A PDF map that shows the local authority districts, counties and unitary authorities in the United Kingdom as at April 2023. The map has been created to show the United Kingdom from country level down to local authority district level. (File Size - 1,909 KB)

This data shows the local authority districts, council areas (Scotland) and unitary authorities for Great Britain. A JPEG image of the map is also contained in the download.

Local Authority is a generic term used to cover London Boroughs, Metropolitan Districts, Non-Metropolitan Districts, and Unitary Authorities in England; Unitary Authorities in Wales; Council Areas in Scotland; and Local Government Districts in Northern Ireland.

The Local Authorities area list contains 404 areas of the following constituent geographies:

• 36 Metropolitan Districts in England
• 201 Non-Metropolitan Districts in England
• 31 London Boroughs in England
• 54 Unitary Authorities in England
• 26 Local Government Districts in Northern Ireland
• 32 Council Areas in Scotland
• 22 Unitary Authorities in Wales
• 2 Census Merged Districts in England

Please visit ONS Beginner's Guide to UK Geography for more info.

The boundaries are available as either extent of the realm (usually this is the Mean Low Water mark but in some cases boundaries extend beyond this to include off shore islands) or

clipped to the coastline (Mean High Water mark).

This data shows the local authority districts, council areas (Scotland) and unitary authorities for Great Britain. The attached Layer File can be used to symbolise the different types of boundaries. A JPEG image of the map is also contained in the download. This dataset was made from the OS OpenData Boundary Line product http://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/oswebsite/products/boundary-line/index.html. GIS vector data. This dataset was first accessioned in the EDINA ShareGeo Open repository on 2012-05-10 and migrated to Edinburgh DataShare on 2017-02-21.

Parishes are subdivisions of local authorities in many parts of England, and their councils are the most local level of government. Unlike electoral wards/divisions however, parishes are not found in all parts of England. The Welsh equivalents are communities. Note that the full term for administrative parishes is 'civil parishes', to distinguish them from the ecclesiastical parishes which are found in all parts of the UK.

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https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/products/boundary-line#technical

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Source:

https://osdatahub.os.uk/downloads/open/BoundaryLine

Licence:

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

With the introduction of unitary authorities, there are now two- and three-tier local government hierarchies. The three-tier system remains unchanged. The two-tier system has unitary authorities replacing the county and district levels of administration. Unitary authorities may be divided into civil parishes or communities (except in Scotland), and unitary authority wards or unitary authority EDs for voting purposes. In Wales, the voting area is the unitary authority ED; in Scotland it is the unitary authority ward and in England it is the unitary authority ward or unitary authority ED.

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England also has metropolitan districts; these have no county administration. These districts are divided for voting purposes into metropolitan district wards.

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https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/products/boundary-line#technical

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Source:

https://osdatahub.os.uk/downloads/open/BoundaryLine

Licence:

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

A polling district is the subdivision of a parliamentary constituency for the purpose of a UK Parliamentary election. Polling districts are not maintained on a regular basis and have mostly been frozen since 2016. From May 2022, 63 areas will show amended polling districts.

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https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/products/boundary-line#technical

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Source:

https://osdatahub.os.uk/downloads/open/BoundaryLine

Licence:

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

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The Rural-Urban Classification is a Government Statistical Service product developed by the Office for National Statistics; the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; and the Welsh Assembly Government.Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0.Contains OS data © Crown copyright 2025Links below to FAQ, Methodology and User GuideFAQ https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/documents/f359d48424664a1584dca319f3dac97f/aboutMethodology https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/documents/833a35f2a1ec49d98466b679ae0a0646/aboutUser Guide https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/documents/c8e8e6db38e04cb8937569d74bce277a/about

The Rural-Urban Classification is a Government Statistical Service product developed by the Office for National Statistics; the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs; and the Welsh Assembly Government.Source: Office for National Statistics licensed under the Open Government Licence v.3.0.Contains OS data © Crown copyright 2025Links below to FAQ, Methodology and User GuideFAQ https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/documents/f359d48424664a1584dca319f3dac97f/aboutMethodology https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/documents/833a35f2a1ec49d98466b679ae0a0646/aboutUser Guide https://geoportal.statistics.gov.uk/documents/c8e8e6db38e04cb8937569d74bce277a/about

https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/products/boundary-line#technical

