Metropolitan Borough of Wirral

This article is about the local government district. For other uses, see Wirral (disambiguation).

Metropolitan borough in England, United Kingdom

Wirral
Metropolitan borough
Wallasey Town Hall
Coat of arms
Wirral shown within Merseyside
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	North West England
City region	Liverpool
Ceremonial county	Merseyside
Established	1 April 1974
Administrative HQ	Wallasey (Town Hall)
Government
• Type	Metropolitan Borough
• Body	Wirral Council
• Leadership	Leader and cabinet
• Executive	Labour
• Leader	Phil Davies
• Civic Mayor	Geoffrey Watt
• Deputy Civic Mayor	Tony Smith
Area
• Total	60.6 sq mi (157.0 km2)
Area rank	185th
Population (mid-2017 est.)
• Total	322,800
• Rank	Ranked 30th
• Density	5,320/sq mi (2,055/km2)
• Ethnicity	98.3% white
Demonym(s)	Wirralian
Time zone	UTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (British Summer Time)
Postcode area	CH
Dialling code	0151
ISO 3166 code	GB-WRL
GSS code	E08000015
NUTS 3 code	UKD74
ONS code	00CB
Website	www.wirral.gov.uk

The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, in North West England. It has a population of 321,238,^[1] and encompasses 60 square miles (160 km²) of the northern part of the Wirral Peninsula. Major settlements include Birkenhead, Wallasey, Bebington, Heswall, Hoylake and West Kirby. The city of Liverpool over the Mersey, faces the northeastern side of Wirral. Bordering is the River Mersey to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and the River Dee to the west; the borough of Cheshire West and Chester occupies the remainder of the Wirral Peninsula and borders the borough of Wirral to the south. The borough of Wirral has greater proportions of rural areas than the Liverpool part of Merseyside.

Contents

• 
  1 History
  


• 
  2 Economy
  


• 
  3 Education
  


• 
  4 Local government
  
  
  
  • 
    4.1 Liverpool City Region Combined Authority
    
  
  
  • 
    4.2 Wirral Borough Council Composition
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  5 Political composition timeline
  


• 
  6 Members of Parliament
  


• 
  7 Places of interest
  


• 
  8 International relations
  
  
  
  • 
    8.1 Twin towns — sister cities
    
  
  
  
  


• 
  9 See also
  


• 
  10 References
  


• 
  11 External links
  

History

The borough was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, as a merger of the county boroughs of Birkenhead and Wallasey, along with the municipal borough of Bebington and the urban districts of Hoylake and Wirral.

Economy

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Wirral 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[1]	Agriculture[2]	Industry[3]	Services[4]
1995	2,089	10	674	1,405
2000	2,609	5	814	1,789
2003	3,020	9	755	2,256

^ includes hunting and forestry

^ includes energy and construction

^ includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

^ Components may not sum to totals due to rounding

In September 2006 a large scale development called Wirral Waters was unveiled by the company Peel Holdings, that if constructed as outlined may see the creation of up to 27,000 jobs.

Education

See also: List of schools in Wirral

When the borough was set up in 1974, it inherited comprehensive systems from the former County Boroughs of Birkenhead and Wallasey. In the part of Wirral formerly administered by Cheshire County Council, it inherited a selective system of grammar and secondary modern non-Roman Catholic schools and a comprehensive Roman Catholic school (St John Plessington Catholic College).

Until the implementation of the Education Reform Act 1988, education in Wirral continued to be organised in four areas; Birkenhead, Wallasey and the former parts of Cheshire known for education purposes as "Bebington" and "Deeside". However this Act introduced "open enrolment", allowing parents from anywhere in the borough, and outside it, to apply for a place for their child at any secondary school. As a result, significant numbers of pupils from the former "comprehensive areas" attend schools in the former "selective areas" and vice versa. The distinction between different types of school was to an extent masked, as all secondary modern and most comprehensive schools were named "High School". As a further result of this Act, St Anselm's College and Upton Hall School, both within the Birkenhead education area, became the only independent schools in the country to become state funded grant-maintained schools, retaining selective admissions policies to become Roman Catholic grammar schools.

