Everything about Merseyside totally explained
Merseyside is a
metropolitan county in
North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. Taking its name from the
River Mersey, the title "Merseyside" came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974, after the passage of the
Local Government Act 1972, and the county consists of five
metropolitan boroughs adjoining the Mersey estuary, including the
City of Liverpool.
Merseyside County Council was abolished in 1986, and so its districts (the metropolitan boroughs) are now effectively
unitary authorities. However, the metropolitan county continues to exist in law and as a geographic frame of reference.
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; the rest of the county is located on the east side. The northern part of Merseyside borders onto
Lancashire to the north,
Greater Manchester to the east, both parts border
Cheshire to the south.
The territory comprising the county of Merseyside previously formed the county boroughs of Birkenhead, Wallasey, Liverpool, Bootle, and St Helens and part of the
administrative counties of
Lancashire (north of the River Mersey) and
Cheshire (south of the River Mersey).
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
Liverpool/
Bootle/
Birkenhead/
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 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 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
April 1 1974 from areas previously parts 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, both as a metropolitan and
ceremonial county.
Identity
To express location within the Merseyside area by the preposition
on - thus "on Merseyside" as opposed to "in Merseyside" - was traditionally the more usual. However, the logic of suggestions in support of this from some quarters (that, after all, one would always be "on” the side of the Mersey, not "in" it) falls down; since it is, in fact, entirely possible to be situated [both] "in" or "on" [either] “side” of the river Mersey and area(s) thus designated. Therefore, more recent usage tends to draw distinctions between the geographical "Merseyside" - for which "on" is considered appropriate - and the Metropolitan county of "Merseyside", for which "in" is used.
Some prefer to use the
historic counties of
Lancashire and
Cheshire in preference to the newer county of Merseyside as a geographic frame of reference.. 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").
Local government
Metropolitan boroughs
Merseyside contains the
metropolitan boroughs of
Liverpool,
Knowsley,
Sefton,
St Helens and the
Wirral.
County level functions
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 25 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 |
Agriculture |
Industry |
Services |
| 1995 |
10,931 |
50 |
3,265 |
7,616 |
| 2000 |
13,850 |
29 |
3,489 |
10,330 |
| 2003 |
16,173 |
39 |
3,432 |
12,701 |
Settlements
See the list of places in Merseyside.
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 northern part of Merseyside borders onto Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, both parts border Cheshire to the south. The territory comprising the county of Merseyside previously formed part of the administrative counties of Lancashire (north of the River Mersey) and Cheshire (south of the River Mersey).
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.
Places of interest
Further Information
Get more info on 'Merseyside'.
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