| Ekistics |
|---|
.svg){kind=icon} |
| Terms |
| Lists |
 Cities portal |
Aborough is anadministrative division in variousEnglish-speaking countries. In principle, the termborough designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
In theMiddle Ages, boroughs were settlements in England that were granted someself-government;burghs were the Scottish equivalent. Inmedieval England, boroughs were also entitled to elect members ofparliament. The use of the wordborough probably derives from the burghal system ofAlfred the Great. Alfred set up a system of defensive strong points (Burhs); in order to maintain these particular settlements, he granted them a degree of autonomy. After theNorman Conquest, when certain towns were granted self-governance, the concept of the burh/borough seems to have been reused to mean a self-governing settlement.
The concept of the borough has been used repeatedly (and often differently) throughout the world. Often, a borough is a single town with its own local government. However, in some cities it is a subdivision of the city (for example,New York City,London, andMontreal). In such cases, the borough will normally have either limited powers delegated to it by the city's local government, or no powers at all. In other places, such as theU.S. state ofAlaska,borough designates a wholeregion; Alaska's largest borough, theNorth Slope Borough, is comparable in area to the entireUnited Kingdom, although its population is less than that ofSwanage on England's south coast with around 9,600 inhabitants. InAustralia, aborough was once a self-governing small town, but this designation has all but vanished, except for the only remaining borough in the country, which is theBorough of Queenscliffe.
Boroughs as administrative units are to be found inIreland and the United Kingdom, more specifically in England andNorthern Ireland. Boroughs also exist in theCanadian province ofQuebec and formerly inOntario, in some states of the United States, inIsrael, formerly inNew Zealand and only one left in Australia.
The wordborough derives from theOld English wordburg,burh, meaning afortified settlement; the word appears as modern Englishbury,-brough,Scotsburgh,[1]borg in Scandinavian languages,-bert in Dutch andBurg in German.
A number of other European languages have cognate words that were borrowed from the Germanic languages during theMiddle Ages, includingbrog inIrish,bwr orbwrc, meaning "wall, rampart" inWelsh,bourg inFrench,burg inCatalan (in Catalonia there is a town namedBurg),borgo inItalian,burgo in Portuguese, Galician and Castilian (hence the castilian place-nameBurgos, galician place-namesO Burgo andMalburgo), the-bork ofLębork andMalbork in Polish and the-bor ofMaribor in Slovenian.
The 'burg' element, which means "castle" or "fortress", is often confused with 'berg' meaning "hill" or "mountain" (cf.iceberg,inselberg). Hence the 'berg' element inBergen orHeidelberg relates to a hill, rather than a fort. In some cases, the 'berg' element in place names has converged towards burg/borough; for instance Farnborough, fromfernaberga (fern-hill).
A quite distinct wordborough, a variant ofborgh orborow, was sometimes used historically in south-east England (the county ofKent, and parts ofSurrey andSussex), to mean what was elsewhere called atithing, a subdivision of amanor orcivil parish.[2][3] The head of such a unit might be known as aheadborough. This usage is not to be confused with the more widespread meaning ofborough as a privileged town.
InAustralia, the term "borough" is an occasionally used term for a local government area. Currently there is only one borough in Australia, theBorough of Queenscliffe inVictoria, although there have been more in the past. However, in some cases it can be integrated into the council's name instead of used as an official title, such as theKingborough Council inTasmania.
InQuebec, the termborough is generally used as the English translation ofarrondissement, referring to an administrative division of a municipality, or a district. Eight municipalities are divided into boroughs: SeeList of boroughs in Quebec.
InOntario, it was previously used to denote suburban municipalities inMetropolitan Toronto, including Scarborough, York, North York and Etobicoke prior to their conversions to cities. The Borough ofEast York was the last Toronto municipality to hold this status, relinquishing it upon becoming part of theCity of Toronto government on January 1, 1998.
TheColombian municipalities are subdivided into boroughs (English translation of the Spanish termlocalidades) with a local executive and an administrative board for local government. These boroughs are divided into neighborhoods.
