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Urban district
 
 
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In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 and the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland

Ireland is an Island country in north-western Europe. The modern Sovereignty state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned by the British on 3 May 1921....
, an urban district was a type of local government
Local government

Local governments are administrative offices that are smaller than a state. The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government....
 district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected Urban District Council (UDC), which shared local government responsibilities with a county council
County council

A County council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries....
.
a class="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m2203967",this)' onMouseout='hide("m2203967")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/England_and_Wales">England and Wales
England and Wales

England and Wales is a legal unit within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom....
, urban districts and rural district
Rural district

Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the Administrative county....
s were created in 1894 (by the Local Government Act of 1894
Local Government Act 1894

The Local Government Act 1894 was an act of parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London....
) as subdivisions of administrative counties
Administrative county

An administrative county was an administrative division in England and Wales and Ireland used for the purposes of local government. They are now abolished, although in Northern Ireland their former areas are used as the basis for lieutenancy....
.

They replaced the earlier system of Urban and Rural sanitary district
Sanitary district

Sanitary Districts were established in England and Wales in 1875 and in Ireland in 1878. The districts were of two types, based on existing structures:...
s (based on poor law union
Poor Law Union

A Poor Law Union was a unit used for History of local government in the United Kingdom from the 19th century. During this time, the administration of the Poor Law was the responsibility of civil parish, which varied wildly in their financial resources and requirements....
s) the functions of which were taken over by the district councils.






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In the United Kingdom
United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom , the UK or Britain,is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe....
 and the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland

Ireland is an Island country in north-western Europe. The modern Sovereignty state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned by the British on 3 May 1921....
, an urban district was a type of local government
Local government

Local governments are administrative offices that are smaller than a state. The term is used to contrast with offices at nation-state level, which are referred to as the central government, national government, or federal government....
 district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected Urban District Council (UDC), which shared local government responsibilities with a county council
County council

A County council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries....
.

England and Wales

In England and Wales
England and Wales

England and Wales is a legal unit within the United Kingdom. It consists of England and Wales, two of the four countries of the United Kingdom....
, urban districts and rural district
Rural district

Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the Administrative county....
s were created in 1894 (by the Local Government Act of 1894
Local Government Act 1894

The Local Government Act 1894 was an act of parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London....
) as subdivisions of administrative counties
Administrative county

An administrative county was an administrative division in England and Wales and Ireland used for the purposes of local government. They are now abolished, although in Northern Ireland their former areas are used as the basis for lieutenancy....
.

They replaced the earlier system of Urban and Rural sanitary district
Sanitary district

Sanitary Districts were established in England and Wales in 1875 and in Ireland in 1878. The districts were of two types, based on existing structures:...
s (based on poor law union
Poor Law Union

A Poor Law Union was a unit used for History of local government in the United Kingdom from the 19th century. During this time, the administration of the Poor Law was the responsibility of civil parish, which varied wildly in their financial resources and requirements....
s) the functions of which were taken over by the district councils. The district councils also had wider powers over local matters such as parks, cemeteries and local planning. The defining difference between an urban district and a rural district was that an urban district usually contained a single parish
Civil parish

In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a civil parish is usually the lowest unit of local government, below district and county councils....
, while a rural district may contain many. Urban districts were considered to have more problems with public health
Public health

Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals." It is concerned with threats to the overall health of a community based on population health analysis....
 than rural areas, and so urban district councils had more funding, and powers than their corresponding rural districts.

Urban districts usually covered smaller towns, usually with populations of less than 30,000. Originally there were 1013 urban districts. Under the Local Government Act 1929
Local Government Act 1929

The Local Government Act, 1929 made changes to poor law and local government in England and Wales.The act abolished the system of poor law unions in England and Wales and their boards of guardians, passing their powers to local authorities....
 206 urban districts were abolished. Many were merged with surrounding rural districts, and so many urban districts often covered some rural areas as well. Larger towns became municipal borough
Municipal borough

Municipal boroughs were a type of local government which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002....
s (already created, in 1835 under the Municipal Reform Act 1835) which had a slightly higher status, and the right to appoint a mayor.

All urban districts in England and Wales were abolished in 1974, (by the Local Government Act 1972
Local Government Act 1972

The Local Government Act 1972 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom, that reformed local government in the United Kingdom in England and Wales, on 1 April 1974....
) and replaced with a uniform system of larger district
Districts of England

The districts of England are a level of Subdivisions of England used for the purposes of local government. As the structure of local government in England is not uniform, there are currently four types of district level subdivision....
s, which usually covered both urban and rural areas. Many parish council
Civil parish

In the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, a civil parish is usually the lowest unit of local government, below district and county councils....
s were created for towns previously covered by urban districts.

See List of rural and urban districts in England
List of rural and urban districts in England

This is a list of all the rural districts, urban districts and municipal boroughs in England as they existed prior to the entry into force of the Local Government Act 1972 on April 1, 1974....
 and List of rural and urban districts in Wales
List of rural and urban districts in Wales

This is a list of the municipal boroughs, urban districts, and rural districts in Wales immediately prior to the coming into force of the Local Government Act 1972 in 1974....
 for lists of the remaining urban districts that were abolished in 1974.

Ireland

In Ireland
Ireland

Ireland is the List of islands by area in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world. It lies to the north-west of continental Europe and is surrounded by hundreds of islands and islet....
 urban districts were created in 1898 by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898
Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898

The Local Government Act 1898 is a piece of legislation passed as an Act of Parliament by the Westminster Palace of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1898 to establish a system of local government in Ireland similar to the one that recently created in Great Britain....
. In what is now the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland

Ireland is an Island country in north-western Europe. The modern Sovereignty state occupies about five-sixths of the island of Ireland, which was partitioned by the British on 3 May 1921....
 they continued to exist but were renamed simply 'towns' under the Local Government Act 2001
Local Government Act 2001

The Local Government Act, 2001 was enacted by the Oireachtas of the Republic of Ireland on 21 July 2001. Most of the provisions of the act came into operation 1 January 2002....
. (Rural district
Rural district

Rural districts were a type of local government area – now superseded – established at the end of the 19th century in England, Wales, and Ireland for the administration of predominantly rural areas at a level lower than that of the Administrative county....
s were abolished in most counties in the Republic of Ireland in 1925)

In Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland

conventional_long_name = Northern Ireland|native_name= Tuaisceart ?ireannNorlin Airlann|motto =|image_map = Europe location N-IRL2.png...
 urban and rural districts were abolished in 1973, and replaced with a system of unitary districts
Districts of Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is divided into 26 districts for local government purposes. The councils do not carry out the same range of functions as those in the rest of the United Kingdom, e.g....
.

See also: List of rural and urban districts in Northern Ireland
List of rural and urban districts in Northern Ireland

The urban districts and rural districts of Northern Ireland had their origin in 1899, when the Local Government Act 1898 came into effect. They were based on the system of district councils introduced in England and Wales four years earlier....