Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley

Coordinates: 53°26′20″N 2°51′04″W / 53.439°N 2.851°W / 53.439; -2.851

Borough of Knowsley
Metropolitan borough

Coat of Arms of the Borough Council

Location of Knowsley within Merseyside and England
Sovereign state United Kingdom
Constituent country England
Region North West England
City region Liverpool
Ceremonial county Merseyside
Historic county Lancashire
Founded 1 April 1974
Admin. HQ Huyton
Government
  Type Metropolitan borough
  Governing body Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council
  Leadership: Leader & Cabinet
  Executive: Labour
  Leader of the Council Andy Moorhead (2015–)
  MPs: George Howarth (Lab),
Maria Eagle (Lab),
Marie Rimmer (Lab)
Area
  Total 33.40 sq mi (86.50 km2)
Area rank 231st
Population (mid-2017 est.)
  Total 148,600
  Rank Ranked 134th
  Density 4,400/sq mi (1,700/km2)
Time zone UTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time)
  Summer (DST) UTC+1 (British Summer Time)
ONS code 00BX (ONS)
E08000011 (GSS)
Ethnicity 98.4% White
Website http://www.knowsley.gov.uk/

The Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England. It comprises the towns and districts of Kirkby, Prescot, Huyton, Whiston, Halewood, Cronton and Stockbridge Village; Kirkby, Huyton, and Prescot being the major commercial centres. It takes its name from the village of Knowsley, though its headquarters are in Huyton. It forms part of the wider Liverpool City Region.

The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Huyton-with-Roby Urban District, Kirkby Urban District and Prescot Urban District, along with most of Whiston Rural District and a small part of West Lancashire Rural District, all from the administrative county of Lancashire.

According to the 2011 census, 80.9% of people in Knowsley describe themselves as Christian, the highest proportion in any local authority in England and Wales.[1]

It is known for Knowsley Hall and Knowsley Safari Park.

History

Knowsley was formerly a collection of villages, some dating back to 650 AD.[2] The Earls of Derby have their ancestral home in the borough at Knowsley Hall, the surroundings of which today house the popular visitor attraction of Knowsley Safari Park.

Knowsley experienced rapid population expansion in the 1950s and 1960s, resulting from the combination of industrialisation and migration, including a significant amount of overspill development from Liverpool. By 1971, some 194,600 lived within the area which would become Knowsley.[3] However, over the next two decades general economic decline – particularly in manufacturing – contributed to a significant fall in population to around 154,600 by 1994. Subsequently, a population stabilisation strategy helped to stem this decline. The strategy was focused on house building and marketing the borough to secure inward investment.[4] Record house building and strong growth in inward investment yielded the borough's first small rise in population in over 25 years in 1995. The population stabilised at over 154,000 for most of the rest of the nineties.[5]

Geography

Knowsley Metropolitan Borough covers an area of 33.40 square miles (86.50 km²) and is the smallest metropolitan borough of Merseyside. Within Merseyside, it borders the City of Liverpool to the west, the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton to the north-west and the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens to the east. To the South East, it borders Halton and West Lancashire in Lancashire to the north.

Settlements

Governance

Westminster

The residents of Knowsley Metropolitan Borough are represented in the British Parliament by Members of Parliament (MPs) for three separate parliamentary constituencies. Knowsley is represented by George Howarth MP (Labour), Garston and Halewood is represented by Maria Eagle MP (Labour) and St Helens South and Whiston is represented by Maria Rimmer MP (Labour).

European Parliament

Knowsley is part of the North West England constituency in the European Parliament. North West England is represented by eight MEPs; at the 2014 European elections, the region elected two Conservatives, three from the Labour Party, and three members of the United Kingdom Independence Party.[6]

Knowsley Council Composition

After local elections in 2008 the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley was governed by the Labour Party, the largest party represented on the council. The Liberal Democrats, the second largest party, were in opposition. There were no other councillors.

YearLabourLiberal Democrats
20084716

After local elections in 2010 the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley continued to be governed by the Labour Party, the largest party represented on the council, who increased their total number of seats by 5 to 53. The Liberal Democrats, the second largest party represented on the council, continued to be in opposition losing 5 seats to the governing Labour Party to decrease their total number of seats to 10.

YearLabourLiberal Democrats
20105310

After local elections in 2011 the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley continued to be governed by the Labour Party, the largest party represented on the council, who increased their total number of seats to 59. The Liberal Democrats, the second largest party represented on the council, continued to be in opposition losing 6 seats to the governing Labour Party to decrease their total number of seats to 4.

YearLabourLiberal Democrats
2011594

After the local elections in 2012, Knowsley became a one party borough, completely taking out the Liberal Democrat seats.[7]

YearLabourLiberal Democrats
2012630

In 2016 the number of seats was reduced to 45 with the Liberal Democrats winning three

YearLabourLiberal Democrats
2016423

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

The Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley 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 Knowsley 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.

Twin towns

Knowsley is twinned with

See also

References

  1. "Religion in England and Wales 2011". Office for National Statistics.
  2. Knowsley Council (2015). Knowsley Metropolitan Borough – An Introduction: History, Geography, Population and Economy. p. 2.
  3. Knowsley District, A Vision of Britain Through Time, 23 December 2016
  4. Knowsley Council (2015). Knowsley Metropolitan Borough – An Introduction: History, Geography, Population and Economy. p. 2.
  5. Knowsley District, A Vision of Britain Through Time, 23 December 2016
  6. "List MEPs by region". Europarl.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2014-06-21. Retrieved on 22 June 2014.
  7. Vote 2012, hosted by David Dimbledy, aired 3 May 2012, BBC One
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