A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts within metropolitan counties. All of the metropolitan districts have been granted or regranted giving them borough status (and in some cases, they also have city status).Local Government Act 1972, Schedule I, Part I, Metropolitan Counties and Metropolitan Districts Metropolitan boroughs have been effectively unitary authority areas since the abolition of metropolitan county councils by the Local Government Act 1985.Local Government Act 1985 c.51 Metropolitan boroughs pool much of their authority in joint boards and other arrangements that cover whole metropolitan counties, such as local enterprise partnerships and combined authorities, with most of the latter having a directly elected metropolitan mayor.
Metropolitan districts were originally parts of a two-tier structure of local government, and shared power with metropolitan county councils. They differed from non-metropolitan districts in the division of powers between district and county councils. Metropolitan districts were local education authorities, and were also responsible for and library. In non-metropolitan counties these services were (and are) the responsibility of .
Many metropolitan districts were boroughs from their establishment on 1 April 1974; others gained borough status later.
In 1986 the metropolitan county councils were abolished under the Local Government Act 1985 and most of their functions were devolved to the metropolitan boroughs, making them, to a large extent, unitary authorities in all but name. At the same time some of the functions of the abolished metropolitan county councils were taken over by joint bodies such as passenger transport authorities, and joint fire authority, police authority and waste disposal authorities.
The 36 metropolitan boroughs are:
Metropolitan district councils
1,365,000 2,573,200 1,290,000 1,299,000 2,916,458 2,161,200
See also
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