County of England
Metropolitan and Ceremonial county in England
Merseyside
(
MUR
-zee-syde
) is a
ceremonial
and
metropolitan county
in
North West England
. It borders
Lancashire
to the north,
Greater Manchester
to the east,
Cheshire
to the south, the
Welsh
county of
Flintshire
across the
Dee Estuary
to the southwest, and the
Irish Sea
to the west. The largest settlement is the city of
Liverpool
.
The county is highly urbanised, with an area of 249 square miles (645 km
2
) and a population of 1.42 million.
[1]
After Liverpool (552,267), the largest settlements are
Birkenhead
(143,968),
St Helens
(102,629), and
Southport
(94,421). For
local government
purposes the county comprises five
metropolitan boroughs
:
Knowsley
,
St Helens
,
Sefton
,
Wirral
, and Liverpool. The borough councils (and
Halton
in Cheshire) collaborate through the
Liverpool City Region
combined authority
, chaired by an elected
mayor
.
What is now Merseyside was a largely rural area until the
Industrial Revolution
, when Liverpool and Birkenhead's positions on the
Mersey Estuary
enabled them to expand. Liverpool became a major port, heavily involved in the
Atlantic slave trade
and in supplying cotton to the mills of Lancashire, and Birkenhead developed into a centre for shipbuilding. Innovations during this period included the
first inter-city railway
, the first
publicly-funded civic park
, advances in
dock technology
, and a pioneering
elevated electrical railway
. The county was established in 1974, before which the entirety of the
Wirral
was in Cheshire and the remainder of the county was in Lancashire.
Merseyside is notable for its sport, music, and cultural institutions. The
Merseybeat
genre developed in what is now the county, which has also produced
many artists and bands
, including
the Beatles
. The county contains several football clubs, with
Everton
and
Liverpool
playing in the
Premier League
. The
Royal Liverpool
and
Royal Birkdale
golf clubs have hosted
The Open Championship
22 times between them, and the
Grand National
is the most valuable jump race in Europe.
National Museums Liverpool
comprises nine museums and art galleries.
History
[
edit
]
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
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, for the first time, 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
. 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
.
Geography
[
edit
]
Merseyside is divided into two parts by the
Mersey
estuary; the Wirral is on the west side of the estuary, upon the
Wirral Peninsula
, and the rest of the county lies on the east side. The eastern part of Merseyside borders onto
Lancashire
to the north and
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
.
Green belt
[
edit
]
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.
Demography
[
edit
]
Population of Merseyside by district (2022)
[2]
District
|
Land area
|
Population
|
Density
(/km
2
)
|
(km
2
)
|
(%)
|
People
|
(%)
|
Knowsley
|
87
|
13%
|
157,103
|
11%
|
1,816
|
Liverpool
|
112
|
17%
|
496,770
|
34%
|
4,442
|
St Helens
|
136
|
21%
|
184,728
|
13%
|
1,355
|
Sefton
|
157
|
24%
|
281,027
|
19%
|
1,795
|
Wirral
|
161
|
25%
|
322,453
|
22%
|
2,004
|
Merseyside
|
653
|
100%
|
1,442,081
|
100%
|
2,208
|
Identity
[
edit
]
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".
[3]
Local government
[
edit
]
Metropolitan boroughs
[
edit
]
Merseyside comprises the
metropolitan boroughs
of
Liverpool
,
Knowsley
,
Sefton
,
St Helens
and
Wirral
.
County-level functions
[
edit
]
Following the abolition of the county council, some local services are run by
joint-boards
of the five metropolitan boroughs; these include the:
Combined authority
[
edit
]
The
Liverpool City Region Combined Authority
, which includes the five boroughs of Merseyside and the
Borough of Halton
in Cheshire, oversees transport, economic development and regeneration.
[4]
The combined authority is chaired by a
Metro Mayor
,
Steve Rotheram
, who was elected in
2017
and re-elected in
2021
[5]
and in
2024
.
