View source for Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead

{{Short description|Borough and unitary authority in Berkshire, England}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox settlement
| official_name                   = Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead
| settlement_type                 = [[Royal borough]], [[Unitary authorities of England|unitary authority area]], [[Borough status in the United Kingdom|borough]]
<!-- images and maps  -----------> 
| image_skyline                  = {{multiple image
| border = infobox| perrow       = 1/2/2| total_width = 300|align=center
| image1 = Grenfell Road, Maidenhead - geograph.org.uk - 4252327.jpg
| image2 = Church Street, Windsor - geograph.org.uk - 3097367.jpg
| image3 = Ascot Racecourse Grandstand - geograph.org.uk - 1852333.jpg
| image4 = Eton College.jpg
| image5 = View of Windsor castle from the park.jpg
}}
| image_caption = {{ubl|From left to right|Top: Grenfell Road, [[Maidenhead]] |Middle: [[St John the Baptist Church, Windsor|Church]] Street, [[Windsor, Berkshire|Windsor]] and [[Ascot, Berkshire|Ascot]] [[Ascot Racecourse|Racecourse Grand Stand]] |Bottom: [[Eton, Berkshire|Eton]] [[Eton College|College]] and [[Windsor Castle]]}}
| image_shield                    = Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead Coa.svg
| blank_emblem_size               = 180px
| image_map                       = Windsor and Maidenhead UK locator map.svg
| mapsize                         = 
| map_alt                         = 
| map_caption                     = Shown within [[Berkshire]]
| coordinates                     = {{coord|51.4667|-0.6667|region:GB|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| subdivision_type                = [[List of sovereign states|Sovereign state]]
| subdivision_name                = United Kingdom
| subdivision_type1               = [[Countries of the United Kingdom|Constituent country]]
| subdivision_name1               = England
| subdivision_type2               = [[Regions of England|Region]]
| subdivision_name2               = [[South East England]]
| subdivision_type3               = [[Ceremonial county]]
| subdivision_name3               = [[Berkshire]]
| subdivision_type4               = Status
| subdivision_name4               = [[Unitary authorities of England|Unitary authority]]
| subdivision_type5               = Admin HQ
| established_title1              = Incorporated
| established_date1               = 1 April 1974
| seat_type                       = Admin HQ
| seat                            = [[Maidenhead]]
| government_type                 = Unitary authority
| governing_body                  = [[Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council]]
| leader_title1                   = [[List of MPs elected in the 2017 United Kingdom general election|MPs]]
| leader_name1                    = {{plainlist|
* [[Jack Rankin (politician)|Jack Rankin]] ([[Windsor (UK Parliament constituency)|Windsor]])
* [[Joshua Reynolds (politician)|Joshua Reynolds]] ([[Maidenhead (UK Parliament constituency)|Maidenhead]])
}}
| area_total_km2                  = 198.43
| area_rank                       = {{English district area rank|GSS=E06000040}} [[List of English districts by area|(of {{English district total}})]]
| population_total                = {{English district population|GSS=E06000040}}
| population_as_of                = {{United Kingdom statistics year}}<ref>{{Cite web|title=Windsor and Maidenhead (Unitary District, Windsor and Maidenhead, United Kingdom) – Population Statistics, Charts, Map and Location|url=http://citypopulation.de/en/uk/admin/windsor_and_maidenhead/E06000040__windsor_and_maidenhead/|access-date=2020-08-16|website=citypopulation.de}}</ref>
| population_rank                 = {{English district rank|GSS=E06000040}} [[List of English districts by population|(of {{English district total}})]]
| population_density_km2          = auto
<!-- demographics (section 1) -->
| demographics_type1      = Ethnicity <span style="font-weight:normal;">([[2021 United Kingdom census|2021]])</span>
| demographics1_footnotes = <ref name="2021 Nomis">{{NOMIS2021|id=E06000040|title=Windsor and Maidenhead Local Authority|access-date=5 January 2024}}</ref>
| demographics1_title1    = [[Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom|Ethnic groups]]
| demographics1_info1     =
 {{Collapsible list
 | 79.8% [[White people in the United Kingdom|White]]
 | 13.1% [[British Asians|Asian]]
 | 3.4% [[Mixed (United Kingdom ethnicity category)|Mixed]]
 | 2.1% [[Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom|other]]
 | 1.5% [[Black British people|Black]]
 }}
<!-- demographics (section 2) -->
| demographics_type2      = Religion <span style="font-weight:normal;">(2021)</span>
| demographics2_footnotes = <ref name="2021 Nomis"/>
| demographics2_title1    = [[Religion in England|Religion]]
| demographics2_info1     = 
 {{Collapsible list
 | 49.8% [[Religion in England#Christianity|Christianity]]
 | 31% [[Irreligion in the United Kingdom|no religion]]
 | 13.6% [[Religion in England|other]]
 | 5.6% [[Islam in England|Islam]]
 }}
| timezone                        = [[Greenwich Mean Time|GMT]]
| utc_offset                      = 0
| timezone_DST                    = [[British Summer Time|BST]]
| utc_offset_DST                  = +1
| blank_name                      = [[ISO 3166-2:GB|ISO 3166]]
| blank_info                      = GB-WNM
| blank1_name                     = [[ONS coding system|ONS code]]
| blank1_info                     = 00ME (ONS) E06000040 (GSS)
| blank2_name                     = [[Ordnance Survey National Grid|OS grid reference]]
| blank2_info                     = {{gbmappingsmall|SU926750}}
| website                         = {{URL|http://www.rbwm.gov.uk/}}
| name                            = 
}}
The '''Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead''' is a [[Unitary authorities of England|unitary authority]] area with [[royal borough]] status in [[Berkshire]], England. The borough is named after its two largest towns of [[Maidenhead]] (where the [[Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council|council]] is based) and [[Windsor, Berkshire|Windsor]]. The borough also includes the towns of [[Ascot, Berkshire|Ascot]] and [[Eton, Berkshire|Eton]], plus numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. It is home to [[Windsor Castle]], [[Eton College]], [[Legoland, Windsor|Legoland Windsor]] and [[Ascot Racecourse]]. It is one of only four boroughs in England entitled to be prefixed ''royal'', and the only one of them which is not a [[London borough]].

