Timeline of local and regional government etc in the United Kingdom
- 1601 - Poor Law
- 1801 - first census of Great Britain
- 1808 - County Aslums Act 1808
- 1815 - Apothecaries Act 1815
- 1818 - Regulation of Parish Vestries Act 1818
- 1819 - Peterloo massacre
- 1819 - Poor Relief Act 1819
- 1827 - Bribery and Corruption in Elections Act 1827
- 1828 - Test Act repealed
- 1828 - County Aslums Act 1828
- 1828 - Care and Treatment of Insane Persons Act 1828 - sets up Metropolitan Commission in Lunacy to inspect private asylums in London
- 1829 - Metropolitan Police Act 1829 - sets up the Metropolitan Police for London
- 1829 - Catholic Emancipation Act 1829
- 1831 - Better Regulation of the Vestries Act 1831
- 1831 - Land tax abolished
- 1832 - Reform Act 1832
- 1833 - Burgh Police (Scotland) Act 1833 (aka the Burgh Reform Act 1833)
- 1834 - Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 - sets up poor law unions in England and Wales
- 1835 - Municipal Corporations Act 1835
- 1835 - Highways Act 1835
- 1837 - Births, deaths and marriages registry in England and Wales
- 1840 - Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840
- 1844 - Poor Law Amendment Act 1844
- 1845 - Poor Law Amendment (Scotland) Act 1845
- 1845 - Museums Act 1845
- 1848 - Public Health Act 1848
- 1848 - Metropolitan Commission of Sewers Act 1848 - Metropolitan Commission of Sewers
- 1850 - Public Libaries Act 1850 (England and Wales, public libraries)
- 1851 - window tax abolished
- 1855 - Metropolitan Board of Works set up, also Metropolis (Local Management) Act sets up 48 district boards
- 1856 - County and Borough Police Act 1856
- 1857 - Births, deaths and marriages registry in Scotland
- 1857 - Police (Scotland) Act 1857
- 1858 - Local Government Act 1858
- 1860 - Adulderation of Food and Drunk Act 1860
- 1862 - Police (Scotland) Act 1862
- 1870 - Elementary Education Act 1870, sets up school districts and school boards,
including the London School Board
- 1875 - Public Health Act 1875 - urban and rural sanitary districts set up in England and Wales
- 1889 - Local Government Act 1888 comes into force, creates administrative counties, county councils, county boroughs and a County of London
- 1889 - Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889 passed
- 1894 - Local Government Act 1894 - creation of urban district, rural districts, parish councils
- 1898 - Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898
- 1899 - metropolitan boroughs in the County of London
- 1900 - Town Councils (Scotland) Act 1900
- 1909 - Housing and Town PLanning Act 1909
- 1913 - attempts of Luton and Cambridge to become county boroughs stopped
- 1919 - Housing Act 1919
- 1903 - London School Board abolished, powers tranferred to London County Council
- 1926 - Local Government (County Boroughs and Adjustments) Act 1926 raises county borough limit to 75,000 - no new county boroughs created between 1926 and 1964
- 1926 - Boards of Guardiands (Default) Act 1926 - Poplarism
- 1929 - Local Government Act 1929 abolishes poor law unions/boards of guardians (comes into effect in 1930). also allows county councils to review borders of urban districts and rural districts. this is what led to the mergers in the 1930s
- 1929 - Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 - comes into effect in 1930 - creates small burghs and large burghs
- 1930/1931 - Poor law powers to county boroughs and county councils
- 1934 - central government takes over unemployment relief
- 1944 - Education Act 1944 removes education powers from large urban districts/municipal boroughs
- 1944 - central government gains veto on Chief Education Officer
- 1945 - Local Government Boundary Commission established to look at issues of boundaries, chair = Malcolm Trustam Eve
- 1946 - National Health Service Act 1946 - personal health service functions moved from boroughs and districts to counties
- 1947 - Town and Country Planning Act 1947 - town planning to counties
- 1947 - Fire Services Act 1947 - fire brigades handed back to local authority control - but to counties
- 1947 - Local Government Boundary Commission reports back, refusing to consider boundaries without also consider functions. In response, Aneurin Bevan abolishes the Commission
- 1947 - central government gains veto on Chief Fire Officer
- 1948 - Children Act 1948. central government gains veto on Chief Children's Officer
- 1949 - Clement Davies Report recommends a Greater London local authority
- 1957 - Royal Commission established on the problem of Greater London - the Herbert Commission
- 1958 - Local Government Act 1958 - creates Local Government Commissions to handle minor boundary changes in England and Wales
- 1958 - general grant established, replacing various specific grants
- 1963 - Local Government (Financial Porivisions) Act - penny rate allowed to be spent on any purpose "in interests of the area"
- 1965 - London Government Act 1963 comes into effect, creates Greater London, Greater London Council
- 1965 - new minister of houseing Richard Crossman, Labour Party
- 1965 - some county borough creation happens
- 1965 - creation of Huntingdon and Peterborough and Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely. however, proposals to abolished Rutland vetoed.
