- Merseyside Motorways
Merseyside | |
---|---|
![]() Liverpool, Merseyside's most populated city | |
![]() | |
Coordinates: 53°25′N3°00′W / 53.417°N 3.000°W Coordinates: 53°25′N3°00′W / 53.417°N 3.000°W | |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Constituent country | England |
Region | North West England |
Established | 1974 (Local Government Act 1972) |
Time zone | UTC±00:00 (Greenwich Mean Time) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+01:00 (British Summer Time) |
Members of Parliament | |
Police | Merseyside Police |
Largest city | Liverpool |
Ceremonial county | |
Lord Lieutenant | Mark Blundell |
High Sheriff | Nigel Lanceley [1] (2021–2022) |
Area | 645 km2 (249 sq mi) |
• Ranked | 43rd of 48 |
Population (2021) | 1,423,065 |
• Ranked | 9th of 48 |
Density | 2,200/km2 (5,700/sq mi) |
Ethnicity | 91.8% White British 2.7% Other White 2.2% Asian 1% Black 1.6% Mixed 0.8% Other |
Metropolitan county | |
Area | 645 km2 (249 sq mi) |
ONS code | 2B |
ITL | UKD72,UKD73,UKD74 and part of UKD71 |
Website | merseyside.police.uk |
Districts | |
![]() Districts of Merseyside | |
Districts |
Merseyside ( /ˈmɜːrzisaɪd/ MUR-zee-syde) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England,with a population of 1.38 million. [2] It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs:Knowsley,St Helens,Sefton,Wirral and the city of Liverpool. Merseyside,which was created on 1 April 1974 as a result of the Local Government Act 1972,takes its name from the River Mersey and sits within the historic counties of Lancashire and Cheshire.
Merseyside spans 249 square miles (645 km2) of land. It borders the ceremonial counties of Lancashire (to the north-east),Greater Manchester (to the east),Cheshire (to the south and south-east) and the Irish Sea to the west. North Wales is across the Dee Estuary. There is a mix of high density urban areas,suburbs,semi-rural and rural locations in Merseyside,but overwhelmingly the land use is urban. It has a focused central business district,formed by Liverpool City Centre,but Merseyside is also a polycentric county with five metropolitan districts,each of which has at least one major town centre and outlying suburbs. The Liverpool Urban Area is the fifth most populous conurbation in England and dominates the geographic centre of the county,while the Birkenhead Urban Area dominates the Wirral Peninsula in the south.
In the 12 years following 1974,the county had a two-tier system of local government;district councils shared power with the Merseyside County Council. The county council was abolished in 1986 and so its districts (the metropolitan boroughs) are now effectively unitary authority areas. However,the metropolitan county continues to exist in law and as a geographic frame of reference, [3] and several county-wide services are co-ordinated by authorities and joint-boards,such as Merseytravel (for public transport),Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service and the Merseyside Police (for law-enforcement);as a ceremonial county,Merseyside has a Lord Lieutenant and a High Sheriff. As the Lancashire county palatine boundaries remain the same as the historic boundaries, [4] the High Sheriff of Merseyside,along with those of Lancashire and Greater Manchester are appointed "within the Duchy and County Palatine of Lancaster". [5]
The boroughs of Merseyside are joined by the neighbouring borough of Halton in Cheshire to form the Liverpool City Region,which is a local enterprise partnership and combined authority area.
Merseyside is an amalgamation of 22 former local government districts from the former administrative counties of Lancashire,Cheshire and six autonomous county boroughs centred on Birkenhead,Bootle,Liverpool,Southport,St Helens and Wallasey.
Merseyside was designated as a "Special Review" area in the Local Government Act 1958,and the Local Government Commission for England started a review of this area in 1962,based around the core county boroughs of Liverpool,Bootle,Birkenhead and Wallasey. Further areas,including Widnes and Runcorn,were added to the Special Review Area by Order in 1965. Draft proposals were published in 1965,but the commission never completed its final proposals as it was abolished in 1966.