A further change came as a result of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998, which effectively changed secondary modern schools into comprehensives as schools were no longer permitted to select by examination failure. In summary, Wirral now has a state secondary sector made up of 16 comprehensive schools (of which two are Roman Catholic) and 6 grammar schools (of which two are Roman Catholic).

Local government

Further information: Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral 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.

The combined authority has effectively become the top-tier administrative body for the local governance of the city region and the leader of Wirral Borough 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.

As of July 2015, negotiations are currently taking place between the UK national government and the combined authority over a possible devolution deal to confer greater powers on the region. Discussions include whether to introduce an elected ‘Metro Mayor’ to oversee the entire metropolitan area.^[2]

Wirral Borough Council Composition

Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council composition, 2018

After the local elections in 2008 the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral was governed by a Labour Party/Liberal Democrat coalition, the second and third largest parties on the council respectively. Cllr Steve Foulkes of Labour was Leader of the Council. The Conservative Party was the largest party represented, and was in opposition with its leader Cllr Jeff Green being leader of the opposition.

After the local elections in 2010 the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral was governed by a Conservative Party/Liberal Democrat coalition, which reflected the coalition at national level.^[3] The Conservative Party, continuing to be the largest party represented on the council increased its number of seats by 2 to 27 and has now entered into coalition government with the Liberal Democrats as the leading coalition partner with the leader of the Conservatives, Cllr Jeff Green, becoming the new leader of the council. The Labour Party increased its representation on the council by 4 to 24 and remained the second largest party though they are now in opposition with their leader, Cllr Steve Foulkes, who was leader of the council now leader of the opposition. The Liberal Democrats lost 4 seats decreasing their tally to 15 remaining the third largest party on the council but continuing to participate in the governing of the council as the junior coalition partner to the Conservatives. The one independent represented on the council lost their seat.

After the local elections in 2011 the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral was governed by a minority Labour Party administration. Cllr Steve Foulkes was leader of the Council with Cllr Phil Davies as deputy leader. The Liberal Democrats lost a councillor who switched to Labour, Cllr Steve Niblock shortly after the elections. There are now no independents on Wirral Council. Labour have 36 seats, Conservatives have 23 and the Liberal Democrats 7.

In February 2012 the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats defeated the Labour administration in a motion of no confidence and the two parties governed again until the May election.^[4] Labour made gains in May 2012, gaining majority control of the council for the first time since local elections in 2002 saw Labour become a minority. Wirral is led by Phil Davies.

In 2014, The Green Party gained their first seat on the council, defeating Labour in their typically safe seat of Birkenhead and Tranmere. They retained it in 2018 with an increased vote share, albeit with a reduced majority.

Political composition timeline

Year	Party										Ref
		Conservative		Green		Labour		SDP–Liberal		Other
								Lib Dem
1973	29		0		24		13		0		[5]
1974
1975	35		0		21		9		0
1976	42		0		18		6		0
1977
1978	45		0		16		5		0
1978	40		0		20		6		0
1980	37		0		23		6		0
1981
1982	35		0		25		6		0
1983	34		0		24		8		0
1984
1985
1986	30		0		26		10		0
1987	29		0		27		10		0
1988	22		0		34		10		0
1989
1990	23		0		33		7		3
1991	24		0		34		7		1
1992	29		0		31		6		0
1993
1994	28		0		30		8		0
1995	22		0		36		8		0
1996	16		0		41		9		0
1997
1998	16		0		41		8		1
1999	17		0		39		10		0
2000	20		0		34		12		0
2001
2002	20		0		32		12		2		[6]
	20		0		31		14		1
2003	23		0		26		16		1		[7]
2004	21		0		26		19		0		[8]
	20		0		26		19		1		[9]
2005	21		0		26		18		1		[10]
2006	21		0		26		19		0		[11]
2007	21		0		25		20		0		[12]
	20		0		25		20		1		[13]
2008	20		0		25		19		2		[14]
	24		0		21		20		1
2009	25		0		20		20		1		[15]
2010	27		0		24		15		0		[16]
2011	27		0		29		10		0		[17]
	27		0		30		9		0		[18]
2012	22		0		37		7		0		[19]
2013	23		0		36		7		0		[20]
	22		0		37		7		0		[21]
	22		0		37		6		1		[22]
2014	21		1		38		6		0		[23]
2015	21		1		39		5		0		[24]
2016	21		1		38		5		1		[25]
	21		1		39		5		0		[26]
2017											[27]
2018											[28]
											[29]
	21		1		38		5		1		[30]
	21		1		37		5		2		[31]

