Metropolitan Board of Works (London, England)

The Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was created in 1855 as the upper tier of local government in the area that later became Inner London, taking charge of public works. The metropolis which the board served included large parts of Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent, lying around the medieval-sized City of London and the larger City of Westminster, and also the areas to the south of the River Thames which were mostly built-up by 1855. Plans to enact a similar body had failed in 1837, but Parliament finally passed the Metropolis Management Act 1855, which dissolved the short-lived Metropolitan Buildings Office and Metropolitan Commission of Sewers and made the new Board effective as of December of that year. The Board endured until it was succeeded by the directly elected London County Council in March 1889, created by the Local Government Act 1888. The Board's principal responsibility was to provide infrastructure to cope with the rapid growth of the metropolis, which it accomplished with varying degrees of success. It also had a parks and open spaces committee which set aside and opened up several landmark parks. The members of the MBW were not directly elected but were appointed by the parish vestries, which were elected by their ratepayers. It was accountable to Parliament, but not to a particular ministry to supervise its accounts. This democratic deficit vexed critics and rate-paying Londoners, especially after its budget grew and some of its members and staff engaged in embezzlement, bribery and breach of fiduciary duty (unfair contract procurement and mismanagement). However, the creation of county councils across the whole country in 1888 indicated a widespread recognition of the advantages of the economies of scale available from uniting parishes in procuring, improving and maintaining energy, street lighting, fire fighting, sanitation, and transport. This also reflected the successful creation of municipal boroughs by the Municipal Corporations Act 1835.