Local Government, the government of smaller units within nations or state, mostly at the level of the county, town, or district. Local government bodies and structures are normally creations of the central government, which delegates authority to them. The personnel of local government are customarily directly elected, because of the immediate relevance of their decisions to local life, and their powers differ from country to country. Local government usually provides administrative, fiscal, and other public services and amenities to local residents. In highly unitary centralized states, such as France or Great Britain, local government enjoys only limited powers, and in some areas these have been subject to erosion by central authority. Though some have regarded it as a basic underpinning for national democracy, local government is ill fitted to resist any encroachment on its powers by the central government.