Editing Peterborough (section)

==Governance==
{{main|Peterborough City Council}}
[[File:Town Hall, Peterborough - geograph.org.uk - 3900218.jpg|thumb|[[Peterborough Town Hall]]: Meeting place of the city council]]
There is one main tier of local government covering Peterborough, at [[Unitary authorities of England|unitary authority]] level, being [[Peterborough City Council]], which meets at [[Peterborough Town Hall]] and has its main offices at Sand Martin House on Bittern Way.<ref>{{cite web |title=Meetings calendar |url=https://democracy.peterborough.gov.uk/mgCalendarAgendaView.aspx?MR=0&M=5&DD=2024&CID=0&OT=&C=-1&D=27 |website=Peterborough City Council |access-date=27 May 2024}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/politics/new-era-peterborough-city-council-move-fletton-quays-579322|title=New era for Peterborough City Council with move to Fletton Quays|date=18 September 2018|publisher=Peterborough Today|accessdate=17 July 2020}}</ref> The city council is also a member of the [[Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority]], led by the directly elected [[Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough]].

The area governed by the city council is the [[non-metropolitan district|district]] of [[City of Peterborough|Peterborough]], which extends beyond the urban area of Peterborough itself to include surrounding villages and rural areas, particularly to the north-west and north-east. Peterborough's [[City status in the United Kingdom|city status]] is formally held by the local government district rather than the urban area.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=46334|page=7419|date=28 June 1974}}</ref> Much of the Peterborough urban area is [[unparished area|unparished]], but some of the suburbs are included in [[civil parishes]], including [[Bretton, Peterborough|Bretton]], [[Hampton Hargate and Vale]], [[Orton Longueville]], and [[Orton Waterville]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Election Maps |url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/ |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=27 May 2024}}</ref>

===Administrative history===
Peterborough was an [[ancient parish]], which was historically in the [[Nassaburgh hundred]] of [[Northamptonshire]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Peterborough Ancient Parish / Civil Parish |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10279690 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=27 May 2024}}</ref> The parish was divided into five [[Hamlet (place)|hamlets]] or townships: [[Dogsthorpe]], [[Eastfield, Peterborough|Eastfield]], [[Longthorpe]], [[Newark, Peterborough|Newark]] and a Peterborough township covering the central part of the parish including the town. Within the Peterborough township was an [[extra-parochial area]] known as the Minster Precincts, covering St Peter's Abbey and its [[Cathedral close|close]]. When the former abbey church became [[Peterborough Cathedral]] in 1541, Peterborough was thereafter deemed to be a [[City status in the United Kingdom|city]]. The area originally holding city status was the Peterborough township plus the Minster Precincts.<ref name=1832commissioners>{{cite book |title=Reports from Commissioners on proposed division of Counties and boundaries of Boroughs: Volume II, Part II |date=1832 |page=159 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vEhJAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA156-IA7 |access-date=27 May 2024}}</ref>

Although made a city in 1541, at that time Peterborough was not a [[Borough status in the United Kingdom|borough]] (despite including the word in its name). Prior to the [[dissolution of the monasteries|dissolution]] of the abbey in 1539, the abbey had been the [[manorialism|manorial]] owner of the town; that ownership passed to the new cathedral authorities. A [[Peterborough (UK Parliament constituency)|Peterborough constituency]] was also created in 1541, covering the same area as the city.<ref name=1832commissioners/><ref>{{cite web |title=Peterborough |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/constituencies/peterborough |website=The History of Parliament |access-date=27 May 2024}}</ref>

In 1790 a body of [[improvement commissioners]] was established to provide public services in the city.<ref>{{cite web |title=Local Government archives |url=https://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/residents/libraries-leisure-culture/archives/archives-a-to-z/archives-a-to-z-l-to-m |website=Cambridgeshire County Council |access-date=27 May 2024}}</ref> In 1874 Peterborough was incorporated as a [[municipal borough]], with the commissioners replaced by an elected council initially comprising a mayor, six [[aldermen]] and eighteen [[councillors]].<ref>Under the [[Municipal Corporations Act 1835]] ([[5 & 6 Will. 4]]. c. 76), Charter of Incorporation dated 17 March 1874.</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Peterborough Municipal Borough |url=https://visionofbritain.org.uk/unit/10136805#tab02 |website=A Vision of Britain through Time |publisher=GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth |access-date=27 May 2024}}</ref>

The municipal borough was abolished in 1974 when the modern district was created, being a lower tier [[non-metropolitan district]], with the area also being transferred to Cambridgeshire at the same time.<ref>[[Local Government Act 1972]]</ref> In 1998 the Peterborough district was removed from the [[non-metropolitan county]] of Cambridgeshire (the area governed by [[Cambridgeshire County Council]]) to become a unitary authority, whilst remaining part of the [[ceremonial county]] of Cambridgeshire for the purposes of [[Lord-lieutenant|lieutenancy]] and [[shrievalty]].<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Cambridgeshire (City of Peterborough) (Structural, Boundary and Electoral Changes) Order 1996|year=1996|number=1878|access-date=27 May 2024}}</ref>