Borough status in the United Kingdom
status is granted by royal charter to local government districts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The status is purely honorary, and does not give any additional powers to the council or inhabitants of the district. In Scotland, similarly chartered communities were known as royal burghs, although the status is no longer granted.
Origins of borough status
Until the local government reforms of 1973 and 1974, boroughs were towns possessing charters of incorporation conferring considerable powers, and were governed by a municipal corporation headed by a mayor. The corporations had been reformed by legislation beginning in 1835. By the time of their abolition there were three types:- County boroughs
- Municipal or non-county boroughs
- Rural boroughs
For pre-1974 boroughs, see Municipal Corporations Act 1835, Boroughs incorporated in England and Wales 1835–1882, Unreformed boroughs in England and Wales 1835–1886, Boroughs incorporated in England and Wales 1882–1974, Municipal Corporations Act 1840
Modern borough status
England and Wales
Borough status no longer implies a town or urban area. Outside Greater London, borough status is granted to metropolitan and non-metropolitan districts under the provisions of section 245 of the Local Government Act 1972. This section allows the council of a district to petition the monarch for a charter granting borough status. The resolution must have the support of at least two-thirds of the councillors. Having received the petition the monarch may, on the advice of the Privy Council, grant a charter whereupon:- The district becomes a borough
- The district council becomes the borough council
- The chairman and vice-chairman become entitled to the style mayor and deputy mayor of the borough, except in councils that have an elected mayor under the Local Government Act 2000.
- Honorary recorder: some borough and city councils have the right to appoint a circuit judge or recorder appointed under the Courts Act 1971 as honorary recorder. Usually this is the senior judge in the council's area.
- Sheriff: These are appointed in a number of boroughs and cities that were formerly counties corporate.
- High steward: originally a judicial office, often held by a peer, now entirely ceremonial.
In some boroughs the mayor has the additional title as "Admiral of the Port", recalling an historic jurisdiction. The lord mayors of Chester and Kingston-upon-Hull are admirals of the Dee and the Humber respectively, the Mayor of Medway is Admiral of the River Medway, and the mayors of Poole and Southampton are admirals of those ports.
Privileges or rights belonging to citizens or burgesses of a former borough can be transferred to the inhabitants of the new borough.
Borough councils are permitted to pass a resolution admitting "persons of distinction" and persons who have "rendered eminent service" to be an honorary freeman of the borough. This power has been used to grant honorary freedom not only to individuals, but to units and ships of the armed forces.
England
Borough charters granted under section 245 of the Local Government Act 1972 to metropolitan and non-metropolitan districts of EnglandGreater London is divided into thirty-two London boroughs. Their borough status dates from 1965, although each of them had previously included municipal, county or metropolitan boroughs:
| London borough | Previous boroughs | Notes |
| Barking | Barking, Dagenham | Renamed Barking and Dagenham 1981 |
| Barnet | Hendon, Finchley | |
| Bexley | Bexley, Erith | |
| Brent | Willesden, Wembley | |
| Bromley | Bromley, Beckenham | |
| Camden | Hampstead, Holborn, St Pancras all created 1900 | |
| Croydon | Croydon | |
| Ealing | Ealing, Acton, Southall | |
| Enfield | Southgate, Edmonton, Enfield | |
| Greenwich | Greenwich, Woolwich both created 1900 | |
| Hackney | Hackney, Shoreditch, Stoke Newington all created 1900 | |
| Hammersmith | Hammersmith, Fulham both created 1900 | Renamed Hammersmith and Fulham 1981 |
| Haringey | Hornsey, Wood Green, Tottenham | |
| Harrow | Harrow | |
| Havering | Romford | |
| Hillingdon | Uxbridge | |
| Hounslow | Brentford and Chiswick, Heston and Isleworth both incorporated in 1932 | |
| Islington | Islington, Finsbury both created 1900 | |
| Kensington and Chelsea | Kensington, Chelsea both created 1900 | |
| Kingston upon Thames | Kingston upon Thames, Malden and Coombe, Surbiton | |
| Lambeth | Lambeth created 1900 | |
| Lewisham | Lewisham, Deptford both created 1900 | |
| Merton | Wimbledon, Mitcham | |
| Newham | West Ham, East Ham | |
| Redbridge | Ilford, Wanstead and Woodford | |
| Richmond upon Thames | Richmond, Twickenham, Barnes | |
| Southwark | Bermondsey, Camberwell, Southwark all created 1900 | |
| Sutton | Sutton and Cheam, Beddington and Wallington | |
| Tower Hamlets | Bethnal Green, Poplar, Stepney all created 1900 | |
| Waltham Forest | Leyton, Walthamstow, Chingford | |
| Wandsworth | Battersea, Wandsworth both created 1900 | |
| Westminster | Paddington, St Marylebone, Westminster all created 1900 |
Wales
Borough charters granted under section 245 of the Local Government Act 1972 to Welsh districtsThe districts created in 1974 were abolished in 1996 by the Local Government Act 1994. The 1994 Act amended section 245 of the Local Government Act 1972, allowing for the new unitary county councils established by the Act to apply for a charter in a similar manner to the old district councils. On receiving a charter a county became a "county borough".
