A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of local government district in England, covering urban areas within metropolitan counties.

Historically, between 1899 and 1965 metropolitan boroughs were sub-divisions of the County of London. When Greater London was created in 1965 they were replaced with larger London boroughs.

The current metropolitan boroughs were created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972. New metropolitan counties were created to cover the six largest urban areas in England, and these were subdivided into metropolitan boroughs. (The new authorities were actually defined as metropolitan districts, but since they inherited the status of their predecessors, all metropolitan districts have borough or city status.) Unlike the non-metropolitan districts, the metropolitan districts were also Local Education Authorities. Prior to 1974 most of the metropolitan boroughs had been County boroughs.

In 1986 the metropolitan county councils (MCCs) were abolished (by the Local Government Act 1985) and most of their functions were devolved to the boroughs, making them to a large extent unitary authorities. However, this description is not normally used; although most of the functions of the MCCs were devolved to the boroughs, some of their functions were taken over by joint boards - the boroughs appoint councillors to these boards to run some county-wide services, including emergency services, public transport, waste disposal and civil defence.

The metropolitan boroughs are:

For the historic London metropolitan boroughs see County of London.

See also

• County Borough
• Subdivisions of England
• Passenger Transport Executive