Metropolitan Borough of Bolton

Borough of Bolton
Metropolitan borough
Bolton Town Hall, the seat of Bolton's borough council
Coat of Arms of the Metropolitan Borough Council
Motto(s):  "Supera Moras" (Latin: "Overcome delays")
Bolton shown within Greater Manchester
Coordinates: 53°34′53″N 2°25′47″W / 53.58139°N 2.42972°W / 53.58139; -2.42972
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	North West England
Ceremonial county	Greater Manchester
Admin HQ	Bolton Town Hall
Historic county	Salford Hundred, Lancashire
Founded	1 April 1974
Government
• Type	Metropolitan borough
• Governing body	Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council
• Mayor:	Cllr. Linda Thomas (L)
• Leadership:	Leader & Cabinet
• Leader:	Martyn Cox (C)
• MPs:	Mark Logan (C) Yasmin Qureshi (L) Chris Green (C)
Area
• Total	53.98 sq mi (139.80 km2)
Population  (mid-2019 est.)
• Total	287,550 (Ranked 48th)
• Density	4,860/sq mi (1,877/km2)
Time zone	UTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time)
Postcode areas	BL1-BL7, M26
Area code(s)	01204, 01942, 0161
ISO 3166-2	GB-BOL
ONS code	00BL (ONS) E08000001 (GSS)
OS grid reference	SD715095
NUTS 3	UKD32
Website	http://www.bolton.gov.uk

The Metropolitan Borough of Bolton /ˈboʊltən/ (listen) is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England, named after its largest town, Bolton, but covering a far larger area which includes Blackrod, Farnworth, Horwich, Kearsley, Westhoughton, and part of the West Pennine Moors. It has a population of 276,800.

The boundaries were set by the Local Government Act 1972, and cover eight former local government districts; seven Urban Districts from the administrative county of Lancashire, and the County Borough of Bolton. The metropolitan districts of Bury, Salford and Wigan lie to the east, south and west respectively; and the unitary authority of Blackburn with Darwen and the non-metropolitan district of Chorley in Lancashire to the north and north-west.

History[]

The metropolitan borough was formed on 1 April 1974, by the merger of the County Borough of Bolton and the following districts from the administrative county of Lancashire:

• Municipal Borough of Farnworth
• Urban District of Blackrod
• Urban District of Horwich
• Urban District of Kearsley
• Urban District of Little Lever
• Urban District of Westhoughton
• the southern part of Turton Urban District, specifically the villages of Bradshaw, Bromley Cross, , Egerton and Harwood. This area is now known as South Turton.

Bolton Council unsuccessfully petitioned Elizabeth II for the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton to be granted city status in 1992 (the Queen's 40th year as monarch), in 2000 (for the Millennium celebrations), in 2002 (Queen's Golden Jubilee), and 2012 (Queen's Diamond Jubilee).^[1]

Parishes[]

Horwich, Westhoughton and Blackrod are now constituted as civil parishes. There are three town councils in the metropolitan borough, Westhoughton Town Council, Horwich Town Council and Blackrod Town Council. The rest of the metropolitan borough, Bolton, Farnworth, Kearsley, Little Lever, and South Turton, have remained unparished areas since 1974.

Demographics[]

According to the 2011 census, of the 276,787people living in Bolton Metropolitan Borough, the following ethnicities have been recorded:

• 81.9% White
  • 79.4% White British
  • 0.6% White Irish
  • 0.1% White Traveller
  • 1.8% Other White
• 14.0% Asian
  • 7.8% Indian
  • 4.3% Pakistani
  • 0.2% Bangladeshi
  • 0.5% Chinese
  • 1.1% Other Asian
• 1.8% Mixed Race
  • 0.7% White and Asian
  • 0.6% White and Black Caribbean
  • 0.2% White and Black African
  • 0.3% Other Mixed
• 1.7% Black
  • 1.2% Black African
  • 0.2% Black Caribbean
  • 0.2% Other Black
• 0.7% Other
  • 0.3% Arab
  • 0.4% Other

Population change[]

The table below details the population change since 1801, including the percentage change since the last available census data. Although the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton has only existed since 1974, figures have been generated by combining data from the towns, villages, and civil parishes that would later be constituent parts of the borough.

Population growth in Bolton since 1801

Year Population ±% 1801 37,417 —     1811 48,996 +30.9% 1821 60,319 +23.1% 1831 75,787 +25.6% 1841 89,507 +18.1% 1851 105,957 +18.4% 1861 132,437 +25.0%	Year Population ±% 1871 158,917 +20.0% 1881 185,397 +16.7% 1891 216,792 +16.9% 1901 240,014 +10.7% 1911 265,733 +10.7% 1921 263,413 −0.9% 1931 261,119 −0.9%	Year Population ±% 1941 256,207 −1.9% 1951 251,388 −1.9% 1961 255,627 +1.7% 1971 259,993 +1.7% 1981 260,229 +0.1% 1991 262,880 +1.0% 2001 261,035 −0.7%
Pre-1974 statistics were gathered from local government areas that now comprise the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton Source: Vision of Britain[2]

Transport[]

The Bolton metropolitan area is served by the following railway stations:

