Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley

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For the village within this borough, see Knowsley, Merseyside.

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

Borough of Knowsley
Metropolitan borough
Official logo of Borough of Knowsley
Coat of Arms of the Borough Council
Location of Knowsley within Merseyside and England
Location of Knowsley within Merseyside and England
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Constituent countryEngland
RegionNorth West England
City regionLiverpool
Ceremonial countyMerseyside
Historic countyLancashire
Founded1 April 1974; 47 years ago (1974-04-01)
Admin. HQHuyton
Government
 • TypeMetropolitan borough
 • Governing bodyKnowsley Metropolitan Borough Council
 • Leadership:Leader & Cabinet
 • Executive:Labour
 • Leader of the CouncilGraham Morgan (2018–)
 • MPs:George Howarth (Lab),
Maria Eagle (Lab),
Marie Rimmer (Lab)
Area
 • Total33.40 sq mi (86.50 km2)
Area rank226th
Population
 (mid-2019 est.)
 • Total150,862
 • RankRanked 135th
 • Density4,500/sq mi (1,700/km2)
Time zoneUTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+1 (British Summer Time)
ONS code00BX (ONS)
E08000011 (GSS)
Ethnicity98.4% White
Websitewww.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.

It is known for Knowsley Hall and Knowsley Safari Park.

History[]

Knowsley was formerly a collection of villages, some dating back to 650 AD.[1] 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.[2] 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.[3] 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 1990s.[4]

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. It also borders Halton to the south-east, and West 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 Marie Rimmer MP (Labour).

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.

Year Labour Liberal Democrats
2008 47 16

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.

Year Labour Liberal Democrats
2010 53 10

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.

Year Labour Liberal Democrats
2011 59 4

After the local elections in 2012, Knowsley became a one party borough, completely taking out the Liberal Democrat seats.[5]

Year Labour Liberal Democrats
2012 63 0

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

Year Labour Liberal Democrats
2016 42 3

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.

Religion and Belief[]

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.[6] This is significantly different from average figures from the 2011 census for England and Wales, which showed that 59.3 per cent of the population identified as Christian and 14.1 million people, around a quarter of the population in England and Wales, reported that they have no religion.

Twin towns[]

Knowsley is twinned with:[7]

  • Germany Moers, Germany

Freedom of the Borough[]

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

Individuals[]

Military units[]

Organisations and Groups[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Knowsley Council (2015). Knowsley Metropolitan Borough – An Introduction: History, Geography, Population and Economy. p. 2.
  2. ^ Knowsley District, A Vision of Britain Through Time, 23 December 2016
  3. ^ Knowsley Council (2015). Knowsley Metropolitan Borough – An Introduction: History, Geography, Population and Economy. p. 2.
  4. ^ Knowsley District, A Vision of Britain Through Time, 23 December 2016
  5. ^ Vote 2012, hosted by David Dimbledy, aired 3 May 2012, BBC One
  6. ^ "Religion in England and Wales 2011". Office for National Statistics.
  7. ^ Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council, Town Twinning retrieved 21 January 2019
  8. ^ "Gerrard given freedom of borough". 11 November 2008.
  9. ^ "Hospitals and councillors past and present to be honoured with Freedom of the Borough".
  10. ^ "Duke of Lancaster's Regiment awarded Freedom of Knowsley". Knowsley Council. October 12, 2009. Archived from the original on August 31, 2012. Retrieved January 6, 2020.
  11. ^ "Hospitals and councillors past and present to be honoured with Freedom of the Borough".
  12. ^ "NHS heroes to receive freedom of two boroughs". 2 March 2021.

External links[]

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