City of Canterbury

City of Canterbury
Non-metropolitan district, Borough, City

Canterbury shown within Kent
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Constituent country England
Region South East England
Non-metropolitan county Kent
Status Non-metropolitan district, Borough, City
Admin HQ Canterbury
Incorporated 1 April 1974
Government
 • Type Non-metropolitan district council
 • Body Canterbury City Council
 • Leadership Committee system, Simon Cook (Conservative)
 • MPs Rosie Duffield
Roger Gale
Area
 • Total 119.24 sq mi (308.84 km2)
Area rank 137th (of 326)
Population (mid-2017 est.)
 • Total 164,100
 • Rank 116th (of 326)
 • Density 1,400/sq mi (530/km2)
 • Ethnicity 93.4% White
2.2% S.Asian
1.6% Chinese and other
1.4% Mixed Race
Time zone UTC0 (GMT)
 • Summer (DST) UTC+1 (BST)
ONS code 29UC (ONS)
E07000106 (GSS)
OS grid reference TR145575
Website www.canterbury.gov.uk

The City of Canterbury (/ˈkæntərbəri/)[1] is a local government district with city status in Kent, England. The main settlement in the district is Canterbury.

History

The district was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of the existing city of Canterbury with the Whitstable and Herne Bay Urban Districts, and Bridge-Blean Rural District. The latter district entirely surrounded the city; the urban districts occupied the coastal area to the north.

Politics

Geography

Within the district are the towns of Herne Bay and Whitstable, which with the parishes and the cathedral city itself, make up the 'City of Canterbury' district. There are 26 parishes within the district, as follows:[2]

Swalecliffe is an unparished area within the district.

The area is largely rural, with a coastal strip taken up by the almost unbroken spread of seaside towns and beautiful beaches from Seasalter, west of Whitstable, to Herne Bay, Kent. Between them and the city, the hills rise into the well wooded historic Blean, south of which is the Great Stour flowing from its source beyond Ashford. The city of Canterbury stands upon this river which flows in from Banterbury.

Twin towns

The district participates in the Sister Cities programme, with links[3] to Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, United States and Vladimir, Russia. The Three Towns Association was founded in 1985 on the initiative of three local clergymen to promote person to person contact between ordinary people in the then USSR, the UK, and the US. The association is the only twinning between the new District Council (i.e. including Whitstable and Herne Bay) as distinct from the old city council for Canterbury alone. The name was subsequently changed to the Three Cities Association.

The association chose Vladimir as the seat of Christianity in Russia. Vladimir was already twinned with Bloomington-Normal, leading to completion of the circle in a three-way 'twinning'. In those early heady days of Gorbachev, the association arranged a World First – home-stay school exchanges between the two Simon Langton Schools, and School No. 23 in Vladimir, a school in which the teaching was conducted in English. At that time, Russian was taught at the Langton schools, also facilitating communication. Association members are still in touch with friends from that era. These exchanges ran for several years, and attracted wide attention, including from Margaret Thatcher. Subsequent exchanges have been between musicians, dancers, academics, policemen, boxers and hairdressers.

Several towns and villages within the City of Canterbury district have their own twinning arrangements;[3] see in particular Canterbury, Whitstable and Herne Bay.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Canterbury". Collins Dictionary. n.d. Retrieved 24 September 2014.
  2. ↑ "Parish Councils". Canterbury City Council. 2008. Archived from the original on 15 August 2010. Retrieved 5 September 2010.
  3. 1 2 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 21 July 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2012.

Coordinates: 51°17′N 1°05′E / 51.28°N 1.08°E / 51.28; 1.08

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