle | Middle |
| 5 | Bride | parish | Ayre | Ayre |
| 6 | Castletown | town | Rushen | Castletown |
| 7 | Douglas | town | Middle | Douglas East, Douglas West, Douglas North and Douglas South |
| 8 | German | parish | Glenfaba | Glenfaba |
| 9 | Jurby | parish | Michael | Michael |
| 10 | Laxey | village | Garff | Garff |
| 11 | Lezayre | parish | Ayre | Ayre |
| 12 | Lonan | parish | Garff | Garff |
| 13 | Malew | parish | Rushen | Malew and Santon |
| 14 | Marown | parish | Middle | Middle |
| 15 | Maughold | parish | Garff | Garff |
| 16 | Michael | district | Michael | Michael |
| 17 | Onchan | district | Middle | Onchan |
| 18 | Patrick | parish | Glenfaba | Glenfaba |
| 19 | Peel | town | Glenfaba | Peel |
| 20 | Port Erin | village | Rushen | Rushen |
| 21 | Port St Mary | village | Rushen | Rushen |
| 22 | Ramsey | town | Garff | Ramsey |
| 23 | Rushen | parish | Rushen | Rushen |
| 24 | Santon | parish | Middle | Malew and Santon |
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