Cities in the UK

Introduction

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 designated 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 townss

What is City Status in the UK?

In the UK, city status is an honorific legal title granted by the monarch—formally by letters patent on ministerial advice. It isn’t based on population size, a university, or a particular type of council, and it doesn’t confer extra legal powers or funding; it simply entitles the place to call itself a “city.” In practice the status is held by a local government body or area (e.g., a district/borough or a civil parish/community), whose council may style itself a “city council,” but that label isn’t a separate tier of authority. Recent grants are often made via national competitions tied to royal occasions (e.g., the Platinum Jubilee 2022 round), and the UK government maintains the official list of cities (76 in the UK as of 29 August 2022). Having a cathedral is not required—that association is historical, and modern practice uses ministerial assessment and letters patent. City status can be transferred or (rarely) lost during local-government reorganisations, with charter trustees sometimes used to preserve civic status.

Civic Honours: Lord Mayors & Provosts

In the UK, city status and the dignity of Lord Mayor (or Lord Provost in Scotland) are separate honours. Of the 76 officially recognised cities, only some have also been granted the higher civic style: 28 with a Lord Mayoralty and 4 with a Lord Provostship. These titles are conferred individually by the monarch—typically via letters patent—as marks of distinction for a city’s historic importance, size, or national role. A Lord Mayoralty is used in certain cities in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, while the title Lord Provost is unique to Scotland’s four principal cities; neither title automatically follows from gaining city status.

Functionally, a Lord Mayor/Lord Provost is the city’s first citizen and ceremonial head: presiding over council meetings, representing the place at civic and charitable events, and promoting local identity. The role doesn’t add executive powers or extra funding; day-to-day decision-making remains with the council leader or, where applicable, a directly elected mayor, and with combined authorities in devolved areas. Where local government has been reorganised, these dignities are often preserved or re-granted to successor bodies (sometimes via charter trustees) so the city’s historic civic traditions continue even as administrative structures evolve.

Civil Parish & Community

In the UK, a small group of cities hold their city status at the lowest tier of local government. In England, there are eight such cases where the status is vested in a civil parish whose council styles itself a City Council: Chichester, Ely, Hereford, Lichfield, Ripon, Salisbury, Truro, and Wells. In Wales, there are three where the status is vested in a community with a City Council at that community tier: Bangor, St Asaph, and St Davids. In these places, the parish/community council carries the civic identity (mayoralty where applicable, charter, regalia) and raises a small precept for hyper-local functions, while most public services are delivered by the relevant principal authority (district or unitary council).

This arrangement differs from most other UK cities, where city status is attached to the principal local authority area—for example, a unitary authority (e.g., Cardiff, Leicester), a metropolitan borough (e.g., Manchester, Sheffield), or a non-metropolitan district within a county (e.g., Cambridge, Gloucester). There, the principal council itself is the “city council” (or adopts that style), and the status covers the whole council area. By contrast, in parish/community-based cities, the status is held by the parish/community body, typically covering the historic city core, not the wider district or county area around it. A third, rarer arrangement exists where neither a parish nor a stand-alone city council exists: charter trustees (e.g., Bath, Carlisle, Chester, Durham) maintain the civic traditions of the historic city inside a larger principal authority.

Charter Trustees

In the UK, charter trustees are bodies set up to preserve a city or borough’s historic civic identity—most notably the mayoralty and ceremonial traditions—when local-government changes remove the former city/borough council and there’s no successor parish/town council to take over. Trustees are usually drawn from councillors of the principal authority for the wards covering the historic city area, and they can set a small council-tax precept to fund civic functions.

Among the UK’s officially designated cities, four currently have charter trustees: Bath, Carlisle, Chester, and Durham.

List of cities in the UK

Select a region : (not specify) East of England East Midlands London North East England North West England South East England South West England West Midlands Yorkshire and the Humber Northern Ireland Scotland Wales OR city type : (not specify) Non-metropolitan borough Metropolitan borough Unitary authority Civil parish Represented on wider districts Charter trustees Scotland Council Area Part of Scotland Council Area Wales Principal Area Wales Community to filter the list.

The “LM,LP” column indicates if a city has also been awarded a Lord Mayoralty (LM) or Lord Provostship (LP).

Show those cities that have been awarded : (not specify) Lord Mayoralty Lord Provostship

Note: (*) Years shown indicate when city status was granted, confirmed, reconfirmed or transferred (usually by letters patent); for ancient cities they may reflect the earliest recorded charter or a 1974/1996 reorganisation confirmation (issue vs presentation dates can differ), so credible sources may cite different years.