Instead,a Royal Commission was set up to review English local government entirely,and its report (known as the Redcliffe-Maud Report) proposed a much wider Merseyside metropolitan area covering southwest Lancashire and northwest Cheshire,extending as far south as Chester and as far north as the River Ribble. This would have included four districts:Southport/Crosby,Liverpool/Bootle,St Helens/Widnes and Wirral/Chester. In 1970 the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive (which operates today under the Merseytravel brand) was set up,covering Liverpool,Sefton,Wirral and Knowsley,but excluding Southport and St Helens.
The Redcliffe-Maud Report was rejected by the incoming Conservative Party government,but the concept of a two-tier metropolitan area based on the Mersey area was retained. A White Paper was published in 1971. The Local Government Bill presented to Parliament involved a substantial trimming from the White Paper,excluding the northern and southern fringes of the area,excluding Chester,Ellesmere Port (and,unusually,including Southport,whose council had requested to be included). Further alterations took place in Parliament,with Skelmersdale being removed from the area,and a proposed district including St Helens and Huyton being subdivided into what are now the metropolitan boroughs of St Helens and Knowsley.
Merseyside was created on 1 April 1974 from areas previously part of the administrative counties of Lancashire and Cheshire,along with the county boroughs of Birkenhead,Wallasey,Liverpool,Bootle,and St Helens. Following the creation of Merseyside,Merseytravel expanded to take in St Helens and Southport.
post-1974 | pre-1974 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Metropolitan county | Metropolitan borough | County boroughs | Non-county boroughs | Urban districts | Rural districts |
![]() Merseyside is an amalgamation of 22 former local government districts,including six county boroughs and two municipal boroughs. | Knowsley | Huyton with Roby •Kirkby •Prescot | West Lancashire •Whiston | ||
Liverpool | Liverpool | ||||
Sefton | Bootle •Southport | Crosby | Formby •Litherland | West Lancashire | |
St Helens | St Helens | Ashton-in-Makerfield •Billinge and Winstanley •Haydock •Rainford | Whiston | ||
Wirral | Birkenhead •Wallasey | Bebington | Hoylake •Wirral | ||
Between 1974 and 1986 the county had a two-tier system of local government with the five boroughs sharing power with the Merseyside County Council. However,in 1986 the government of Margaret Thatcher abolished the county council along with all other metropolitan county councils,and so its boroughs are now effectively unitary authorities.
Merseyside is divided into two parts by the Mersey Estuary; the Wirral is located on the west side of the estuary, upon the Wirral Peninsula and the rest of the county is located on the east side of the estuary. The eastern part of Merseyside borders onto Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, with both parts of the county bordering Cheshire to the south. The territory comprising the county of Merseyside previously formed part of the administrative counties of Lancashire (east of the River Mersey) and Cheshire (west of the River Mersey). The two parts are linked by the two Mersey Tunnels, the Wirral Line of Merseyrail, and the Mersey Ferry.
Merseyside contains green belt interspersed throughout the county, surrounding the Liverpool urban area, as well as across the Mersey in the Wirral area, with further pockets extending towards and surrounding Southport, as part of the western edge of the North West Green Belt. It was first drawn up from the 1950s. All the county's districts contain some portion of belt.
Ipsos MORI polls in the boroughs of Sefton and Wirral in the 2000s showed that in general, residents of these boroughs identified slightly more strongly to Merseyside than to Lancashire or Cheshire respectively, but their affinity to Merseyside was more likely to be "fairly strong" than "very strong". [6]
Merseyside comprises the metropolitan boroughs of Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral.
