 | County borough: Encyclopedia - County borough
County borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (excluding Scotland), to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. The Local Government Act 1972 abolished them in England and Wales, but they are still used in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 re-introduced the term for certain unitary authorities in Wales.
County borough - History
When county councils were first created in 1889, it was decided that to let them have authority over large towns or cities would be impractical, and so any large incorporated place would have the right to be a county borough, and thus independent from the administrative county it would otherwise come under. Originally 10 county boroughs were proposed, but the Local Government Act 1888 as passed eventually created 61 in England, and two in Wales. (The ten in question were Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Hull, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Nottingham and Sheffield.)
Initially, a town had to have a population of over 50,000 to apply for county borough status. The granting of county borough status was a subject of much argument between the large municipal boroughs and the county councils. Additionally, county borough borders were tightly constrained because of county council reluctance to give up their tax base.
1913 saw the attempts of Luton and Cambridge to gain county borough status defeated in the House of Commons, despite the approval of the Local Government Board — the removal of Cambridge from Cambridgeshire would have reduced the income of Cambridgeshire County Council by over half.
Upon recommendation of a commission chaired by the Earl of Onslow, the population threshold was raised to 75,000 in 1926, by the Local Government (County Boroughs and Adjustments) Act 1926, which also made it much harder to expand boundaries. The threshold was raised to 100,000 later on.
After the Second World War, the creation of new county boroughs in England and Wales was effectively suspended, pending a local government review. In the 1960s, with no sign of this review being ready - Luton, Torbay and Solihull were allowed to be made county boroughs, Teesside formed from the merger of Middlesbrough and Stockton-on-Tees, and West Hartlepool expanded into Hartlepool, making a total of 79 in England.
The county boroughs of East Ham, West Ham and Croydon were abolished in 1965 with the creation of Greater London. The remaining county boroughs were abolished in 1974, and replaced with non-metropolitan districts and metropolitan districts, all in a two-tier structure with county councils.
This situation did not persist, and many of the old county boroughs have now regained independence as unitary authorities - essentially the same as a county borough. In Wales some of the unitary authorities are actually called county boroughs.
Of the former English county boroughs, most are now either unitary authorities, or in unitary authorities. Barrow-in-Furness, Burnley, Canterbury, Carlisle, Chester, Eastbourne, Exeter, Gloucester, Hastings, Lincoln, Northampton, Oxford, Preston, Worcester and Yarmouth have given their names to non-unitary local government districts (in some cases coterminous with the old county borough - in other cases much larger). One, Burton-upon-Trent became an unparished area in the East Staffordshire borough, and has now been divided into several parishes.
All of the former county boroughs in Wales are now unitary authorities.
In the Republic of Ireland, the relevant legislation remained still in force (although amended), and county boroughs on the original model existed prior to 2001. Under the Local Government Act 2001 (which replaced most existing local government legislation in Ireland), the term "County Borough" was abolished and replaced with "City" (and hence, "Corporation" with "City Council"). However Kilkenny, while a city, is instead regarded as a town (and part of the county council area) for local government purposes. It is allowed to use the title "Borough Council" instead of "Town Council" however.
In Northern Ireland, local government has not used them since 1973, but the county boroughs remain in use for Lieutenancy.
Scotland did not have "county boroughs" but instead counties of cities. These were abolished on May 16, 1975. All four Scottish cities of the time were included in this category - Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. There was an additional category of large burgh in the Scottish system, these covered everything apart from police, education and fire.
Municipal borough, Metropolitan borough, London borough
County borough - Current county boroughs
County borough - Republic of Ireland
- Cork - Cork City Council (formerly Corporation)
- Dublin - Dublin City Council (formerly Corporation)
- Galway (since 1986)
- Limerick - Limerick City Council (formerly Limerick Corporation)
- Waterford
County borough - Northern Ireland
The two county boroughs in Northern Ireland are only in use for Lieutenancy.
County borough - Wales
- Merthyr Tydfil
- Caerphilly
- Blaenau Gwent
- Torfaen
- Vale of Glamorgan
- Bridgend
- Rhondda Cynon Taf
- Neath Port Talbot
- Wrexham
- Conwy
(Newport was a made a county borough again in 1996. In 2002 it acquired city status.)
For all practical purposes, county boroughs are exactly the same as the other principal areas of Wales called "counties" or "cities" as all these areas are run by unitary authorities (i.e.: have the functions of both boroughs and counties).
County borough - Historical county boroughs
The map depicts the county boroughs in England immediately prior to their abolition in 1974.
This table shows those county boroughs that existed in England and Wales between the Local Government Acts of 1888 (that created them) and 1974 (that abolished them). It also shows which of those places has become a unitary authority again since, either as-is or as part of a larger unitary authority.
See also
- Municipal borough
- Metropolitan borough
- London borough
Categories: Boroughs of the United Kingdom | Local government in the Republic of Ireland
Other related archives1889, 1960s, 1965, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1986, 2002, Aberdeen, Barrow-in-Furness, Belfast, Birmingham, Blaenau Gwent, Boroughs of the United Kingdom, Bradford, Bridgend, Bristol, Burnley, Burton-upon-Trent, Caerphilly, Cambridge, Canterbury, Carlisle, Chester, Conwy, Cork, Croydon, Dublin, Dundee, Earl of Onslow, East Ham, East Staffordshire, Eastbourne, Edinburgh, England, England and Wales, Exeter, Galway, Glasgow, Gloucester, Greater London, Hartlepool, Hastings, House of Commons, Hull, Kilkenny, Leeds, Lieutenancy, Limerick, Lincoln, Liverpool, Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, Local Government Act 1888, Local Government Act 1972, Local Government Board, Local government in the Republic of Ireland, London borough, Londonderry, Luton, Manchester, May 16, Merthyr Tydfil, Metropolitan borough, Middlesbrough, Municipal borough, Neath Port Talbot, Newcastle upon Tyne, Newport, Northampton, Northern Ireland, Nottingham, Oxford, Preston, Republic of Ireland, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Scotland, Second World War, Sheffield, Solihull, Stockton-on-Tees, Teesside, Torbay, Torfaen, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, Waterford, West Ham, West Hartlepool, Worcester, Wrexham, Yarmouth, administrative county, borough, boroughs, city, city status, counties, counties of cities, county council, county councils, large burgh, local government districts, metropolitan districts, non-metropolitan districts, principal areas of Wales, unitary authorities
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "County borough", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
