Chadderton was the second most populous urban district in the United Kingdom by the 1930s, and the district council took initial steps to obtain municipal borough status, but this was not achieved. In 1926 and 1931, two Oldham Extension Bills for the County Borough of Oldham to amalgamate with Chadderton Urban District were rejected by the House of Lords, following objections from neighbouring councils. A twinning arrangement was made in 1966 by Chadderton Urban District Council with Geesthacht, West Germany. Under the Local Government Act 1972, the Chadderton Urban District was abolished, and Chadderton has, since 1 April 1974, formed an unparished area of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, a local government district of the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester. Chadderton has three of the twenty wards of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham: Chadderton North, Chadderton Central and Chadderton South., with some small peripheral areas lying in the neighbouring wards of Royton North, Coldhurst, Hollinwood, Werneth and Failsworth East.