unitary authority

British

noun

(in the United Kingdom) a district administered by a single tier of local government, esp those districts of England that became administratively independent of the county councils in 1996–98

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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unitary authority

The existing county council and six district councils would disappear - with Cheltenham joining Tewkesbury and the Cotswold district in a new eastern unitary authority.

From BBC ● Jan. 7, 2026

It does not have a majority, but runs the unitary authority as a minority administration.

From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2023

Mr Mackey has been an independent Central Beds councillor for Flitwick since 2019 and following May's local elections he is now on the executive team on the unitary authority, which is run by independents.

From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2023

All 55 council seats in the unitary authority were up for election, along with four new seats created by boundary changes.

From BBC ● May 5, 2023

It became a unitary authority in 1998 and has a population of more than 183,000.

From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2021

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023