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Concept
Borough status in the United Kingdom
Summary
Borough 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.
Ancient borough
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 (1840 in Ireland). By the time of their abolition there were three types:
County boroughs
Municipal or non-county boroughs
Rural boroughs
Many of the older boroughs could trace their origin to medieval charters or were boroughs by prescription, with Saxon origins. Most of the boroughs created after 1835 were new industrial, resort or suburban towns that had grown up after the industrial revolution. Borough corporations could also have the status of a city.
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 (Ireland) Act 1840
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.
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