[6]
Local health system
[
edit
]
The planning and commissioning of care within Merseyside is the responsibility of
NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Service
(ICS), which covers
NHS
and other care services within the
Cheshire
and Merseyside area.
[7]
NHS Cheshire and Merseyside serves a combined population of 2.7 million people, with some 17 NHS trusts, 349 GP practices, and 590 pharmacies under its control.
Economy
[
edit
]
GVA and GDP by local authority district in 2021
[8]
District
|
GVA
(£ billions)
|
GVA
per capita (£)
|
GDP
(£ billions)
|
GDP
per capita (£)
|
Knowsley
|
£4.0
|
£25,927
|
£4.6
|
£29,407
|
Liverpool
|
£14.3
|
£29,489
|
£15.9
|
£32,841
|
St Helens
|
£2.8
|
£15,448
|
£3.4
|
£18,803
|
Sefton
|
£4.6
|
£16,275
|
£5.4
|
£19,418
|
Wirral
|
£5.6
|
£17,527
|
£6.6
|
£20,688
|
Merseyside
|
£31.3
|
£22,000
|
£36.0
|
£25,281
|
Transport
[
edit
]
Road
[
edit
]
Merseyside is served by six
motorways
: the
M58
to the north,
M56
to the south,
M6
&
M62
to the east and
M53
to the west. The
M57
acts as an outer ring road and bypass for the city of Liverpool itself. The
River Mersey
is crossed by
Queensway Tunnel
and
Kingsway Tunnel
, which link Liverpool to Birkenhead and Wallasey respectively, and by the
Silver Jubilee Bridge
and
Mersey Gateway Bridge
, which link Runcorn and Widnes. The Mersey Gateway Bridge opened in 2017 and is designed to improve transport links between Widnes and Runcorn and other key locations in the vicinity.
[9]
National Cycle Route 56
and
National Cycle Route 62
pass through the region, the former along the Wirral and the latter from Southport to Runcorn.
[10]
[11]
Major bus companies are
Stagecoach Merseyside
and
Arriva North West
.
Liverpool One bus station
serves as a terminus for national coach travel.
Rail
[
edit
]
Liverpool Lime Street
mainline station is Merseyside's primary intercity railway station, being used by 10.46 million passengers in 2021?22.
[12]
Train services are provided by
Avanti West Coast
,
London Northwestern Railway
,
TransPennine Express
,
West Midlands Trains
,
Transport for Wales
, and
Northern
, and serve destinations across the UK.
[13]
[14]
Merseyrail
is the county's urban rail system and is operated by
Merseytravel
, the combined
passenger transport executive
for the Liverpool City Region. The network has 66 stations on two lines; the Northern Line covers the centre of the county, and the Wirral Line covers the eponymous peninsula.
[15]
The two lines meet in
Liverpool City Centre
, and
Liverpool Central
is the county's most-used station, with 10.75 million passengers in 2021?22.
[16]
[17]
[12]
The network extends to
Ormskirk
in Lancashire, and Ellesmere Port and Chester in Cheshire.
[18]
Merseytravel brands the network in the east of the county as the '
City Line
', but the services on it are not operated by Merseyrail. The
Borderlands line
connects the west of the Wirral to
Wales
, and is operated by
Transport for Wales Rail
.
Maritime
[
edit
]
Liverpool Cruise Terminal
provides facilities for long-distance passenger cruises.
Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines
MS
Black Watch
and
Cruise & Maritime Voyages
MS
Magellan
use the terminal to depart to
Iceland
,
France
,
Spain
and
Norway
.
Peel Ports
have also planned a second cruise terminal as part of the
Liverpool Waters
project.
[19]
[20]
Ferries
[
edit
]
Prince's Landing Stage on Liverpool's
Pier Head
serves
Isle of Man Steam Packet Company
summer service to the
Isle of Man
(and Mersey Ferries). The
Twelve Quays
ferry port in Birkenhead serves winter Isle of Man ferry service and
Stena Line
services to
Belfast
,
Northern Ireland
. Almost three quarters of a million people
[
citation needed
]
travel these
Irish Sea
ferry services.
