City of Birmingham

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Region: West Midlands
Country: England

§ This page provides an overview of an officially designated city in the UK, bringing together various information to help you better understand this city.

Birmingham was granted city status in 1889 by Queen Victoria, recognising an industrial powerhouse built on metalworking, engineering and civic reform; since 1974 it has been a metropolitan borough within the West Midlands, with most local services delivered by Birmingham City Council and wider transport and development powers coordinated through the West Midlands Combined Authority created in 2016.

City Council Status

Birmingham City Council is a metropolitan district council (since 1974) delivering most local services; regionally it is a constituent of the West Midlands Combined Authority (since 2016) led by the Mayor of the West Midlands.

Civic Honours: Lord Mayors & Lord Provost

Birmingham was granted a Lord Mayoralty by Letters Patent on 3 June 1896.

In the UK, city status and the dignity of Lord Mayor (or Lord Provost in Scotland) are separate honours, each granted by the monarch via letters patent. Of the 76 cities, 28 have a Lord Mayoralty and 4—Scotland’s four cities—have a Lord Provost; these titles don’t automatically follow from city status. A Lord Mayoralty exists in 24 cities in England, 2 in Wales, and 2 in Northern Ireland.

Only 24 cities in England have Lord Mayors: Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Canterbury, Chester, Coventry, Exeter, Kingston-upon-Hull, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, the City of London, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Plymouth, Portsmouth, Sheffield, Southampton, Stoke-on-Trent, the City of Westminster, and York.

In the UK, a city is not defined by size or population but by formal status granted by the monarch, often through historical charters or, more recently, civic honours competitions. There are 76 officially recognised cities, some of which are relatively small compared to other urban areas. In contrast, local authority districts (361 in total) are administrative areas created for local government purposes and may include a mix of urban centres, suburbs, and rural communities. Within districts, there may be one or more towns, which generally refer to sizeable urban settlements but do not hold city status unless it has been formally granted. In practice, a city can exist within a district, and a district can cover multiple towns, showing the clear distinction between legal status, administrative boundaries, and everyday usage.

Cities in West Midlands