A local government area (LGA) is an
administrative division
Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...
of a country that a
local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a
state,
province,
division, or
territory
A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, particularly belonging or connected to a country, person, or animal.
In international politics, a territory is usually either the total area from which a state may extract power resources or an ...
.
The phrase is used as a generalised description in the
United Kingdom to refer to a variety of political divisions such as
boroughs,
counties,
unitary authorities and
cities
A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be de ...
, all of which have a council or similar body exercising a degree of self-government. Each of the United Kingdom's four constituent countries has its own structure of local government, for example Northern Ireland has local districts; many parts of England have non-metropolitan counties consisting of rural districts; London and many other urban areas have boroughs; there are three islands councils off the coast of Scotland; while the rest of Scotland and all of Wales are divided into unitary authority counties, some of which are officially designated as cities. As such the term local government area is a convenient generic label referring to all of these authorities and the areas within their control.
The term is particularly common in
Australia where it is synonymous with "municipality". Local government authorities across the country have similar functions and powers, but have different official designations in different states, and according to whether they are urban or rural. Most urban municipalities in all states are "cities".
Many in Western Australia are officially "towns", even within the Perth metropolitan area.
Many rural areas in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia are "shires", while rural areas in South Australia have "district councils", and those in Tasmania officially use the title "municipality".
Due to the Australian Capital Territory's small size it has no local government and is instead overseen by the
ACT Legislative Assembly.
It is largely for this reason that the term "local government area", or simply "LGA", is favoured over the term "municipality", the use of which could easily lead to confusion. In recent years changes to the structures of local government have given rise to new official designations, while other terms have fallen out of favour. In the mid-1990s the state government of Victoria amalgamated almost all municipalities, abolishing many cities and shires, all towns and all but one borough. Queenscliff, south of Melbourne, is now the only place in Australia that is officially a borough. Meanwhile, many "rural cities" were formed in largely rural areas where the core town is large enough, in terms of population, to be considered a city. In many such cases that town had previously been governed by a now defunct city council. Restructuring of local government in New South Wales and Queensland in the following decade gave rise to the municipal designations of "region" and "area", for example the Sunshine Coast of Queensland was formerly divided into several shires, but is now governed by a single
Sunshine Coast Regional Council
The Sunshine Coast Region is a local government area located in the Sunshine Coast district of South East Queensland, Australia.
It was created by the amalgamation in 2008 of the City of Caloundra and the Shires of Maroochy and Noosa. It con ...
.
"Local government area" is also an official designation in
The Gambia and
Nigeria.
Countries
List of countries where "local government area" is an official designation
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Australia:
Local government in Australia
Local government is the third level of government in Australia, administered with limited autonomy under the states and territories, and in turn beneath the federal government. Local government is not mentioned in the Constitution of Australi ...
*
Gambia
The Gambia,, ff, Gammbi, ar, غامبيا officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. It is the smallest country within mainland AfricaHoare, Ben. (2002) ''The Kingfisher A-Z Encyclopedia'', Kingfisher Publicatio ...
:
Local government areas of the Gambia
*
Nigeria:
Local government areas of Nigeria
See also
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*
Municipal council
A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural council ...
*
Municipal corporation
*
Shire
*
Town council
A town council, city council or municipal council is a form of local government for small municipalities.
Usage of the term varies under different jurisdictions.
Republic of Ireland
Town Councils in the Republic of Ireland were the second ti ...
References
{{Terms for types of country subdivisions
Types of administrative division
Local government