Members of Parliament

See also: List of Parliamentary constituencies on Merseyside

Constituency	Member of Parliament	Political party		Year first elected
Birkenhead	Frank Field		Independent	1979
Wallasey	Angela Eagle		Labour Party	1992
Wirral South	Alison McGovern		Labour Party	2010
Wirral West	Margaret Greenwood		Labour Party	2015

Places of interest

Wirral Council maintains five designated Local Nature Reserves: Bidston Moss, Dibbinsdale, Heswall Dales, Hilbre Island and Thurstaston Common.^[32] It also operates the Merseyside part of Wirral Country Park, which was the first country park to be established in Britain.^[33]

International relations

See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in the United Kingdom

Twin towns — sister cities

The Metropolitan Borough of Wirral is twinned or has sister city relationships with:

• 
  Nowy Sącz, Poland^[34]
  


• 
  Lorient, France^[35]
  


• 
  Gennevilliers, France^[35]
  


• 
  Midland, Texas, United States
  

See also

Book: Wirral

• 
  Wirral Waterfront SRB — a regeneration initiative

References

1. 
   ^ "Wirral population estimate (mid 2016)". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 12 September 2017..mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit}.mw-parser-output q{quotes:"""""""'""'"}.mw-parser-output code.cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:inherit;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/65/Lock-green.svg/9px-Lock-green.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-gray-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg/9px-Lock-red-alt-2.svg.png")no-repeat;background-position:right .1em center}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration{color:#555}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription span,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration span{border-bottom:1px dotted;cursor:help}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{font-size:100%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-subscription,.mw-parser-output .cs1-registration,.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right,.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-wl-right{padding-right:0.2em}
   


2. 
   ^ Liam Murphy (22 July 2015). "Liverpool city region to decide on devolution demands by end of summer". Retrieved 26 July 2015.
   


3. 
   ^ Phibbs, Harry (25 May 2010). "Conservatives take over Wirral Council". Conservativehome.blogs.com. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
   


4. 
   ^ Murphy, Liam (14 February 2012). "Jeff Green is new leader of Wirral council after Labour group is kicked out". Liverpool Daily Post. Archived from the original on 17 February 2012. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
   


5. 
   ^ "Council compositions". The Elections Centre. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
   


6. 
   ^ "Local Election - 02 May 2002". Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
   


7. 
   ^ "Local Election - 01 May 2003". Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
   


8. 
   ^ "Local Election - 10 June 2004". Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
   


9. 
   ^ "'No respect for mayor'". Wirral Globe.
   


10. 
    ^ "Why I jumped ship to join the Tories". Wirral Globe.
    


11. 
    ^ "Local Election - 4 May 2006". Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
    


12. 
    ^ "Local Election - 03 May 2007". Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
    


13. 
    ^ "Another one bites the dust". Wirral Globe.
    


14. 
    ^ "Election Result for 1 May 2008 2002". Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
    


15. 
    ^ "BREAKING NEWS: Labour councillor Denis Knowles quits and joins Tories at Wallasey Town Hall". Wirral Globe.
    


16. 
    ^ "Election Result for 6 May 2010". Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
    


17. 
    ^ "Election Result for 5 May 2011". Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
    


18. 
    ^ "Wirral Lib Dem Steve Niblock defects to Labour Party". BBC News.
    


19. 
    ^ "Election Result for 3 May 2012". Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
    


20. 
    ^ "Conservative victory in Wirral by-elections". Wirral Globe.
    


21. 
    ^ "UPDATED: Labour victory in Wirral Council by-election". Wirral Globe.
    


22. 
    ^ "Wirral councillor Mark Johnson quits Liberal Democrat Party". Liverpool Echo.
    


23. 
    ^ "Election Result for 22 May 2014". Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
    


24. 
    ^ "Election Result for 7 May 2015". Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
    


25. 
    ^ "Seven things to talk about after the Wirral local elections 2015". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
    


26. 
    ^ "Councillors". Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
    


27. 
    ^ "Labour keeps control of Claughton in by-election". Wirral Globe.
    


28. 
    ^ "Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council Election 2018 Results". BBC News.
    


