The shape of local government will soon be remodelled for the first time in 50 years - with Labour proposing to scrap the borough and district councils that have collected our taxes and bin bags (sometimes) since 1974.

But if history tells us anything, it’s that our governance wasn’t always as complicated as the present three-tier council system. From medieval manors to unitary councils, here’s how the governance of this corner of England has evolved over the past thousand years.

Medieval foundations

After the Norman Conquest in 1066, governance in south west Surrey and east Hampshire revolved around the feudal system, with manorial lords maintaining law and order. The most powerful feudal lord in the area, the Bishop of Winchester, controlled vast estates.

In towns like Farnham and rural settlements such as Neatham, near modern-day Alton, peasants worked on the Bishop’s lands, paying tithes and feudal dues often in labour or goods like grain, in exchange for protection and the right to live on the land.

The Tudor parish

This persisted in a similar vain until the Tudor era brought a shift to parish-based governance. Parishes, centered around churches, became the primary units of local administration.

To give the example of Tudor-era Alton, the Parish Church of St Lawrence was the heart of both religious and civic life, with elected churchwardens managing road maintenance and welfare under the Poor Law of 1601 which for the first time placed responsibility squarely on the shoulders of parishes to support poorer members of the community.

The Industrial Revolution

By the 18th century, industrialisation began to reshape the social fabric of the region. The market towns of Farnham, Alton, Haslemere and Petersfield expanded, necessitating new forms of local governance. Turnpike trusts managed roads, while urban improvement commissions sprang up to address public health and sanitation challenges.

The 19th century brought sweeping reforms. The Municipal Corporations Act of 1835 modernised borough governance, introducing elected councils and greater transparency, while the introduction of elected boards of health and local sanitary authorities marked the first steps toward centralised public services.

This period also saw the establishment of centralised institutions like police forces to address the challenges of expanding urban populations.

County councils

The Local Government Act of 1888 created elected county councils. Surrey and Hampshire county councils were formed, tasked with responsibilities like education, roads, and public health. These bodies absorbed many of the functions previously managed by parishes and improvement boards, streamlining governance.

The Act of 1894 established rural and urban district councils, ensuring that even smaller communities had representation.

Villages like Crondall and Liphook gained a say in their governance through these councils, while larger town bodies such as Farnham Urban District Council and its Haslemere, Alton and Petersfield counterparts took responsibility for local matters like road maintenance and housing.

It gets complicated…

After the Second World War, many local government functions such as public health were taken over by national bodies. However, the 1974 reorganisation of local government redefined boundaries and responsibilities.

County councils retained responsibility for lofty matters such as education and highways. East Hampshire District Council and Waverley Borough Council emerged, focusing on planning, housing, and local amenities. Meanwhile the old rural and urban councils were replaced by smaller, and much less-powerful parish and town councils - creating the three-tier system we see today.

The balance of power shifted again with the rise of unitary authorities in the 1990s, as some nearby regions like Portsmouth and Southampton saw governance streamlined under single-tier systems.

And the creation of the South Downs National Park Authority in 2010 brought more changes, with the authority taking responsibility for overseeing major planning applications within the park’s boundaries.

Back to basics?

The government’s new proposals aim to streamline this complex model of local government by scrapping district councils such as Waverley and East Hampshire, leaving us with parish and town authorities answering directly to larger county-wide unitary authorities.

In other words, we’re going back to 1894.