Wigan (borough)

Borough of Wigan
Metropolitan borough
Wigan Civic Centre
Coat of Arms of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan Council
Motto: "Progress With Unity"
Wigan shown within Greater Manchester
Coordinates: 53°32′N 2°37′W / 53.533°N 2.617°W / 53.533; -2.617Coordinates: 53°32′N 2°37′W / 53.533°N 2.617°W / 53.533; -2.617
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	North West England
Ceremonial county	Greater Manchester
Admin HQ	Wigan (Civic Centre)
Founded	1 April 1974
Government
• Type	Metropolitan borough
• Governing body	Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council
• Mayor of Wigan	Cllr Susan Loudon (Labour)
• MP's:	Andy Burnham (L) Julie Hilling (L) Lisa Nandy (L) Yvonne Fovargue (L)
Area
• Total	72.66 sq mi (188.19 km2)
Population (mid-2015 est.)
• Total	322,000 (Ranked 26th)
• Ethnicity (United Kingdom estimate 2005)	97.5% White 1.1% S. Asian or mixed
Demonym(s)	Wiganer
Time zone	Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0)
Postcode areas	WN1-3 & WN5-7, M28,M29,M46, WA3
Area code(s)	01942 /01695/ 0161 / 01257
ISO 3166-2	GB-WGN
ONS code	00BW (ONS) E08000010 (GSS)
OS grid reference	SD583055
NUTS 3	UKD32
Website	www.wigan.gov.uk

The Metropolitan Borough of Wigan is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, in North West England. It is named after its largest component town and former county borough, Wigan and includes the towns and villages of Leigh, part of Ashton-in-Makerfield, Ince-in-Makerfield, Hindley, Orrell, Standish, Atherton, Tyldesley, Golborne, Lowton, Billinge, Astley, Haigh and Aspull. The borough was formed in 1974 and is an amalgamation of several former local government districts and parishes. The borough has three civil parishes and lies directly to the west of the City of Salford and southwest of the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton. The local authority is Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council.

Wigan metropolitan borough was created on 1 April 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972. It was formed from the former county borough of Wigan along with other local government units from the administrative county of Lancashire. These were the Municipal Borough of Leigh, the urban districts of Abram, Aspull, Atherton, Hindley, Ince-in-Makerfield, Orrell, Standish and Tyldesley. Ashton-in-Makerfield except for the parish of Seneley Green, the Golborne Urban District except for the parish of Culcheth and Glazebury in Warrington, the Higher End part of Billinge and Winstanley Urban District and the civil parishes of Haigh, Shevington and Worthington from the Wigan Rural District were included.