The Borough of Great Yarmouth is a local government district with borough status in Norfolk, England. It is named after its main town, Great Yarmouth, and also contains the town of Gorleston-on-Sea^[2][3] and a number of villages and rural areas, including part of The Broads. Other notable settlements include Caister-on-Sea, Hemsby, Hopton-on-Sea and Winterton-on-Sea.

The borough is on the east coast of Norfolk, facing the North Sea. It borders North Norfolk to the north, Broadland to the west, South Norfolk to the south-west, and East Suffolk to the south.

The town of Great Yarmouth was an ancient borough, having been granted a charter in 1208. The borough was enlarged in 1668 to take in the Southtown area (also known as Little Yarmouth) on the south side of the River Yare in the parish of Gorleston.^[4] In 1703 the borough was given the right to appoint a mayor. The borough was reformed to become a municipal borough in 1836, when it was also enlarged to include the rest of the parish of Gorleston.^[5][6] When elected county councils were created in 1889, Great Yarmouth was considered large enough to provide its own county-level services and so it became a county borough, independent from the new Norfolk County Council.^[7]

The modern district was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the whole area of the former county borough and parts of another two districts, which were all abolished at the same time:^[8]

• Blofield and Flegg Rural District (parishes lying generally north-east of the River Bure, rest went to Broadland^{[lower-alpha 1]})
• Great Yarmouth County Borough
• Lothingland Rural District (parishes of Belton, Bradwell, Burgh Castle, Fritton and St Olaves and Hopton-on-Sea only, rest went to Waveney)

The Lothingland parishes had been in East Suffolk prior to the 1974 reforms; their inclusion in the Great Yarmouth district was brought about as an amendment to the draft legislation at committee stage proposed by Anthony Fell, Member of Parliament for the Great Yarmouth constituency.^[9]

The new district was named Great Yarmouth after its main settlement.^[10] The new district was granted borough status from its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor, continuing Great Yarmouth's series of mayors dating back to 1703.^[11]

Great Yarmouth Borough Council provides district-level services. County-level services are provided by Norfolk County Council. Parts of the borough are also covered by civil parishes, which form a third tier of local government.^[14][15]

In the parts of the district within The Broads, town planning is the responsibility of the Broads Authority. The borough council appoints one of its councillors to sit on that authority.^[16]

The borough comprises the urban area of Great Yarmouth itself, together with 21 surrounding parishes. At the time of the 2001 census, the borough had an area of 182 km², of which 26 km² was in the urban area and 156 km² in the surrounding parishes. The borough had a population of 90,810 in 39,380 households, with 47,288 people in 21,007 households living in the urban area, whilst 43,522 people in 18,373 households lived in the surrounding parishes.^[29]

The following people, military units and organisations and groups have received the Freedom of the Borough of Great Yarmouth.

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2020)

• Great Yarmouth Outer Harbour