Following the abolition of the county council some local services are run by joint-boards of the five metropolitan boroughs; these include the:
The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, which includes the five boroughs and the Borough of Halton headed by a mayor, Steve Rotheram, elected in May 2017. [7]
This is a chart of the trend of regional gross value added of Merseyside at current basic prices published (pp. 240–253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
Year | Regional Gross Value Added [note 1] | Agriculture [note 2] | Industry [note 3] | Services [note 4] |
---|---|---|---|---|
1995 | 10,931 | 50 | 3,265 | 7,616 |
2000 | 13,850 | 29 | 3,489 | 10,330 |
2003 | 16,173 | 39 | 3,432 | 12,701 |
Transport in Merseyside consists of travel by roads, rail, air and water. Motorways serving Merseyside include M53 motorway in Wirral, M57 motorway, M58 motorway and M62 motorway. Rail travel is provided by Merseyrail, Network Rail and Wirral Tramway (since 1995) with major stations at Liverpool Lime Street, Liverpool Central, Liverpool James Street and Birkenhead Hamilton Square.
Merseyrail commuter lines
Aviation and air travel is provided by Liverpool John Lennon Airport, the oldest provincial airport in the United Kingdom. Major cycling routes on the National Cycle Network (such as National Cycle Route 56 and National Cycle Route 62) pass through the region too such as New Brighton and the Wirral Way. Major bus companies are Stagecoach Merseyside and Arriva North West. Liverpool One bus station serves as a terminus for national coach travel.
Liverpool Cruise Terminal provides long-distance passenger cruises, Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines MS Black Watch and Cruise & Maritime Voyages MS Magellan using the terminal to depart to Iceland, France, Spain and Norway.
Prince's Landing Stage, Pier Head, Liverpool serves Isle of Man Steam Packet Company summer service to the Isle of Man (and Mersey Ferries). Twelve Quays, Birkenhead ferry port serves winter Isle of Man ferry service and Stena Line to Belfast, Northern Ireland.
The Port of Liverpool handles most commercial shipping, but several other ports on the Wirral peninsula, such as Great Float and Queen Elizabeth II Dock, operate too.
The Mersey Ferry has operated since the 1200s, currently between Seacombe, Woodside and Liverpool Pier Head. Leeds and Liverpool Canal and Manchester Ship Canal are the main canal systems.
Merseyside is host to several football league football clubs including Liverpool F.C., Everton F.C., Tranmere Rovers F.C. and Southport F.C. Golf courses include Royal Liverpool Golf Club, Royal Birkdale Golf Club and Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club. Cricket clubs include the historic Aigburth Cricket Ground, Liverpool. Aintree Motor Racing Circuit hosted the British Grand Prix. Aintree Racecourse hosts the Grand National and there is also Haydock Park Racecourse. Totally Wicked Stadium hosts Rugby League and Hoylake hosts sailing (such as Southport 24 Hour Race) and is Britain's premier location for sand yachting. A ski slope facility is found at The Oval (Wirral).
The Metropolitan Borough of Sefton is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England. It was formed on 1 April 1974, by the amalgamation of the county boroughs of Bootle and Southport, the municipal borough of Crosby, the urban districts of Formby and Litherland, and part of West Lancashire Rural District. It consists of a coastal strip of land on the Irish Sea which extends from Southport in the north to Bootle in the south, and an inland part to Maghull in the south-east, bounded by the city of Liverpool to the south, the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley to the south-east, and West Lancashire to the east.
Merseyrail is a commuter rail network serving the Liverpool City Region and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail operates 66 railway stations across two lines – the Northern Line and Wirral Line, which are dedicated 750 V DC third rail electrified lines converging into rapid transit-style underground sections in the centres of Liverpool and Birkenhead. Merseyrail branding is also applied to stations and 'shared' services on the City Line, which are within the Liverpool City Region but operated by other train operating companies, predominantly Northern Trains. The City Line services operate on the Liverpool to Manchester Lines and the Liverpool to Wigan Line using a mix of AC electric and diesel trains.
