Information on names, codes and legal status of UK geographic areas

I'd like a list of names and codes for all the counties in England. Can you help?

If you are interested in seeing how different geographies relate - eg. identifying which counties fall within the South East Government Office Region, then our Standard Names and Codes (SNAC) database is good. This is an MS Access file which is produced annually and can be downloaded from this website. The database is easy to use but always relates to a particular year. eg. the current (2003) SNAC is a comprehensive reference source for geographies as at 31/12/2003 but does not reflect subsequent changes. Click here for more information.

Should I refer to 'Medway' or 'Medway Towns'?

Whether checking how a particular local authority name is spelt, or verifying an area code, our names & codes files (follow link above) contain both present and historic information. SNAC (also linked above) provides the definitive area names and codes used by ONS, the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) and the Department of Health (DH). You should use the ONS names and codes where possible as these are the recognised standard for National Statistics, but there may be cases when you need to use the alternatives. In this particular case the ONS standard name is 'Medway', but 'Medway Towns' is used by DH.

Is Milton Keynes a city? (legal status questions)

The legal status of all areas appears in the 'Status' field in the tables of the SNAC database. You may check whether a county is metropolitan or non-metropolitan, whether districts and unitary authorities have official 'district', 'borough' or 'city' status (not all districts have the title 'district'!), and whether a local electoral unit is a ward or division. Incidentally, Milton Keynes is not a city but a borough.

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This page last revised: Wednesday, 21 June 2006