There are four borough districts designated by theLocal Government Reform Act 2014:Clonmel,Drogheda,Sligo, andWexford. Alocal boundary review reporting in 2018 proposed granting borough status to any district containing acensus town with a population over 30,000; this would have included the towns ofDundalk,Bray, andNavan.[4] This would have required an amendment to the 2014 Act, promised for 2019 by ministerJohn Paul Phelan.[5]
Historically, there were 117 parliamentary boroughs in theIrish House of Commons, of which 80 were disfranchised by theActs of Union 1800. All but 11 municipal boroughs were abolished under theMunicipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840. Under theLocal Government (Ireland) Act 1898, six of these becamecounty boroughs:Dublin,Belfast,Cork,Derry,Limerick andWaterford. From 1921, Belfast and Derry were part ofNorthern Ireland and stayed within theUnited Kingdom on the establishment of theIrish Free State in 1922.
Galway was a borough from 1937 until upgraded to a county borough in 1985.[6][7] The county boroughs in the Republic of Ireland were redesignated as "cities" under theLocal Government Act 2001.
Dún Laoghaire was a borough from 1930 until merged intoDún Laoghaire–Rathdown county in 1994.[8][9]
There were five borough councils in place at the time of the Local Government Reform Act 2014 which abolished all second-tier local government units of borough and town councils. Each local government authority outside of Dublin, Cork City and Galway City was divided into areas termedmunicipal districts. In four of the areas which had previously been contained borough councils, as listed above, these were instead termed Borough Districts. Kilkenny had previously had a borough council, but its district was to be called the Municipal District of Kilkenny City, in recognition of its historiccity status.[10]
Under Israeli law, inherited fromBritish Mandate municipal law, the possibility of creating a municipal borough exists. However, no borough was actually created under law until 2005–2006, whenNeve Monosson andMaccabim-Re'ut, both communal settlements (Heb:yishuv kehilati) founded in 1953 and 1984, respectively, were declared to be autonomous municipal boroughs (Heb:vaad rova ironi), within their mergers with the towns ofYehud andModi'in. Similar structures have been created under different types of legal status over the years in Israel, notablyKiryat Haim inHaifa,Jaffa inTel Aviv-Yafo andRamot andGilo inJerusalem. However, Neve Monosson is the first example of a full municipal borough actually declared under law by the Minister of the Interior, under a model subsequently adopted inMaccabim-Re'ut as well.[citation needed]
InMexico as translations fromEnglish to Spanish applied toMexico City, the wordborough has resulted in adelegación (delegation), referring to the 16 administrative areas within Mexico City, now calledalcaldías.
New Zealand formerly used the term borough to designate self-governing towns of more than 1,000 people, although 19th century census records show many boroughs with populations as low as 200.[11] A borough of more than 20,000 people could become a city by proclamation. Boroughs and cities were collectively known as municipalities, and wereenclaves separate from their surrounding counties. Boroughs proliferated in the suburban areas of the larger cities: By the 1980s there were 19 boroughs and three cities in the area that is now the City of Auckland.
In the 1980s, some boroughs and cities began to be merged with their surrounding counties to formdistricts with a mixed urban and rural population. Anationwide reform of local government in 1989 completed the process. Counties and boroughs were abolished and all boundaries were redrawn. Under the new system, most territorial authorities cover both urban and rural land. The more populated councils are classified as cities, and the more rural councils are classified as districts. OnlyKawerau District, an enclave withinWhakatāne District, continues to follow the tradition of a small town council that does not include surrounding rural area.
InTrinidad and Tobago, a Borough is a unit ofLocal Government. There are 5 boroughs in The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago:
During the medieval period many towns were granted self-governance by the Crown, at which point they became referred to as boroughs. The formal status of borough came to be conferred byRoyal Charter. These boroughs were generally governed by a self-selecting corporation (i.e., when a member died or resigned his replacement would be byco-option). Sometimes boroughs were governed bybailiffs.
