Metropolitan Borough of Sefton

For the settlement, see Sefton, Merseyside.

This article is about the local government district. For other uses, see Sefton.

Borough of Sefton
Metropolitan borough
Southport Town Hall
Sefton shown within Merseyside
Coordinates: 53°26′42″N2°59′53″W / 53.445°N 2.998°W / 53.445; -2.998
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	England
Region	North West
City region	Liverpool
Ceremonial county	Merseyside
Historic county	Lancashire
Incorporated	1 April 1974
Named for	Sefton
Administrative HQ	Bootle and Southport
Government [1]
• Type	Metropolitan borough with leader and cabinet
• Body	Sefton Council
•  Control	Labour
•  Leader	Marion Atkinson (L)
•  Mayor	June Burns
•  Chief Executive	Phil Porter
•  House of Commons	3 MPs Peter Dowd (L) Bill Esterson (L) Damien Moore (C)
Area [2]
• Total	78.2 sq mi (202.5 km2)
• Land	60.5 sq mi (156.6 km2)
• Rank	164th
Population  (2021) [3]
• Total	279,692
• Rank	57th
• Density	4,630/sq mi (1,786/km2)
Ethnicity (2021) [4]
•  Ethnic groups	List 95.8% White 1.5% Asian 1.5% Mixed 0.5% Black 0.7% other
Religion (2021) [4]
•  Religion	List 64.4% Christianity 28.6% no religion 0.8% Islam 0.4% Hinduism 0.2% Buddhism 0.1% Judaism 0.0% Sikhism 0.4% other 5.0% not stated
Time zone	UTC+0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
Postcode areas	L PR
Dialling codes	0151 01704
ISO 3166 code	GB-SFT
GSS code	E08000014
ITL code	TLD73
GVA	2021 estimate [5]
•Total	£4.6 billion
•Per capita	£16,275
GDP (nominal)	2021 estimate [5]
•Total	£5.4 billion
•Per capita	£19,418
Website	sefton.gov.uk

The Metropolitan Borough of Sefton is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England. It was formed on 1 April 1974, ^[6] 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.

It is named after Sefton, near Maghull. When the borough was created, a name was sought that would not unduly identify the borough with any of its constituent parts, particularly the former county boroughs of Bootle and Southport. The area had strong links with both the Earl of Sefton and the Earl of Derby, resident of Knowsley Hall, ^[7] and the adjacent borough was subsequently named Knowsley. A Sefton Rural District covering some of the villages in the district existed from 1894 to 1932. ^[8]

Governance

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

The Metropolitan Borough of Sefton is one of the six constituent local government districts of the Liverpool City Region. Since 1 April 2014, some of the borough's responsibilities have been pooled with neighbouring authorities within the metropolitan area and subsumed into the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority. ^[9]

The combined authority has effectively become the top-tier administrative body for the local governance of the city region and the leader of Sefton Council, along with the five other leaders from neighbouring local government districts, take strategic decisions over economic development, transport, employment and skills, tourism, culture, housing and physical infrastructure. ^[9]

In July 2015, negotiations took place between the UK national government and the combined authority over a possible devolution deal to confer greater powers on the region, including whether to introduce an elected 'Metro Mayor' to oversee the entire metropolitan area. ^[10]

Historic controversy

Bootle Town Hall

The existence of Sefton has been an ongoing local controversy, especially in Southport, where local Members of Parliament (MPs) and councillors have campaigned for separation from Bootle and the possible inclusion of the town as a district in the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire. ^[11] It was highlighted after the 2012 local government election that different regions in Sefton had vastly different socio-economic backgrounds and needs. There are high levels of poverty around the Bootle area and central Southport. ^[12]

Sefton Council composition

The council has 66 councillors, three for each of the borough's 22 wards:

• Ainsdale
• Birkdale  · Blundellsands
• Cambridge  · Church
• Derby  · Dukes
• Ford
• Harington
• Kew
• Linacre  · Litherland
• Manor  · Meols  · Molyneux
• Netherton and Orrell  · Norwood
• Park
• Ravenmeols
• St. Oswald  · Sudell
• Victoria

As of April 2021 ^[update] , the council is composed of 41 Labour councillors, 12 for The Liberal Democrat and Progressive Alliance Group, six Conservatives, and five for The Independents Group. There are two vacancies. ^[13]

Economy

The borough has a strong income from tourism, most of whom visit the Aintree Grand National, the most valuable horse race in Europe, Anthony Gormley's Another Place at Crosby Beach and Southport. Birkdale is also home to the Royal Birkdale Golf Club which has played host to the Open Championship, Ryder Cup, Walker Cup and Curtis Cup. ^[14]

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Sefton at current basic prices published (pp. 240–53) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

Year	Regional gross value added	Agriculture	Industry	Services
1995	2,079	20	496	1,563
2000	2,500	8	468	2,024
2003	2,994	10	418	2,566

^ Components may not sum to totals due to rounding ^ includes hunting and forestry ^ includes energy and construction ^ includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

