Westhoughton was a township and chapelry in the civil and ecclesiastical parish of Deane in the Salford Hundred of Lancashire.

[6][7] In 1872, a local board of health was adopted for the civil parish of Westhoughton.

[8] After the Public Health Act 1875 was passed by Parliament in that year, Westhougton Local Board of Health assumed extra duties as an urban sanitary district, although the Local Board's title did not change.

[8] Westhoughton Urban District was extended in 1898 by the addition of a large part of Over Hulton from the former Bolton Rural District,[10] The Urban District Council had five electoral wards: Central, North, South, East, and Hulton, each represented by three councillors.

[11] Under the Local Government Act 1972, Westhoughton Urban District was abolished on 1 April 1974 and its former area became an unparished area in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton in Greater Manchester.