==History==
The [[non-metropolitan district]] of Windsor and Maidenhead was created in 1974 under the [[Local Government Act 1972]], as one of six districts within Berkshire. It covered the whole area of five former districts and part of a sixth, which were all abolished at the same time:<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Definition) Order 1972|year=1972|number=2039|access-date=26 July 2024}}</ref>
*[[Cookham Rural District]]
*[[Eton Rural District]] (parishes of [[Datchet]], [[Horton, Berkshire|Horton]] and [[Wraysbury]] only, rest split between [[South Bucks|Beaconsfield]] and [[Borough of Slough|Slough]])
*[[Eton Urban District]]
*[[Maidenhead]] [[Municipal Borough]]
*[[Windsor, Berkshire|New Windsor]] Municipal Borough
*[[Windsor Rural District]]
The two Eton districts had been in [[Buckinghamshire]] prior to the reforms. The new district was named 'Windsor and Maidenhead' after its two largest towns.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The English Non-metropolitan Districts (Names) Order 1973|year=1973|number=551|access-date=26 July 2024}}</ref> The district was also given the additional honorific title of [[royal borough]], which had previously been held by the municipal borough of New Windsor.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead (Electoral Changes) Order 2002|year=2002|number=2372|access-date=26 July 2024}}</ref>

From 1974 until 1998 the council was a lower-tier authority, with [[Berkshire County Council]] providing county-level services. The county council was abolished in 1998 and the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead took on county-level services, making it a unitary authority. Berkshire continues to legally exist as a [[ceremonial county]] and a [[non-metropolitan county]], albeit without a county council.<ref>{{cite legislation UK|type=si|si=The Berkshire (Structural Change) Order 1996|year=1996|number=1879|access-date=9 May 2024}}</ref>

== River Thames ==
The borough straddles the [[River Thames]]. Approximately half of its flow through the borough has a bypass and seasonally-variable [[flood relief channel]], the [[Jubilee River]]. Further flood relief channels are planned for the reaches below the Borough to benefit many other settlements including [[Datchet]] and [[Wraysbury]] in the borough which were the settlements most widely affected by the [[UK storms of January-February 2014]].<ref>[http://www.jubileeriver.co.uk/Complete_SEA_Environmental_Report.pdf Lower Thames Strategy Study: Strategic Environmental Assessment environmental report], Environment Agency, 2009. Accessed 31-12-2017</ref>

