Metropolitan Borough of Sefton

The Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England, was formed on 1 April 1974[1] by the amalgamation of the county boroughs of Bootle and Southport, the municipal borough of Crosby, the urban districts of Formby and Litherland, and part of West Lancashire Rural District within the new county of Merseyside. The borough consists of a coastal strip of land on the Irish Sea which extends from Southport in the north to Bootle in the south, and an inland part to Maghull in the south-east. The district is bounded by the city of Liverpool to the south, the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley to the south-east, and West Lancashire to the east.

For the settlement, see Sefton, Merseyside.
This article is about the local government district. For other uses, see Sefton.

Borough of Sefton
Metropolitan borough
Sefton shown within Merseyside and England
Coordinates: 53.445°N 2.998°W / 53.445; -2.998
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Constituent countryEngland
RegionNorth West England
City regionLiverpool
Ceremonial countyMerseyside
Historic countyLancashire
Founded1 April 1974
Admin. HQBootle and Southport
Government
 • TypeMetropolitan Borough
 • Governing bodySefton Council
 • Leadership:Leader & Cabinet
 • Executive:Labour Party
 • Leader of the CouncilCllr Ian Maher
Labour Party
 • MPs:Peter Dowd, Labour
Bill Esterson, Labour
Damien Moore, Conservative
Area
 • Total59.8 sq mi (155.0 km2)
Area rank181st
Population
 (mid-2019 est.)
 • Total273,790
 • RankRanked 55th
 • Density4,600/sq mi (1,800/km2)
Time zoneUTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+1 (British Summer Time)
Postcode
L, PR
ONS code00CA (ONS)
E08000014 (GSS)
Ethnicity98.4% White
Websitehttp://www.sefton.gov.uk/
Bootle Town Hall

It is named after the village and parish of Sefton, near Maghull. When the borough was created in the Local Government Act 1972, a name was sought that would not unduly identify the borough with any of its constituent parts, particularly the former county boroughs of Bootle and Southport. The locality had strong links with both the Earl of Sefton and the Earl of Derby, resident of Knowsley Hall,[2] and given the fact that the immediately adjacent borough was subsequently named Knowsley it seems equally likely that the choice of name was derived from the names of the local nobility. A Sefton Rural District covering some of the villages in the district existed from 1894 to 1932.[3]

Politics

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority

The Metropolitan Borough of Sefton 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.[4]

The combined authority has effectively become the top-tier administrative body for the local governance of the city region and the leader of Sefton 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.[4]

As of July 2015, negotiations were taking place between the UK national government and the combined authority over a possible devolution deal to confer greater powers on the region, including whether to introduce an elected 'Metro Mayor' to oversee the entire metropolitan area.[5]

Historic controversy

The existence of Sefton has been an ongoing local controversy, especially in Southport, where local Members of Parliament and councillors have campaigned for separation from Bootle and the possible inclusion of the town as a district in the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire.[6] It was highlighted after the 2012 local government election that different regions in Sefton had vastly different socio-economic backgrounds and needs. There are high levels of poverty around the Bootle area and central Southport.[7]

Sefton Council composition

The council has 66 councillors, three for each of the borough's 22 wards:

The council is composed of 42 Labour councillors, 16 Liberal Democrats, 7 Conservatives and 2 Independents.[8]

Economy

The borough has a strong income from tourism, most of whom visit the Aintree Grand National, the most valuable horse race in Europe, Anthony Gormley's Another Place at Crosby Beach and Southport. Birkdale is also home to the Royal Birkdale Golf Club which has played host to the Open Championship, Ryder Cup, Walker Cup and Curtis Cup.[9]

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Sefton at current basic prices published (pp. 240–53) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

YearRegional gross value addedAgricultureIndustryServices
19952,079204961,563
20002,50084682,024
20032,994104182,566

^ Components may not sum to totals due to rounding ^ includes hunting and forestry ^ includes energy and construction ^ includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

Towns and villages in Sefton

Parliamentary constituencies
See also: List of Parliamentary constituencies on Merseyside

Sister cities

Sefton is twinned with:[10]

See also

References
  1. Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c.70. The Stationery Office Ltd. 1997. ISBN 0-10-547072-4.
  2. Welcome to the Estate, Knowsley Hall, retrieved 7 October 2010
  3. "Sefton RD through time: Relationships and changes". A Vision of Britain through Time. GB Historical GIS / University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  4. "Proposal to establish a combined authority for Greater Merseyside" (PDF). Department for Communities and Local Government. November 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  5. Liam Murphy (22 July 2015). "Liverpool city region to decide on devolution demands by end of summer". Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  6. Final Recommendations on the Future Local Government of Sefton, Local Government Commission for England, November 1997.
  7. "Sefton Local Economic Assessment" (PDF). Invest Sefton. May 2011. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
  8. Sefton's Political Composition, Sefton Council Website; accessed 17 May 2016.
  9. "Royal Birkdale Golf Club - Club History". Retrieved 9 July 2012.
  10. Sefton Council, Twinning with Towns and Cities retrieved 21 January 2019
  11. "Gdańsk Official Website: 'Miasta partnerskie'". www.gdansk.pl (in Polish and English). Urząd Miejski w Gdańsku]. Archived from the original on 23 July 2013. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
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