[21]
[22]
The
Mersey Ferry
has operated since the 1200s, currently between
Wirral
and
Liverpool City Centre
at Seacombe, Woodside and Liverpool Pier Head. In 2009?2010 it had 684,000
passengers using the service .
[23]
Commercial
[
edit
]
The
Port of Liverpool
handles most commercial shipping, but the Birkenhead Docks complex in
Great Float
on the
Wirral peninsula
still handles some freight.
The Port of Liverpool is a
container port
that handles over 33
million
tonnes of
freight cargo
per year
[
citation needed
]
and serves more than 100 global destinations including Africa, Australia, China, India, the
Middle East
and
South America
. Imports include
grain
and
animal feed
,
timber
, steel, coal, cocoa, crude oil, edible oils and liquid chemicals; there are exports of
scrap metal
for recycling.
[24]
[25]
A second container terminal,
Liverpool2
at
Seaforth
, can handle
Post-Panamax
vessels and doubled the port's capacity when it opened in 2016.
[26]
Liverpool John Lennon Airport
is the county's international airport. It is in
Speke
, 6.5 miles (10.5 km) southeast of Liverpool city centre, with 5 million departures in 2020.
[27]
Flights are primarily operated by
easyJet
and
Ryanair
, and over 70 destinations are served by the airport, including regular flights to the
Near East
and
North Africa
.
[28]
[29]
[30]
The airport is planning substantial expansion, and is forecast to handle more than 12
million passengers by 2030, as well as targeting permanent direct long haul flights and significantly larger terminal facilities.
[31]
Sport
[
edit
]
Merseyside is host to several football league football clubs including
Everton F.C.
,
Liverpool F.C.
and
Tranmere Rovers F.C.
and several non-league football clubs including
Marine A.F.C.
and
Southport F.C.
Golf courses include
Royal Liverpool Golf Club
,
Royal Birkdale Golf Club
,
Hillside Golf Club
and
Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club
. Cricket clubs include the historic
Aigburth Cricket Ground
.
Aintree Motor Racing Circuit
hosted the
British Grand Prix
biennially between 1955 and 1961, and finally in 1962.
[32]
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 the
Southport 24 Hour Race
) and is Britain's premier location for sand yachting. A ski slope facility is found at
The Oval (Wirral)
.
Places of interest
[
edit
]
Liverpool
[
edit
]
Knowsley
[
edit
]
St Helens
[
edit
]
Sefton
[
edit
]
Wirral
[
edit
]
Notable people
[
edit
]
- See
Category:People from Merseyside
See also
[
edit
]
Notes
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"2009 Mid Year Estimates ? Table 9 ONS"
. statistics.gov.uk. Archived from
the original
on 16 December 2008
. Retrieved
9 September
2010
.
- ^
"Mid-Year Population Estimates, UK, June 2022"
.
Office for National Statistics
. 26 March 2024
. Retrieved
3 May
2024
.
- ^
Sefton poll
Archived
26 September 2006 at the
Wayback Machine
, where 51% residents belonged strongly to Merseyside, and compared with 35% to Lancashire;
Wirral poll
Archived
26 September 2006 at the
Wayback Machine
, where 45% of residents belonged strongly to Merseyside; compared with 30% to Cheshire. In both boroughs, "very strongly" ratings for the historic county were larger than that for Merseyside, but "fairly strongly" was lower.
- ^
Wiggins, Kaye (12 August 2013).
"Merseyside combined authority plans outlined"
.
Local Government Chronicle
. Retrieved
19 April
2024
.
- ^
"Liverpool city region metro mayor: what is it, when will we get one and who will it be?"
.
Liverpool Echo
. 18 May 2016.
Archived
from the original on 23 July 2016
. Retrieved
16 July
2016
.
- ^
"Local election results 2024 live: London mayor and West Midlands race being counted"
.