• Bolton Trinity Street
• Bromley Cross
• Hall i' th' Wood
• Blackrod
• Horwich Parkway (for the University of Bolton Stadium – Bolton Wanderers)
• Lostock
• Westhoughton
• Moses Gate
• Farnworth
• Kearsley
• Daisy Hill

Education[]

In 2007, Bolton was ranked 69th out of the 149 Local Education Authorities – and sixth out of ten in Greater Manchester – for its National Curriculum assessment performance.^[3] Measured on the percentage of pupils attaining at least 5 A*–C grades at GCSE including maths and English, the Bolton LEA was 111th out of 149: 40.1% of pupils achieved this objective, against a national average of 46.7%.^[4] Unauthorised absence from Bolton's secondary schools in the 2006/2007 academic year was 1.4%, in line with the national average, and authorised absence was 6.0% against the national average of 6.4%.^[5] At GCSE level, Bolton School (Girls' Division) was the most successful of Bolton's 21 secondary schools, with 99% of pupils achieving at least 5 A*–C grades at including maths and English.^[6]

The University of Bolton is one of Greater Manchester's four universities. In 2008, The Times Good University Guide ranked it 111th of 113 institutions in Britain.^[7] There are 4,440 students (83% undergraduate, 17% postgraduate); 2.6% come from outside Britain. In 2007 there were 8.8 applications for every place, and student satisfaction was recorded as 74.4%. It is one of Britain's newest universities, having been given this status in 2005.^[8]

GCSE Examination Performance 2009[]

School	A*-C Pass Rate	Point Score
Bolton Muslim Girls' School	100%	533.1
Bolton School (Girls' Division)	98%	546.7
Canon Slade C of E School	93%	508.5
	93%	401.5
St Joseph's RC High School	85%	426.6
	79%	347.3
	79%	327.9
Ladybridge High School	78%	437.6
Turton School	76%	396.1
Sharples School	74%	414.1
Westhoughton High School	67%	424.0
Rivington and Blackrod High School	69%	456.7
Essa Academy	67%	383.7
Smithills School	66%	400.8
Little Lever School	61%	442.7
Mount St Joseph School	61%	422.7
Harper Green School	59%	384.7
George Tomlinson School	55%	307.4
Bolton School (Boys' Division)	52%	240.4
Average for Metropolitan Borough of Bolton	71.4%	422.5
Average for England	70.0%	413.5

• The table on the left shows the percentage of students gaining five A* to C grades, including English and Maths, for secondary schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton.
• The table on the right shows the Average Total Point Score per Student for secondary schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton.
• Schools highlighted in yellow are above the LEA average; those highlighted in orange are below the average.
• Another secondary school, Bolton Muslim Girls' School, has opened since January 2007; no results are available.
• Source: Department for Children, Schools and Families^{[permanent dead link]}

Leaders of Bolton Council[]

Leaders of Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council
No.	Leader	Political party		Period of office	Notes
1	John Hanscomb		Conservative	1973–1980	Chairman and Transitional Mayor of Bolton (1973–1974) and ceremonial Mayor of Bolton (1982–1983)
2	Robert Howarth		Labour	1980–2004	MP for Bolton East (1964–1970)
3	Barbara Ronson		Liberal Democrats	2004–2006	Mayor of Horwich (1996–1997) and Mayor of Bolton (2007–2008)
4	Clifford Morris		Labour	2006–2018	Mayor of Bolton (2003–2004)
5	Linda Thomas		Labour	2018–2019	Mayor of Bolton (2020–2022)
6	David Greenhalgh		Conservative	2019–2021	Died in office
7	Martyn Cox		Conservative	2021–present

Twin towns[]

The Metropolitan Borough of Bolton has two twin towns, one in France and another in Germany.^[9]

	Country		Place		County / District / Region / State	Originally twinned with	Date
	France		Le Mans		Pays de la Loire	County Borough of Bolton	1973
	Germany		Paderborn		Nordrhein-Westfalen	Metropolitan Borough of Bolton	1975

Neighbouring districts[]

The local government districts which surround the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton
North-West: Borough of Chorley	North: Borough of Blackburn with Darwen		North-East and East: Metropolitan Borough of Bury
	Metropolitan Borough of Bolton
South-West: Metropolitan Borough of Wigan		South-East: City of Salford

Freedom of the Borough[]

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Borough of Merton.

This list is incomplete; you can help by . (July 2019)

Individuals[]

• William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme: 10 November 1902.
• John Pennington Thomasson: 10 November 1902.
• Andrew Carnegie: 29 September 1910.
• FM Rt Hon Lord Montgomery KG GCB DSO PC DL: 5 November 1949.
• Nat Lofthouse OBE: 2 December 1989.
• Robert Howarth: 16 June 2001.

Military units[]

• 253rd Regiment Royal Artillery (TA): 18 April 1964.
• 5th Battalion Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) (TA): 18 April 1964.
• HMS Dido, RN: 14 April 1973.
• 216 (The Bolton Artillery) Battery 103rd (Lancashire Artillery Volunteers) Regiment Royal Artillery: 18 May 1994.
• 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment: 14 March 2009.

^[10]

See also[]

• Bolton local elections
• List of Mayors of Bolton
• List of people from Bolton

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bolton.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Bolton.

Coordinates: 53°34′39″N 2°25′48″W / 53.57750°N 2.43000°W / 53.57750; -2.43000