== Towns and villages ==
The borough contains the following towns and villages:
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
*[[Ascot, Berkshire|Ascot]]
*[[Bray, Berkshire|Bray]]
*[[Clewer]]
*[[Cookham]]
*[[Datchet]]
*[[Eton, Berkshire|Eton]]
*[[Eton Wick]]
*[[Horton, Berkshire|Horton]]
*[[Maidenhead]]
*[[North Ascot]] (part)
*[[Old Windsor]]
*[[South Ascot]]
*[[Sunningdale]]
*[[Sunninghill, Berkshire|Sunninghill]]
*[[Waltham St. Lawrence]]
*[[White Waltham]]
*[[Windsor, Berkshire|Windsor]]
*[[Wraysbury]]
}}

==Governance==
{{main|Windsor and Maidenhead Borough Council}}
Since 1998, the council has been a unitary authority, providing both district-level and county-level functions. It is based at [[Maidenhead Town Hall]]. Much of the borough is covered by [[civil parish]]es, which form an additional tier of local government for their areas, although the two largest towns of Maidenhead and Windsor are [[Unparished area|unparished]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Election Maps |url=https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/election-maps/gb/ |publisher=Ordnance Survey |access-date=26 July 2024}}</ref>

===Westminster===
The Royal Borough is represented [[UK Parliament|at Westminster]] by two members of parliament: [[Jack Rankin (politician)|Jack Rankin]] of the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] (for [[Windsor (UK Parliament constituency)|Windsor]]) and [[Joshua Reynolds (politician)|Joshua Reynolds]] of the [[Liberal Democrats UK|Liberal Democrats]] (for [[Maidenhead (UK Parliament constituency)|Maidenhead]]). Maidenhead was held by the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] since its creation in 1997 until 2024. Windsor has been held by the same party since 1874 with varying representation from its 1484 creation including more than 350 initial years with two MPs. Small parts of other districts, notably [[Borough of Slough|Slough]] and [[Wokingham (borough)|Wokingham]] have intermittently been included in each constituency to prevent [[malapportionment]] which is a definition of boundaries which causes any MP to serve a significantly different number of potential voters (electors) than the others.<ref>Parliamentary Constituencies (England) Order 1995 (SI 1995/1626)</ref><ref>The Parliamentary Constituencies (England) (Miscellaneous Changes) Order 1998 (SI 1998/3152).</ref>

The irregular, elongated shape of the Windsor seat being the south-east half of the Borough has been criticised by academics who noted the net changes which the [[Heath administration]] led through Parliament in 1972, implemented in 1974, intensified difference. They frequently grouped [[right-wing politics|right]]-leaning suburban areas within urban historic centres and more modern, urban [[left-wing politics|left]]-leaning areas such as the bulk of Slough. This ostensibly amounted to nationwide [[gerrymandering]] or homogenisation to install a greater number [[safe seat]]s at the expense of [[marginal seat]]s however also reflected the majority of social associations of people in each area.<ref>''[[Polity (magazine)|Polity]]: 6:298 (147 and 183) "The Case of the Vanishing Marginals", D. R. Mayhew (1974)''</ref>

===Parish and town councils===
There are 14 [[Parish council (England)|parish councils]] and 1 [[town council]] in the borough:
{{columns-list|colwidth=30em|
* [[Bisham]]
* [[Bray, Berkshire|Bray]]
* [[Cookham]]
* [[Cox Green, Berkshire|Cox Green]]
* [[Datchet]]
* [[Eton, Berkshire|Eton]] (town)
* [[Horton, Berkshire|Horton]]
* [[Hurley, Berkshire|Hurley]]
* [[Old Windsor]]
* [[Shottesbrooke]]
* [[Sunningdale]]
* [[Sunninghill and Ascot]]
* [[Waltham St Lawrence]]
* [[White Waltham]]
* [[Wraysbury]]
}}

The towns of Maidenhead and Windsor are [[Unparished area|unparished]].