BBC News
. Retrieved
4 May
2024
.
- ^
"Constitution"
.
NHS Cheshire and Merseyside
. Retrieved
9 December
2023
.
- ^
Fenton, Trevor (25 April 2023).
"Regional gross domestic product: local authorities"
.
Office for National Statistics
. Retrieved
13 December
2023
.
- ^
"Halton Council: Runcorn & Widnes Communications"
. Archived from
the original
on 15 October 2011
. Retrieved
10 May
2012
.
- ^
"Route 56 ? Sustrans.org.uk"
.
Sustrans
. Retrieved
20 June
2023
.
- ^
"Route 62"
.
Sustrans
. Retrieved
20 June
2023
.
- ^
a
b
Office of Rail and Road (24 November 2022).
"Estimates of station usage: 1 April 2021 to 31 March 2022"
(PDF)
.
dataportal.orr.gov.uk
. p. 4
. Retrieved
20 June
2023
.
- ^
"railway-technology.com: Liverpool Lime Street Station, United Kingdom"
. Retrieved
9 May
2012
.
- ^
"redspottedhanky.com: Stations Overview: Liverpool Lime Street"
. Retrieved
9 May
2012
.
- ^
"Stations"
.
www.merseyrail.org
. Retrieved
20 June
2023
.
- ^
"Transport Committee: Written evidence from Merseytravel (CTR 09)"
. 31 October 2011
. Retrieved
9 May
2012
.
- ^
"transportweb.com: Merseyrail Electrics"
. Retrieved
9 May
2012
.
- ^
"Network Map"
.
www.merseyrail.org
. Retrieved
20 June
2023
.
- ^
"BBC Liverpool: Liverpool cruise liner terminal opening set for May"
.
BBC News
. 2 March 2012
. Retrieved
9 May
2012
.
- ^
"Liverpool Confidential: Second Mersey cruise terminal planned"
. 30 January 2012. Archived from
the original
on 12 September 2012
. Retrieved
9 May
2012
.
- ^
"Direct Ferries Ltd: How To Get To Liverpool Ferry Port"
. Retrieved
9 May
2012
.
- ^
"parliament.uk: Written evidence from Blundellsands Sailing Club (MCA 53)"
. February 2011
. Retrieved
9 May
2012
.
- ^
"Merseytravel: Annual Statistical Monitor 2009/10"
(PDF)
. 2009?2010. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 19 April 2014
. Retrieved
9 May
2012
.
- ^
"Peel Ports: Port of Liverpool"
. 2010. Archived from
the original
on 13 April 2012
. Retrieved
9 May
2012
.
- ^
"Port of Liverpool Introduction"
. 2010
. Retrieved
9 May
2012
.
- ^
"Liverpool Port Terminal Work to Begin Next Year"
. 6 March 2012
. Retrieved
9 May
2012
.
- ^
"Arrivals and departures at Liverpool John Lennon Airport 2020"
.
Statista
. Retrieved
20 June
2023
.
- ^
"Liverpool John Lennon airport provides key tourism gateway"
. 29 June 2011
. Retrieved
10 May
2012
.
- ^
"Ryanair's New Routes from JLA Take Off In Style"
. Archived from
the original
on 4 September 2012
. Retrieved
10 May
2012
.
- ^
"Liverpool John Lennon Airport Destination Map"
. Retrieved
10 May
2012
.
- ^
"Liverpool John Lennon Airport Master Plan"
. Retrieved
10 May
2012
.
- ^
"Aintree Circuit :: Liverpool Motor Club"
.
web.archive.org
. 10 March 2024
. Retrieved
25 March
2024
.
- ^
"Art Galleries ? Museum ? Glass Blowing- Victorian Furnace"
.
The World of Glass
.
Archived
from the original on 8 December 2015
. Retrieved
28 November
2015
.
Further reading
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to
Merseyside
.
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Metropolitan districts
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Major settlements
(cities in italics)
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Rivers
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Topics
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