metropolitan borough

A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of local government district in England, covering urban areas within metropolitan counties.

Metropolitan boroughs of London (1900-1965)

The first metropolitan boroughs were created in 1900 by the London Government Act 1899 which created 28 metropolitan boroughs as sub-divisions of the County of London. They replaced vestries as the second tier of local government. They were Battersea, Bermondsey, Bethnal Green, Camberwell, Chelsea, Deptford, Finsbury, Fulham, Greenwich, Hackney, Hammersmith, Hampstead, Holborn, Islington, Kensington, Lambeth, Lewisham, Paddington, Poplar, Shoreditch, Southwark, St Marylebone, St Pancras, Stepney, Stoke Newington, Wandsworth, Westminster, Woolwich

In 1965 the County of London was abolished by the London Government Act 1963 and replaced with the much larger Greater London. The 28 metropolitan boroughs were also abolished and merged to create 12 of 32 larger London boroughs.

Current metropolitan boroughs (post 1974)

The current metropolitan boroughs were created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 as subdivisions of the new metropolitan counties which were created to cover the six largest urban areas in England outside Greater London

The new authorities were actually defined by law as metropolitan districts, however all of them have been granted or regranted Royal Charters to give them borough status or city status. The new metropolitan boroughs replaced the county boroughs, municipal boroughs and urban and rural districts which preceded them. The districts typically have populations of 174,000 to 1.1 million.

Metropolitan districts were originally part of a two-tier structure of local government, and shared power with the metropolitan county councils (MCCs). They differed from non-metropolitan districts, in the division of powers between district and county councils. Metropolitan districts were Local Education Authorities and were responsible for social services and libraries; in non-metropolitan counties these services were the responsibility of county councils.

In 1986 the metropolitan county councils were abolished by the Local Government Act 1985 and most of their functions were devolved to the boroughs, making them to a large extent unitary authorities. Some of the functions of the abolished county councils were taken over by joint bodies such as Passenger Transport Authorities, and joint fire, police and waste disposal authorities.

The 36 current metropolitan boroughs are:

For the historic London metropolitan boroughs see County of London.

See also

• Non-metropolitan district
• County borough
• Subdivisions of England
• Passenger Transport Executive

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