Demographics

Ethnicity

Ethnic Group	2001 [15]		2011 [16]
	Number	%	Number	%
White: British	273,536	96.67%	259,629	94.83%
White: Irish	2,665	0.94%	2,312	0.84%
White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller			120	0.04%
White: Other	2,339	0.83%	4,680	1.71%
White: Total	278,540	98.44%	266,741	97.43%
Asian or Asian British: Indian	604	0.21%	666	0.24%
Asian or Asian British: Pakistani	181	0.06%	127	0.04%
Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi	257	0.09%	308	0.11%
Asian or Asian British: Chinese	903	0.32%	965	0.35%
Asian or Asian British: Other Asian	173	0.06%	653	0.24%
Asian or Asian British: Total	2,118	0.75%	2,719	0.99%
Black or Black British: African	204	0.07%	464	0.17%
Black or Black British: Caribbean	173	0.06%	223	0.08%
Black or Black British: Other Black	61	0.02%	109	0.04%
Black or Black British: Total	438	0.15%	796	0.29%
Mixed: White and Black Caribbean	476	0.17%	830	0.30%
Mixed: White and Black African	234	0.08%	488	0.18%
Mixed: White and Asian	441	0.16%	760	0.28%
Mixed: Other Mixed	433	0.15%	742	0.27%
Mixed: Total	1,584	0.56%	2,820	1.03%
Other: Arab			327	0.12%
Other: Any other ethnic group			387	0.14%
Other: Total	278	0.10%	714	0.26%
Black, Asian, and minority ethnic: Total	4,418	1.56%	7,049	2.57%
Total	282,958	100.00%	273,790	100.00%

Main Languages

At the 2011 census, there were 265,010 usual residents of Sefton aged 3 or over whose main language was declared. The 10 most common main languages were as follows: ^[17]

1. English 259,820 (98.04%)
2. Polish 1,579 (0.62%)
3. Chinese 415 (0.16%)
4. Portuguese 318 (0.12%)
5. Latvian 252 (0.10%)
6. Spanish 201 (0.08%)
7. Lithuania 190 (0.07%)
8. Arabic 158 (0.06%)
9. Bengali (with Sylheti and Chittagonian) 142 (0.05%)
10. Turkish 141 (0.05%)

1,794 (0.68%) usual residents over the age of 3 had a different main language to the above languages.

Towns and villages in Sefton

• Ainsdale, Aintree
• Birkdale, Blowick, Blundellsands, Bootle
• Churchtown, Crosby, Crossens
• Ford, Formby
• Hightown, Hillside
• Ince Blundell
• Kennessee Green
• Litherland, Little Altcar, Little Crosby, Lunt, Lydiate
• Maghull, Marshside, Melling
• Netherton
• Orrell
• Seaforth, Sefton, Southport
• Thornton
• Waterloo, Woodvale

Parliamentary constituencies

See also: List of Parliamentary constituencies on Merseyside

• Bootle
• Sefton Central
• Southport

Sister cities

Sefton is twinned with: ^[18]

Gdańsk, Poland (since 1993) [19]

Mons, Belgium

Freedom of the Borough

The following people, military units and Organisations and Groups have received the Freedom of the Borough of Sefton.

Individuals

• Donald "Ginger" McCain: 22 June 2004
• James Lee Duncan Carragher: 23 January 2006
• Alex Greenwood: 17 November 2022 ^[20]

Military units

• 238 (Sefton) Squadron 156 Regiment Royal Corps of Transport: 6 March 1982
• 238 (Sefton) Squadron 156 (North-West) Transport Regiment Royal Logistic Corps (Volunteers): 13 April 2002
• RAF Woodvale: 3 July 2011 ^[21]
• HMS Mersey, RN: 17 November 2016. ^[22]
• The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment: 20 June 2017 ^{[23] [21]}

Organisations and groups

• The Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust: 27 May 2021 ^[24]

See also

• Sefton Coast – An SSSI covering much of the borough's coastline
• St Helen's Church, Sefton
• Southport Flower Show – The UK's largest independent flower show
• List of schools in Sefton

References

1. "Your Council". Sefton Council. 27 November 2023. Retrieved 15 December 2023.
2. "Mid-Year Population Estimates, UK, June 2021". Office for National Statistics. 21 December 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
3. "Mid-Year Population Estimates, UK, June 2021". Office for National Statistics. 21 December 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
4. UK Census (2021). "2021 Census Area Profile – Sefton Local Authority (E08000014)". Nomis. Office for National Statistics . Retrieved 15 December 2023.
5. Fenton, Trevor (25 April 2023). "Regional gross domestic product: city regions". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
6. Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70. The Stationery Office Ltd. 1997. ISBN   0-10-547072-4.
7. Welcome to the Estate, Knowsley Hall, retrieved 7 October 2010
8. "Sefton RD through time: Relationships and changes". A Vision of Britain through Time. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
9. "Proposal to establish a combined authority for Greater Merseyside" (PDF). Department for Communities and Local Government. November 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
10. Liam Murphy (22 July 2015). "Liverpool city region to decide on devolution demands by end of summer" . Retrieved 26 July 2015.
11. Final Recommendations on the Future Local Government of Sefton, Local Government Commission for England, November 1997.
12. "Sefton Local Economic Assessment" (PDF). Invest Sefton. May 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
13. Council, Sefton (23 April 2021). "Councillors, Meetings, Decisions". www.sefton.gov.uk. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
14. "Royal Birkdale Golf Club – Club History" . Retrieved 9 July 2012.
15. "UV009 - Ethnic group". NOMIS. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
16. "QS201EW - Ethnic group". NOMIS. Retrieved 1 September 2022.
17. "Sefton - UK Census Data 2011".
18. Sefton Council, Twinning with Towns and Cities retrieved 21 January 2019
19. "Gdańsk Official Website: 'Miasta partnerskie'". www.gdansk.pl (in Polish and English). Urząd Miejski w Gdańsku]. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
20. Dukes, Emma (19 November 2022). "Lioness Alex Greenwood becomes first ever woman to be awarded Freedom of Sefton". The Liverpool World. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
21. Council, Sefton (21 June 2017). "Honorary Freedom of the Borough". Government of the United Kingdom.
22. "Freedom of the Borough for HMS Mersey". Archived from the original on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
23. "Regiment set to march through Bootle".
24. "Covid: Merseyside hospitals honoured over Covid response". BBC News. 27 May 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.

External links

• Vision of Britain