- 1966 - Redcliffe-Maud Commission set up for England
- 1966 - Wheatley Commission set up for Scotland
- 1967 - White Paper proposes 5 welsh counties (Gwynedd/Powys/Dyfed/Glamorgan/Gwent) and 3 county boroughs (Swansea, Cardiff, Newport)
- 1969 - Redcliffe-Maud Report finished. this is accepted by the Labour government of the time, except that they decided to add West Yorkshire and South Hampshire as metropolitan areas
- 1969 - Wheatley Commission basically recommends the two-tier system in use from 1975-1996
- 1970 - Conservative Party win UK general election, committed to 'two-tier' system
- 1972 - Local Government Act 1972 shepherded through Parliament
- 1972 - Housing Finance Act 1972 - Clay Cross scandal
- 1973 - unitary authorities in Northern Ireland, under the Local Government (Northern Ireland) Act 1972 - reduces 73 local authorities to 26
- 1973 - March 15 - new county council elections
- 1973 - April 12 - metropolitan district elections
- 1973 - June 7 - non-metropolitan districts
- 1974 - Local Government Act 1972 abolishes county boroughs and creates metropolitan and non-metropolitan districts and counties in England and Wales
- 1975 - Local Government Act (Scotland) 1973 comes into effect, sets up regions and districts in Scotland
- 1983 - Streamlining the Cities whitepaper
- 1985 - Local Government Act 1985 passed
- 1985/1986 - revaluation of rates in Scotland
- 1986 - Metropolitan county councils and the Greater London Council abolished, under LGA1985, creates ILEA
- 1988 - Education Reform Act 1888 passed, abolishes Inner London Education Authority in 1990
- 1989 - Local Government and Housing Act 1989 - "monitoring officer", also bans packing commitees
- 1989 - Poll Tax in Scotland
- 1990 - Poll Tax in England and Wales
- 1991 - consultation paper published for Scotland
- 1991 - consultation paper published for Wales
- 1992 - Local Government Act 1992 passed for England, start of 1990s UK local government reform
- 1993 - White Paper published for Scotland, proposes 25 single-tier councils
- 1993 - poll tax abolished. Council Tax introduced
- 1994 - Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 passed
- 1994 - Local Government Etc. (Scotland) Act 1994 passed, with 29 single-tier councils (plus the islands councils)
- 1994 - Police and Magistrates' Court Act 1994
- 1995 - Isle of Wight made unitary
- 1996 - new unitaries come into effect in Scotland and Wales. Avon, Cleveland and Humberside all abolished. York unitary.
- 1996 - Police Act 1996
- 1997 - new unitaries of Bournemouth, Brighton and Hove, Darlington, Derby, Leicester, Luton, Milton Keynes, Poole, Portsmouth, Rutland, Southampton
- 1998 - new unitaries of Blackpool, Blackburn with Darwen, Halton, Herefordshire, Medway, Nottingham, Peterborough, Plymouth, Swindon, Stoke-on-Trent, Southend-on-Sea, Telford and Wrekin, Torbay, Thurrock, Warrington. Berkshire becomes six unitaries.
- 1999 - Scottish Parliament meets
- 2000 - Greater London Authority, Mayor of London, London Assembly
- 2002 - first directly elected mayor
- 2007 - STV to be introduced in Scotland