== Education ==
{{Main|List of schools in Windsor and Maidenhead}}
The Windsor and Maidenhead [[Local education authority|LEA]] provides a [[Comprehensive education|comprehensive]] system, with a [[Three-tier education|three-tier successive school system]] in Windsor, and two-tier education elsewhere. Colleges and sixth forms are available in the main two towns as well as across its borders in [[Egham]], [[Slough]] and [[Wokingham]].<ref>{{cite news|title=School system in Windsor to remain as three-tier|url=http://www.windsor-advertiser.co.uk/Lifestyle/Education/School-system-in-Windsor-to-remain-as-three-tier-05072012.htm|publisher=Windsor Advertiser|date=5 July 2012}}</ref>

==Freedom of the Borough==
The following people and military units have received the [[Freedom of the City|Freedom of the Borough]] of Windsor and Maidenhead.
 
{{Incomplete list|date=May 2019}}

===Individuals===
* [[Elizabeth II|Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh]]: 1947.
* [[Charles, Prince of Wales]]: 1970. 
* [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother]]: 1980.
* [[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh]]: 1995.
* Thomas Bailey: 1974.
* Stanley Platt: 1974.
* [[John Smith (Conservative politician)|Sir John Smith]]: 1975.
* James Matthews: 1988.
* Peter Gray: 1994.
* Geoffrey Blacker: 1996.
* Sir [[Nicholas Winton]]: 1999.
* Harry Parker: 1999.
* Sir [[Clive Woodward]]: 2003.
* David Lunn: 2008.
* David Oram: 2012.

<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www3.rbwm.gov.uk/info/200578/civic_events/408/honorary_freemen_and_freedom_of_entry_to_the_royal_borough/2| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190512194548/https://www3.rbwm.gov.uk/info/200578/civic_events/408/honorary_freemen_and_freedom_of_entry_to_the_royal_borough/2| archive-date = 2019-05-12| title = Honorary Freemen and Freedom of Entry to the Royal Borough {{!}} The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead}}</ref>

===Military Units===
* The [[Royal Berkshire Regiment]]: 1959.
* The [[Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment]]: 1960.
* The [[Household Cavalry]]: 1965.
* The [[Brigade of Guards]]: 1968.
* The [[Berkshire Yeomanry]]: 1993.
* The [[Royal Gloucestershire, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment]]: 1999.
* [[The Rifles]]: 2006.

<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www3.rbwm.gov.uk/info/200578/civic_events/408/honorary_freemen_and_freedom_of_entry_to_the_royal_borough/3| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190212131428/https://www3.rbwm.gov.uk/info/200578/civic_events/408/honorary_freemen_and_freedom_of_entry_to_the_royal_borough/3| archive-date = 2019-02-12| title = Honorary Freemen and Freedom of Entry to the Royal Borough {{!}} The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead}}</ref>

== Twin towns ==
The Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead is twinned with the following Towns:
*{{flagicon|FRA}} [[Neuilly-sur-Seine]], France – established 1955 with Royal Borough of New Windsor.<ref name="Archant twinning">{{cite web|url=http://www.completefrance.com/language-culture/twin-towns|title=British towns twinned with French towns|access-date = 11 July 2013|work=Archant Community Media Ltd}}</ref>
*{{flagicon|FRA}} [[Saint-Cloud]], France – established 1957 with [[Maidenhead]].
*{{flagicon|GER}} [[Bad Godesberg]], Germany – established 1960 with [[Maidenhead]].
*{{flagicon|GER}} [[Goslar]], Germany – established 1969 with Royal Borough of New Windsor.
*{{flagicon|ITA}} [[Frascati]], Italy – established 1972 with [[Maidenhead]].
*{{flagicon|BEL}} [[Kortrijk]], Belgium – established 1981 with Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead.
<!-- see discussion page for the table which used to be here -->

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Windsor and Maidenhead}}
{{RBWMwards}}
{{SE_England}}
{{Berkshire}}
{{Unitary authorities of England}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Windsor and Maidenhead, Royal Borough of}}
[[Category:Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead| ]]
[[Category:1974 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Unitary authority districts of England]]
[[Category:Districts of Berkshire]]
[[Category:Local authorities adjoining the River Thames]]
[[Category:Places with royal patronage in England]]
[[Category:Boroughs in England]]