Welsh unitary authorities granted a charter in 1996 bestowing county borough status
Northern Ireland
The privileges of borough status are that the council chairperson is called "mayor" and up to one quarter of councillors can be called "alderman", and the council can award freedom of the borough. The Municipal Corporations Act 1840 extinguished all the boroughs in Ireland except for ten. In what would in 1921 become Northern Ireland, there were two remaining municipal boroughs in 1840: Belfast and Derry. Five towns with abolished corporations remained parliamentary boroughs until 1885 as did three where any corporation was defunct by 1801. Several of the urban districts in Northern Ireland created under the Local Government Act 1898 later received charters granting borough status. The Local Government Act 1972 replaced the multi-tier local government system with :Template:1972 districts of Northern Ireland|26 unitary districts whose councils could retain the charter of a borough within the district; other districts later received borough charters in their own right. The 2015 local government reforms replaced the 26 districts with 11 larger districts. The "statutory transition committee" handling each council merger had the right to request transfer of borough status as in 1972, and unionist-majority councils did so, while nationalist-majority councils chose not to apply. There were complications where places had city status; therefore Belfast, Derry and Lisburn's borough charters carried over automatically, without the need for the council to pass a resolution. Although Newry received city status in 2002, Newry and Mourne District Council did not receive borough status. In 2015 its successor Newry, Mourne and Down District Council voted not to request borough status, the required two-thirds majority failing after opposition from Sinn Féin.| 2015 borough | 1972–2015 borough | pre-1972 borough | Year of charter | Notes |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | Antrim | 1977 | Antrim town's borough status was extinguished in 1840. It was Antrim's borough charter which the merged council opted to preserve in 2015. | |
| Antrim and Newtownabbey | Newtownabbey | 1977 | ||
| Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon | Armagh | 1997 | Armagh town already had city status granted by letters patent in 1994. Its previous borough status was extinguished in 1840. It was Armagh's borough charter which the merged council opted to preserve in 2015. | |
| Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon | Craigavon | Portadown, Lurgan | 1947, 1949 | |
| Belfast | Belfast | Belfast | 1613 | Charter reformed 1840. City status by letters patent of 1888. |
| Causeway Coast and Glens | Ballymoney | 1977 | ||
| Causeway Coast and Glens | Coleraine | Coleraine | 1928 | Coleraine's previous borough status was extinguished in 1840. It was Coleraine's borough charter which the merged council opted to preserve in 2015. |
| Causeway Coast and Glens | Limavady | 1989 | ||
| Derry and Strabane | Derry | Londonderry | 1604 | Charter reformed 1840. District and borough renamed Derry 1984; name of city remains Londonderry. |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | Castlereagh | 1977 | The new district council is called Lisburn and Castlereagh City Council. | |
| Lisburn and Castlereagh | Lisburn | Lisburn | 1964. | Lisburn was granted city status by letters patent in 2002. |
| Mid and East Antrim | Ballymena | Ballymena | 1937 | |
| Mid and East Antrim | Carrickfergus | Carrickfergus | 1939 | Carrickfergus's previous borough status was extinguished in 1840. It was Carrickfergus's borough charter which the merged council opted to preserve in 2015. |
| Mid and East Antrim | Larne | Larne | 1938 | |
| Ards and North Down | Ards | Newtownards | 1927 | Newtownards' previous borough status was extinguished in 1840. The "North Down and Ards" statutory transition committee voted in 2014 to apply for borough status for the merged district council under the name "East Coast Borough Council", but negative public reaction prompted a rethink, and the name "Ards and North Down" was not finalised until 2016. The charter transfer was delayed until after this. |
| Ards and North Down | North Down | Bangor | 1927 | Bangor's previous borough status was extinguished in 1840. It was North Down's borough charter which the merged council opted to preserve in 2016. |
| Dungannon and South Tyrone | 1999 | Borough status was simultaneous with 1999 renaming the district from "Dungannon". Dungannon town's borough status was extinguished in 1840. Now in Mid-Ulster District. | ||
| Enniskillen | 1949 | Previous borough status was extinguished in 1840. In 1967, Enniskillen Borough Council lost its administrative functions to Fermanagh County Council, but retained its ceremonial role. The post-1972 Fermanagh District Council did not inherit Enniskillen's borough status. Since 2015 in Fermanagh and Omagh District. |