Seacombe is a district of the town of Wallasey, on the Wirral Peninsula, England. Administratively, Seacombe is a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the County Borough of Wallasey, within the geographical county of Cheshire. At the 2001 Census, the population of Seacombe was 15,158,, increasing to 15,387 at the Census 2011.
Merseytravel is the passenger transport executive, responsible for the coordination of public transport in the Liverpool City Region in North West England. Merseytravel was established on 1 December 1969 as the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive. From 1 April 2014, with the creation of the Liverpool City Region, Merseytravel expanded its area of operation from the metropolitan county of Merseyside to also include the Borough of Halton.
Wallasey is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England; until 1974, it was part of the historic county of Cheshire. It is situated at the mouth of the River Mersey, at the north-eastern corner of the Wirral Peninsula. At the 2011 Census, the population was 60,284.
The Wirral Peninsula, known locally as The Wirral, is an area in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about 15 miles (24 km) long and 7 miles (11 km) wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west, the River Mersey to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north.
The Liverpool City Region is a combined authority region of England, centred on Liverpool, incorporating the local authority boroughs of Halton, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens, and Wirral. The region is in the historic counties of Lancashire and Cheshire. The Liverpool City Region has a population of 1.5 million. However, the metropolitan reach of the city is much wider with a population of 2.2 million.
The Merseyrail Northern line is a cross-city railway running from Hunts Cross in south Liverpool then to termini in the north at Southport (Merseyside), Ormskirk (Lancashire) and Kirkby (Merseyside). It and the Wirral Line are commuter rail services operated by Merseyrail, serving Merseyside. A third line, the City Line, is not owned or operated by Merseyrail, although stations inside Merseytravel's area are branded as Merseyrail. All three lines are funded by Merseytravel.
The Wirral line is one of two commuter rail routes operated by Merseyrail and centred on Merseyside, England, the other being the Northern line.
The Liverpool Built-up Area is a term used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) to denote the urban area around Liverpool in England, to the east of the River Mersey. The contiguous built-up area extends beyond the area administered by Liverpool City Council into adjoining local authority areas, particularly parts of Sefton and Knowsley. As defined by ONS, the area extends as far east as St Helens, Haydock, and Ashton-in-Makerfield in Greater Manchester.
Spital is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England. It is located mid-way on the Wirral Peninsula, and is mostly incorporated into the town of Bebington and the most westerly point of Spital forms the most northern edge of Bromborough.
Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service is the statutory fire and rescue service covering the county of Merseyside in north-west England and is the statutory Fire and Rescue Authority responsible for all 999 fire brigade calls in Sefton, Knowsley, St. Helens, Liverpool and Wirral.
The Liverpool County Football Association, simply known as the Liverpool FA, is the County Football Association in the city of Liverpool, England. It runs several league and cup competitions in the city.
The Birkenhead Railway was a railway company in North West England. It was incorporated as the Birkenhead, Lancashire and Cheshire Junction Railway (BL&CJR) in 1846 to build a line connecting the port of Birkenhead and the city of Chester with the manufacturing districts of Lancashire by making a junction near Warrington with the Grand Junction Railway. The BL&CJR took over the Chester and Birkenhead Railway in 1847, keeping its own name for the combined company until it shortened its name to the Birkenhead Railway in 1859. It was taken over jointly, on 1 January 1860, by the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) and the Great Western Railway (GWR). It remained a joint railway until nationalisation of the railways in 1948.
The geology of Merseyside in northwest England largely consists of a faulted sequence of Carboniferous Coal Measures rocks overlain in the west by younger Triassic and Permian age sandstones and mudstones. Glaciation during the present Quaternary Period has left widespread glacial till as well as erosional landforms. Other post-glacial superficial deposits such as river and estuarine alluvium, peat and blown sand are abundant.
Beechwood is a housing estate in the west of Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, in Merseyside, England. Administratively it is within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral as part of Bidston and St James Ward. The area is bounded by Bidston to the north, Upton to the west and Noctorum to the south. The elevation of Bidston Hill is immediately to the east.