History of local government in English towns and cities

Historically, it was possible for significant towns and cities to acquire powers of self-government that were not available to smaller towns or rural areas. In many cases these powers were granted piecemeal through royal charters or Acts of Parliament granting specific rights to individual towns and cities.

Forms of urban local government have evolved over time and successive reforms since the 19th century have changed the way in which towns and cities are governed, but some traces of their historic status remain.

Local government reforms have often, but not always, applied to both England and Wales. This briefing focuses on local government in English towns and cities.

From the medieval period, borough status gave towns and cities in England certain rights of self-government. Borough status could be granted by royal charter or by prescription, meaning that the town or city had historically been self-governing and so had borough status through custom. The rights of boroughs varied depending on what each borough had been granted by royal charter, but a borough’s rights could include:

• independence from the jurisdiction of the courts of the surrounding county
• special rules around taxation
• the right to hold fairs and markets
• the right to representation in Parliament

Over time many boroughs became ‘incorporated’, meaning that they were governed by corporations similar to the City of London Corporation today. A town or city that was large or significant enough could be designated as a ‘county corporate’ or a ‘county of itself’. A county corporate was administratively separate from the neighbouring county and had the right to appoint their own sheriffs to administer justice.

Successive Acts of Parliament in the 19th century reformed local government. As local government began to provide more services, a range of ad hoc committees and boards emerged, each handling specific services such as poor relief or public health and sanitation. The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 converted some towns and cities into ‘municipal boroughs’, where corporations were replaced by elected town councils. Later, the Local Government Act 1888 created ‘county boroughs’, where towns of exceptional importance were kept administratively separate from the neighbouring county, similar to counties corporate in the medieval era.

However, county boroughs were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972, which divided responsibility for local services between two tiers of local government: the lower-tier district councils and the upper-tier county councils. Under the Local Government Act 1992, some areas then became ‘unitary authorities’ with a single tier of local government, providing the services of both a county and a district council.

Under the current system of local government, a town or city can be subject to one or more levels of local government.

Some areas are governed by unitary authorities, which provide all local government services. Unitary authorities can cover:

• a large town or city, such as Nottingham City Council
• part of a county, such as Thurrock Council in Essex
• a whole county, such as Cornwall Council

Other areas are governed by a two-tier system, where a county council provides services such as education and adult social care to the whole county while district councils (known in some places as city or borough councils) provide services such as refuse collection and leisure services to a smaller area.

As of April 2025, fifteen areas are governed by combined authorities or combined county authorities, where neighbouring local councils are grouped together, in some cases under a directly elected mayor. Combined authorities and combined county authorities have greater devolution of powers from central government compared to other areas. London has a unique model of local government which is broadly similar to a combined authority.

In any of these systems, parish councils (known in some places as town councils, community councils or city councils) can operate in a smaller area, providing services such as maintenance of local amenities. Parish councils are not a mandatory tier of local government and do not exist in all parts of the country. Parish councils have traditionally been less common in urban areas, though a parish council can cover either a whole town or city or a neighbourhood within it. Currently, roughly 40% of the population of England lives in an area with a parish council.