Debates on the Reform Bill (eventually theReform Act 1832) lamented the diversity of polity of such town corporations, and aRoyal Commission was set up to investigate this. This resulted in a regularisation of municipal government by theMunicipal Corporations Act 1835. 178 of the ancient boroughs were re-formed asmunicipal boroughs, with all municipal corporations to be elected according to a standard franchise based on property ownership. The unreformed boroughs lapsed in borough status, or were reformed (or abolished) later. Several new municipal boroughs were formed in the new industrial cities after the bill enacted, per its provisions.
As part of a large-scale reform of local government in England and Walesin 1974, municipal boroughs were finally abolished (having become increasingly irrelevant). However, the civic traditions of many were continued by the grant of acharter to their successor district councils. As to smallest boroughs, atown council was formed for an alike zone, whilecharter trustees were formed for a few others. A successor body is allowed to use the regalia of the old corporation, and appoint ceremonial office holders such as sword and mace bearers as provided in their original charters. The council, or trustees, may apply for anOrder in Council orRoyal Licence to use thecoat of arms.
From 1265, two burgesses from each borough were summoned to theParliament of England, alongside twoknights from eachcounty. Thus parliamentary constituencies were derived from the ancient boroughs. Representation in theHouse of Commons was decided by the House itself, which resulted in boroughs being established in some small settlements for the purposes of parliamentary representation, despite their possessing no actual corporation.
After the 1832 Reform Act, which disenfranchised many of therotten boroughs (boroughs that had declined in importance, had only a small population, and had only a handful of eligible voters), parliamentary constituencies began to diverge from the ancient boroughs. While many ancient boroughs remained as municipal boroughs, they were disenfranchised by the Reform Act.
TheLocal Government Act 1888 established a new sort of borough – the county borough. These were designed to be 'counties-to-themselves'; administrative divisions to sit alongside the new administrative counties. They allowed urban areas to be administered separately from the more rural areas. They, therefore, often contained pre-existing municipal boroughs, which thereafter became part of the second tier of local government, below the administrative counties and county boroughs.
The county boroughs were, like the municipal boroughs, abolished in 1974, being reabsorbed into their parent counties for administrative purposes.
In 1899, as part of a reform of local government in theCounty of London, the various parishes in London were reorganised as new entities, the 'metropolitan boroughs'. These were reorganised further whenGreater London was formed out of Middlesex, parts of Surrey, Kent, Essex, Hertfordshire and the County of London in 1965. These council areas are now referred to as "London boroughs" rather than "metropolitan boroughs".
When the new metropolitan counties (Greater Manchester,Merseyside,South Yorkshire,Tyne and Wear,West Midlands, andWest Yorkshire) were created in 1974, their sub-divisions also became metropolitan boroughs in many, but not all, cases; in many cases these metropolitan boroughs recapitulated abolished county boroughs (for example,Stockport). The metropolitan boroughs possessed slightly more autonomy from the metropolitan county councils than the shire county districts did from their county councils.
With the abolition of the metropolitan county councils in 1986, these metropolitan boroughs became independent, and continue to be so at present.
Elsewhere in England a number ofdistricts andunitary authority areas are called "borough". Until 1974, this was a status that denoted towns with a certain type of local government (amunicipal corporation, or a self-governing body). Since 1974, it has been a purely ceremonial style granted by royal charter to districts which may consist of a single town or may include a number of towns or rural areas. Borough status entitles the council chairman to bear the title ofmayor. Districts may apply to theBritish Crown for the grant of borough status upon advice of thePrivy Council of the United Kingdom.
InNorthern Ireland, local government was reorganised in 1973. Under the legislation that created the 26districts of Northern Ireland, a district council whose area included an existingmunicipal borough could resolve to adopt the charter of the old municipality and thus continue to enjoy borough status. Districts that do not contain a former borough can apply for a charter in a similar manner to English districts.
In the United States, a borough is a unit oflocal government or otheradministrative division below the level of thestate. The term is currently used in seven states.
The following states use, or have used, the word with the following meanings:
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
The dictionary definition ofborough at Wiktionary