Wigan Council

Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council (Wigan MBC), or simply Wigan Council, is the unitary authority responsible for the parts of Lancashire that make up the administrative county Metropolitan Borough of Wigan. It is centred on the market town Wigan, which is the largest settlement in the council area, and also includes several smaller towns, namely Atherton, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Golborne, Hindley, Ince-in-Makerfield, Leigh and Tyldesley.

Wigan Council is administered from Town Hall in Wigan. As of 2024, it has been a unitary authority and therefore responsible for all local government functions within the council area in question. Prior to 1986, the council area was one of the metropolitan boroughs into which the now-defunct Greater Manchester County Council's area was split. Similar to non-metropolitan council areas today, functions were divided between the metropolitan county council and the metropolitan borough council. However, metropolitan borough councils had more powers than the non-metropolitan districts into which the non-metropolitan council areas were divided, in that they were responsible for the provision of education and social services in their areas. The borough forms a part of the county for the purposes of lieutenancy Greater Manchester, as well as the area covered by the like-named combined authority.