29. 
    ^ "Election results for Bromborough Local by-election - Thursday, 23rd August 2018". Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
    


30. 
    ^ "Wirral councillor quits party blaming hard left 'parasites'". Labour Uncut. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
    


31. 
    ^ "Senior Labour politician quits party after 40 years citing 'absolute aggression' of 'hard-left clique'". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
    


32. 
    ^ "Wirral Local Nature Reserves". Wirral council. Retrieved 28 January 2011.
    


33. 
    ^ "Wirral Country Park". Wirral.gov.uk. Retrieved 11 November 2017.
    


34. 
    ^ "Miasta partnerskie i zaprzyjaźnione Nowego Sącza" ["The twin cities and friendly Nowy Sącz"]. Urząd Miasta Nowego Sącza (in Polish). Archived from the original on 23 May 2013. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
    


35. 
    ^ ^ab "British towns twinned with French towns". Archant Community Media Ltd. Archived from the original on 5 July 2013. Retrieved 20 July 2013.
    

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Metropolitan Borough of Wirral.

• Metropolitan Borough of Wirral home page


• Vision of Britain


• Wirral Archives Service

Neighbouring ceremonial/preserved counties and principal areas
Irish Sea Irish Sea Merseyside Sefton Irish Sea Clwyd Flintshire River Dee Wirral Merseyside Liverpool River Mersey Clwyd Flintshire River Dee Cheshire Cheshire West and Chester Cheshire Cheshire West and Chester

v t e Ceremonial county of Merseyside
North West England Portal
Metropolitan districts	City of Liverpool Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley Metropolitan Borough of Sefton Metropolitan Borough of St Helens Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
Major settlements	Ashton-in-Makerfield (part) Bebington Birkenhead Bootle Crosby Formby Golborne (part) Halewood Heswall Hoylake Huyton Kirkby Liverpool Maghull Newton-le-Willows Prescot Southport St Helens Wallasey West Kirby See also: List of civil parishes in Merseyside
Rivers	Alt Mersey Dee
Topics	People Population of major settlements (with links) All places Parliamentary constituencies Schools SSSIs Country houses Grade I listed buildings Grade II* listed buildings History Museums Lord Lieutenants High Sheriffs Football clubs Aintree Racecourse

v t e Districts of North West England
Cheshire	Cheshire East Cheshire West and Chester Halton Warrington
Cumbria	Allerdale Barrow-in-Furness Carlisle Copeland Eden South Lakeland
Greater Manchester	Bolton Bury Manchester Oldham Rochdale Salford Stockport Tameside Trafford Wigan
Lancashire	Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Burnley Chorley Fylde Hyndburn Lancaster Pendle Preston Ribble Valley Rossendale South Ribble West Lancashire Wyre
Merseyside	Knowsley Liverpool St Helens Sefton Wirral

v t e Metropolitan districts of England
Districts	Barnsley Birmingham Bolton Bradford Bury Calderdale Coventry Doncaster Dudley Gateshead Kirklees Knowsley Leeds Liverpool Manchester Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Oldham Rochdale Rotherham Salford Sandwell Sefton Sheffield Solihull South Tyneside St Helens Stockport Sunderland Tameside Trafford Wakefield Walsall Wigan Wirral Wolverhampton
Councils	Barnsley Birmingham Bolton Bradford Bury Calderdale Coventry Doncaster Dudley Gateshead Kirklees Knowsley Leeds Liverpool Manchester Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Oldham Rochdale Rotherham Salford Sandwell Sefton Sheffield Solihull South Tyneside St Helens Stockport Sunderland Tameside Trafford Wakefield Walsall Wigan Wirral Wolverhampton
Local elections	Barnsley Birmingham Bolton Bradford Bury Calderdale Coventry Doncaster Dudley Gateshead Kirklees Knowsley Leeds Liverpool Manchester Newcastle upon Tyne North Tyneside Oldham Rochdale Rotherham Salford Sandwell Sefton Sheffield Solihull South Tyneside St Helens Stockport Sunderland Tameside Trafford Wakefield Walsall Wigan Wirral Wolverhampton

Coordinates: 53°23′49″N 3°00′43″W / 53.396972°N 3.011914°W / 53.396972; -3.011914

This page is only for reference, If you need detailed information, please check here