Area committee

Many large local government councils in the United Kingdom have a system of area committees, with responsibility for services in a particular part of the area covered by the council.

In the county council areas of England, for example, there is typically an area committee for each district within the county.

Examples

• In England:
  • Birmingham - district committees for 11 areas similar to Birmingham's parliamentary constituencies.
  • Bradford - has 5 area committees made up of the wards that (roughly) make up the 5 parliamentary constituencies namely Bradford North, Bradford South, Bradford West, Keighley and Shipley. Before the 2004 ward boundary review the wards fitted exactly within the constituencies and the committees were therefore known as constituency committees.
  • Cumbria - has 6 local committees one for each of its district council areas.
  • Leicester - 9 area committees containing between 2 and 3 wards. The city centre is considered outside any area.
  • Kirklees - 7 area committees
  • Kingston upon Hull - 7 area committees
  • Oxford - 6 area committees
  • Shropshire - 3 area committees (North, Central and South)

Ipswich Borough Council - 5 area committees covering all wards in the Borough: North East (3 wards), North West (3 wards), Central (3 wards), South East (3 wards) South West ( 4 Wards)

• In Scotland:
  • Aberdeenshire council has devolved power to six area committees:
    • Banff & Buchan
    • Buchan
    • Formartine
    • Garioch
    • Marr
    • Kincardine & Mearns
  • Argyll and Bute - 4 area committees:
    • Bute & Cowal
    • Helensburgh & Lomond
    • Mid Argyll, Kintyre & Islay
    • Oban, Lorn & Mull
  • Dumfries and Galloway - 4 area committees:
    • Annandale and Eskdale
    • Nithsdale
    • Stewartry
    • Wigtown
  • East Ayrshire - 7 area committees:
    • Northern
    • Kilmarnock North
    • Kilmarnock Central
    • Kilmarnock South
    • Irvine Valley
    • Cumnock Area
    • Doon Valley
  • Glasgow - 11 area committees :
    • Bishops Wood
    • Central
    • Drumchapel and West
    • East (centre)
    • East
    • North
    • North West
    • South
    • South East
    • South West
    • West End
  • Highland:
    • In 1996, the then new unitary Highland Council adopted the areas of the eight districts of the former two-tier Highland region as management areas, and each management area was represented, initially, by area committees consisting of councillors elected from areas (groups of wards) corresponding to the management areas, but changes to ward boundaries in 1999 created a mismatch between committee areas and management areas. In 2007, following further changes to ward boundaries, the area committees were abolished and the council created a new more centralised management structure. The former districts were: Badenoch and Strathspey, Caithness, Inverness, Lochaber, Nairn, Ross and Cromarty, Skye and Lochalsh, and Sutherland
  • Scottish Borders :
    • Berwickshire
    • Eildon
    • Tweeddale
    • Cheviot
    • Teviot and Liddesdale
• In Wales:
  • Gwynedd - area committees for Arfon, Dwyfor, Meirionnydd - the former districts.
  • Monmouthshire - four area committees
  • Powys - Shire Area committees for Brecknockshire, Montgomeryshire and Radnorshire.