History of local government in London

The history of local government in London, England, spans a number of periods.

From	Legislation	System
1835	Municipal Corporations Act 1835	The small, ancient and self-governing City of London is unreformed by legislation covering the other major city corporations and does not expand into the growing metropolitan area surrounding it. The area that is currently Greater London is administered by parishes and hundreds in the counties of Middlesex, Essex, Kent, Surrey and Hertfordshire, with very little co-ordination between them. Special areas such as the Liberty of Westminster are exempt from county administration. In other areas ad-hoc single-purpose boards are set up. Commentators consider it to be a system 'in chaos'.
1855	Metropolis Management Act 1855	The Metropolitan Board of Works is created to provide the infrastructure needed in the area now known as Inner London, its members are nominated by the vestries and boards.
1889	Local Government Act 1888	The County of London is created from the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Board of Works. A London County Council shares power with the boards and vestries. The City of London is outside of its scope. Croydon and West Ham (and later East Ham) become county boroughs outside the County of London but also outside the control of the newly formed Surrey and Essex county councils.
1894	Local Government Act 1894	The rest of England, including the area around the County of London and the county boroughs (but not within it), is divided into urban districts and rural districts. In the Greater London area they become consolidated over the next 70 years into municipal boroughs and urban districts with no rural districts remaining. Many districts later become populous enough to apply for county boroughs status, but are rejected. A Royal Commission on the Amalgamation of the City and County of London attempts to facilitate the merger of the City and County of London, but fails.
1900	London Government Act 1899	Metropolitan boroughs are created within the County of London and functions are shared with the London County Council. The vestries, boards and liberties in the area are abolished.
1965	London Government Act 1963	An enlarged Greater London replaces the County of London, Middlesex County Council, the county boroughs and all local government districts within around a 12-mile radius. The mostly strategic Greater London Council shares power with the 32 London boroughs and the City of London.
1986	Local Government Act 1985	The Greater London Council is abolished and the London boroughs work as unitary authorities with strategic functions organised by joint boards and quangos. A residual Inner London Education Authority remains for the inner area, but is abolished during a national reform of education.
2000	Greater London Authority Act 1999	The regional Greater London Authority, consisting of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly assume a strategic function, sharing power with the London boroughs and the City of London.

Gallery

• 
  Logo of the Metropolitan Board of Works
• 
  Coat of arms of London County Council
• 
  Flag of the London County Council (1914-1965)
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  Coat of arms of Greater London Council
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  Banner of the Greater London Council (1965-1986)
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  Greater London Authority logo (2000-2001)
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  Greater London Authority logo (2001–present)
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  Spring Gardens, home of the Metropolitan Board of Works
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  County Hall, former home of the London County Council and Greater London Council
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  Council chamber within County Hall
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  City Hall, London (Southwark), home of the Greater London Authority from 2002 to 2021
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  City Hall, London (Newham), home of the Greater London Authority from January 2022
• 
  City of London (red) compared to Greater London
• 
  County of London shown within England (in 1889)
• 
  Greater London shown within England
• 
  County of London compared to Greater London
• 
  A map of the wards of the City as they were in the late 19th century.

See also

• Local government in London
• History of local government in England
• History of London

Bibliography

• Barlow, IM (1991). Metropolitan Government. Routledge. ISBN 0415020999.
• Kingdom, John E (1991). Local Government and Politics in Britain. Philip Allan - Contemporary Political Studies. ISBN 0860038319.
• Redcliffe-Maud, John; Wood, Bruce (1974). The Pelican History of England. Vol. 8. Oxford University Press. ISBN 019888091X.
• Saint, Andrew, ed. (1989). Politics and the people of London: the London County Council, 1889–1965. Hambledon P. ISBN 1852850299.
• Thompson, David (1973). England in the Nineteenth Century (1815-1914). Penguin Books. ISBN 0140201971. Vol. 8 of The Pelican History of England

Further reading

• Torrens, William McCullagh (1884). The government of London . London: Kegan Paul, Trench, and Co.