Following the recently reported news that proposals have been put forward for Derbyshire to become a unitary authority, Ruth Matthews our heritage consultant looks at how the Derbyshire political map has been carved up historically.
This month the BBC reported on the proposals put forward for Derbyshire to become a unitary authority it stated :
‘At the moment, there are two different systems depending on where you live. The city of Derby itself is run by Derby City Council. It’s been a unitary authority since 1997, meaning it is in charge of all council services in the area it covers. Elsewhere, however, there is a two-tiered system. Derbyshire County Council is in charge of some services – like social care and road maintenance – while smaller district and borough councils take care of things like bin collections and leisure centres. It is this mishmash of a system that the government thinks should be streamlined.’1
The counties of England have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. By 877 the Vikings had settled in Mercia and the Danelaw had been established. The area now known as Derbyshire and the Peak District was formed after battles between the Vikings and the Saxons. It is under one of the more well-known Anglo-Saxons kings, Aethelred the Unready (968-1016), that the Peak District is divided, creating the county of Derbyshire; this is why the area of the Peak District crosses the borders of some of Derbyshire’s neighbouring counties.2
Governing England has changed over time as far back as the time of King Edmund I (939–946) most of the English counties were divided into hundreds, wapentakes or wards. The origin of the division into hundreds, which appears in the Early Middle Ages, is contested:
’It has been regarded as denoting simply a division of a hundred hides of land; as the district which furnished a hundred warriors to the host; as representing the original settlement of the hundred warriors; or as composed of a hundred hides, each of which furnished a single warrior’ (Stubbs Const. Hist. I. v.45).
’It is certain that in some instances the hundred was deemed to contain exactly 100 hides of land’ (F. W. Maitland).3
The hundred had a court in which private disputes and criminal matters were settled by customary law. The court met once a month, generally in the open air, at a time and place known to everyone. Increasingly, hundred courts fell into the hands of private lords. These responsibilities were extinguished by statute in the 19th century, and any reasons for maintaining or remembering the hundred boundaries disappeared.4
Derbyshire County Council was established in 1889 under the Local Government Act of 1888, covering the administrative county.
It was constituted of:
- High Peak
- Western Division
- North Eastern
- Chesterfield
- Mid Division
- Ilkeston Division
- Southern Division
It was reconstituted in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 with some adjustments to its territory, most notably gaining Derby which had previously been a county borough independent from the county council. The county is divided into 8 boroughs
- Amber Valley Borough Council
- Erewash Borough Council
- Bolsover District Council
- Chesterfield Borough Council
- North East Derbyshire District Council
- High Peak Borough Council
- Derbyshire Dales District Council
- South Derbyshire District Council
Derby City Council became a separate unitary authority in 1997 but it remains part of the ceremonial county of Derbyshire.7
It will be interesting to see how the county is again to be divided up. The BBC article suggested the following options:
- A ‘super council’ – excluding Derby
- A county-wide ‘super council’ – with Derby
- A bigger city
- A north and south Derbyshire
- Or a combined authority with Nottingham
What ever happens the changes will affect the planning system of Derby and Derbyshire. Currently each council area has their own planning team and their own policies a change to a unitary system will definitely have an impact upon how planning decisions are carried out. As a company we will be watching these developments as they happen and will report back here to help explain them to you.
Ruth Matthews, Heritage Consultant, Planning & Design Practice Ltd
Derbyshire’s political boundaries: Notes and sources
- BBC: How could Derbyshire’s political map change?
- Buxton Museum and Art Gallery: Anglo Saxon Derbyshire
- Oxford History: What is a Hundred?
- Britannica.com: Hundred-English-government
- Wikipedia: History of Derbyshire
- OS Map of Derbyshire 1892
- Derbyshire County Council: The History of Derbyshire County Council
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