​

Source:

https://osdatahub.os.uk/downloads/open/BoundaryLine

Licence:

Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/

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This dataset consists of the vector version of the Land Cover Map 1990 (LCM1990) for Great Britain. The vector data set is the core LCM data set from which the full range of other LCM1990 products are derived. It provides a number of attributes including land cover at the target class level (given as an integer value and also as text), the number of pixels within the polygon classified as each land cover type and a probability value provided by the classification algorithm (for full details see the LCM1990 Dataset Documentation). The 21 target classes are based on the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) Broad Habitats, which encompass the entire range of UK habitats. LCM1990 is a land cover map of the UK which was produced at the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology by classifying satellite images (mainly from 1989 and 1990) into 21 Broad Habitat-based classes. It is the first in a series of land cover maps for the UK, which also includes maps for 2000, 2007, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019. LCM1990 consists of a range of raster and vector products and users should familiarise themselves with the full range (see related records, the UKCEH web site and the LCM1990 Dataset documentation) to select the product most suited to their needs. This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council award number NE/R016429/1 as part of the UK-SCAPE programme delivering National Capability.

community council boundaries simplified - open dataCommunity councils are required to be established by local authorities. They are the most local tier of statutory representation in Scotland. They bridge the gap between local authorities and communities and help to make public bodies aware of the opinions and needs of the communities they represent. Community councils are statutory consultees under various processes, such as for planning applications.There are many instances where polygons do not tessellate or snap to local authority boundaries. Such gaps in the dataset mean that it cannot potentially be used for some kinds of spatial analysis e.g. point in polygon, because some point locations may fall within the gaps.Schema;Local Authority CodeLocal AuthorityCommunity Council Name

The OSNI Large-scale boundaries is a polygon dataset consisting of District Electoral Areasset in 2012. The data has been extracted from OSNI Largescale database and has been topologically cleansed and attributed to create a seamless dataset. This service is published for OpenData. By download or use of this dataset you agree to abide by the LPS Open Government Data Licence.Please Note for Open Data NI Users: Esri Rest API is not Broken, it will not open on its own in a Web Browser but can be copied and used in Desktop and Webmaps

Forestry England comprises of seven forest district boundary areas. Last updated from Forester Web on 05/12/2024

A PDF map that shows the local planning authorities in the United Kingdom as at April 2023. (File Size - 955 KB)

The local authority interactive tool (LAIT) is an app that presents information in interactive tables and charts, along with local authorities’ rank positions in England and against statistical neighbours.

It includes local authority, regional and national data on:

• children looked after and adoption
• child protection
• the children’s social care workforce
• special educational needs and disability
• pupil attainment and attendance
• children’s health
• youth justice
• post-16
• finance

The ‘Children’s services statistical neighbour benchmarking tool’ allows you to select a local authority and display its ‘closest statistical neighbours’ (local authorities with similar characteristics). The tool has been reviewed and rebuilt to include updated socio-economic variables from the 2021 census. More information is available in the associated update note and technical report.

This dataset consists of an interactive map (and supporting guidance) containing background information that informs how we understand flood risk across the Severn River Basin District. The map shows the River Basin District, component river basins and the coastline together with layers showing land use and topography.

This dataset together with equivalent datasets for each River Basin District, supports the Preliminary Flood Risk Assessment for England report which has been written to meet the requirements of the Flood Risk Regulations (2009) - to complete an assessment of flood risk and produce supporting maps of river catchments.

A PDF map shows the Regions and their constituent counties, metropolitan counties, Greater London authority and unitary authorities in England, council areas in Scotland, unitary authorities in Wales and district council areas in Northern Ireland as at April 2011. (File Size - 638 KB).

Using our global network in over 100 countries, the British Council creates international opportunities for people across the UK. Find out more about some of the cultural relations opportunities we provided last year for UK organisations by clicking on the map. In 2010-11 the British Council worked with over 9200 UK organisations on 183 initiatives, involving a total of 167 different countries. We work in Education and Society, the Arts and English Language. We help equip young people in the UK for life in a global society and work in a global economy. We help position the UK as an enabler for countries, communities and individuals to access quality education, life changing experiences and greater opportunities.