London metropolitan boroughs (1900–1965) The term "metropolitan borough" was first used for administrative subdivisions of the
County of London between 1900 and 1965. There were 28 of these metropolitan boroughs, which were replaced by a new system of larger
London boroughs in 1965, when the County of London was replaced by
Greater London.
Current metropolitan boroughs The current metropolitan boroughs originated as metropolitan districts created in 1974 as subdivisions of new metropolitan counties, created to cover the six largest urban areas in England outside Greater London. The new districts replaced the previous system of
county boroughs,
municipal boroughs, and
urban and
rural districts. 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
social services and
libraries. In non-metropolitan counties these services were (and are) the responsibility of
county councils. 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,
police and
waste disposal authorities. ==List of metropolitan boroughs==