City of Southampton

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Region: South East
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.

Southampton secured city status on 24 February 1964, recognising its historic port and maritime role from medieval trade to D-Day embarkations and modern cruise and logistics. It became a non-metropolitan district in 1974 and regained full powers as a unitary authority in 1997. In 2025 the government consulted on creating a ‘Hampshire and the Solent’ Mayoral Combined County Authority covering Southampton, Portsmouth, Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, which would add a regional strategic tier if implemented.

City Council Status

Southampton City Council is a unitary authority (since 1997) delivering principal services across the city; Southampton received city status in 1964.

Civic Honours: Lord Mayors & Lord Provost

Southampton was granted a Lord Mayoralty in 2022 (Letters Patent unveiled in February 2023), with the first Lord Mayor taking office for 2023–24.

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 South East