Merseyside
| Merseyside | |
 | |
| Geography | |
| Status | Ceremonial and Metropolitan county (no county council) <tr><th>Origin</th><td>1974</td></tr> |
|---|---|
| Region | North West England |
| Area - Total | Ranked 43rd 645 km² |
| ONS code | 2B |
| NUTS 2 | UKD5 |
| Demographics | |
| Population - Total (2004) - Density | Ranked 9th 1,365,900 2,118 / km² |
| Ethnicity | 97.1% White |
| Politics | |
| No county council | |
| Members of Parliament | Joe Benton, Ben Chapman, Claire Curtis-Thomas, Angela Eagle, Maria Eagle, Louise Ellman, Frank Field, Stephen Hesford, George Howarth, Jane Kennedy, Peter Kilfoyle, Edward O'Hara, John Pugh, Robert Wareing, David Watts, Shaun Woodward |
| Districts | |
 | |
Merseyside is a county, located in the North West of England. Merseyside is named after the River Mersey and comprises the conurbation by the Mersey estuary centred upon Liverpool. Merseyside was created as a metropolitan county in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972.
Contents |
Divisions and environs
Merseyside contains the metropolitan boroughs of Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and the Wirral. The county 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 northern part of Merseyside borders onto Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, both parts border Cheshire to the south.
The two parts are linked by two road tunnels, a railway tunnel, and the famous Mersey Ferry. Other districts that are part of the urban area (but not part of Merseyside) are Ellesmere Port and Neston and Halton. The designation "Greater Merseyside" has been adopted for the area comprising Merseyside and Halton, whilst the term "Liverpool City-Region" is less well-defined.
Identity
It is traditional to express location within the Merseyside area by the preposition on, thus "on Merseyside" as opposed to "in Merseyside" (after all, one would be "on the side of the Mersey" not "in" it). Current usage seems to be to make a distinction between the geographical "Merseyside" for which "on" is appropriate and the county, for which "in" is used. Some prefer to use the historic counties of Lancashire and Cheshire in preference to the newer county of Merseyside.[1]. MORI polls in the boroughs of Sefton and Wirral in the 2000s showed that more residents in these boroughs identified strongly to Merseyside than to Lancashire or Cheshire respectively (but was less likely to be "very strong" as opposed to "fairly strong"). [2]
History
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 Birkenhead/Bootle/Liverpool/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 had been 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 south-west Lancashire and north-west 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 under the Merseytravel brand) was set up, covering the Liverpool and Wirral conurbations, but excluding 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 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.
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 however still exists legally, and as a ceremonial county.
Despite the abolition of the county council some local services are still run on a county-wide basis, now administered by joint-boards of the five metropolitan boroughs, these include the:
- Merseyside Police
- Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service
- Merseytravel (who are also responsible for the Merseyrail network)
- Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority
- Merseyside Pension Scheme, administered by Wirral Borough Council, with offices in Liverpool
Several organisations are still recognised using the old name of "Merseyside". The court service at Liverpool's Magistrate Court for example, registered the domain merseysidemcc.org.uk on 25th March 2000, more than a decade after the Merseyside Council was abolished.
Economy
This is a chart of 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[3] | Agriculture[4] | Industry[5] | Services[6] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | 10,931 | 50 | 3,265 | 7,616 |
| 2000 | 13,850 | 29 | 3,489 | 10,330 |
| 2003 | 16,173 | 39 | 3,432 | 12,701 |
Towns and villages
See the list of places in Merseyside.
Places of interest
- Anfield
- Goodison Park
- Gambier Terrace
- Albert Dock
- Cavern Club
- Childe of Hale
- Croxteth Hall
- Speke Hall - National Trust
- Mersey Tunnels - Queensway and Kingsway
- Tate Liverpool, a branch of the Tate Gallery
- Lady Lever Art Gallery
- Liverpool Museum
- Merseyside Maritime Museum
- HM Customs & Excise National Museum
- Museum of Liverpool Life
- Walker Art Gallery
- Liverpool Cathedral
- Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King
- Port Sunlight
- Leasowe Castle
- Bidston Windmill
- Leasowe Lighthouse
- Hilbre Island
- North Wirral Coastal Park
- St Helens' World of Glass
See also
References
- ^ Local Government Commission Draft Recommendations 1994: 'We have received large numbers of representations from people living in Merseyside and Greater Manchester who still consider themselves Lancastrians and who would like to see the reinstatement of the historic county.'
- ^ Sefton poll, where 51% residents belonged strongly to Merseyside, and compared to 35% to Lancshire; Wirral poll, where 45% of residents belonged strongly to Merseyside; compared to 30% to Cheshire. In both boroughs, "very strongly" ratings for the historic county were larger than that for Merseyside, but "fairly strongly" was lower.
- ^ Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
- ^ includes hunting and forestry
- ^ includes energy and construction
- ^ includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
External links
- Merseytravel website
- Merseyside Police Authority website
- Merseyside Fire and Rescue website
- Merseyside.com local guide, A-Z, street index
- Merseyside Today - regional guide
- Merseyside Online
- Mersey Reporter History - Merseyside History
| Metropolitan County of Merseyside |
City of Liverpool |
| Districts of North West England |  |
Allerdale | Barrow-in-Furness | Blackburn with Darwen | Blackpool | Bolton | Burnley | Bury | Carlisle | Chester | Chorley | Congleton | Copeland | Crewe and Nantwich | Eden | Ellesmere Port and Neston | Fylde | Halton | Hyndburn | Knowsley | Lancaster | Liverpool | Macclesfield | Manchester | Oldham | Pendle | Preston | Ribble Valley | Rochdale | Rossendale | St Helens | Salford | Sefton | South Lakeland | South Ribble | Stockport | Tameside | Trafford | Vale Royal | Warrington | West Lancashire | Wigan | Wirral | Wyre | |
Counties with multiple districts: Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside |
Categories
Merseyside | Metropolitan counties