I have the sense that the local Councils in the UK are considerably more micromanagement-focused than a typical County Board here in the USA.
As a random example, here's a section taken from the Derby council's page, which outlines things in a very basic and broad way:
Council, Government and Democracy Homepage
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It may well be that different Councils have different parameters of operation and responsibility.
Here's a directory of local Councils in England, and you may well be able to find out more by comparing some of the different Councils in different parts of the country.
They lost me at “unitary”...