Tameside was created on 1 April 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972 as one of the ten metropolitan districts of Greater Manchester. It took over the local government functions of nine districts which were formerly in the administrative counties of Lancashire and of Cheshire. Including the municipal boroughs of Ashton-under-Lyne, Dukinfield, Hyde, Mossley and Stalybridge, and the urban districts of Audenshaw, Denton, Droylesden and Longendale In 1986 Tameside effectively became a unitary authority with the abolition of the Greater Manchester County Council.