Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Welsh county of Flintshire across the Dee Estuary to the southwest, and the Irish Sea to the west. The largest settlement is the city of Liverpool.
The county is highly urbanised, with an area of and a population of in . Liverpool is in the centre of the county on the east bank of the Mersey Estuary, and Birkenhead opposite on the west bank. St Helens is in the east of the county, and Southport in the north. For local government purposes the county comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and Liverpool. The borough councils, together with that of Halton in Cheshire, collaborate through the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.
What is now Merseyside was a largely rural area until the Industrial Revolution, when Liverpool and Birkenhead's positions on the Mersey Estuary enabled them to expand. Liverpool became a major port, heavily involved in the Atlantic slave trade and in supplying cotton to the mills of Lancashire, and Birkenhead developed into a centre for shipbuilding. Innovations during this period included the first inter-city railway, the first publicly-funded civic park, advances in dock technology, and a pioneering elevated electrical railway. The county was established in 1974, before which the entirety of the Wirral was in Cheshire and the remainder of the county was in Lancashire.
Merseyside is notable for its sport, music, and cultural institutions. The Merseybeat genre developed in what is now the county, which has also produced many artists and bands, including the Beatles. The county contains several football clubs, with Everton and Liverpool playing in the Premier League. The Royal Liverpool and Royal Birkdale golf clubs have hosted The Open Championship 22 times between them, and the Grand National is the most valuable jump race in Europe. National Museums Liverpool comprises nine museums and art galleries.
History According to the OED, the earliest use of the word Merseyside (presumably as a general term for the lands surrounding the river) is from 1899., OED history
The county of Merseyside was created in 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, from areas previously administered within the counties of Lancashire and Cheshire, together with the independent county boroughs of Birkenhead, Bootle, Liverpool, St Helens, Southport and Wallasey.
Merseyside had been designated a "Special Review" area in the Local Government Act 1958. The Local Government Commission for England started a review of this area in 1962, based around the core county boroughs of Liverpool, Bootle, Birkenhead and Wallasey. Further areas, including Widnes and Runcorn, were added to the Special Review Area by Order in 1965. Draft proposals were published in 1965, but the commission never completed its final proposals as it was abolished in 1966.
Instead, a Royal Commission was set up to review English local government entirely, and its report (known as the Redcliffe-Maud Report) proposed a much wider Merseyside metropolitan area covering southwest Lancashire and northwest Cheshire, extending as far south as Chester and as far north as the River Ribble. This would have included four districts: Southport/Crosby, Liverpool/Bootle, St Helens/Widnes and Wirral/Chester. Meanwhile, in 1970 the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive (which operates today under the Merseytravel brand) was set up, covering Liverpool, Sefton, Wirral and Knowsley, but excluding Southport and St Helens.
The Redcliffe-Maud Report was rejected by the Conservative government elected in 1970, but the concept of a two-tier metropolitan area based on the Mersey area was retained in a white paper published in 1971. The Local Government Bill presented to Parliament involved a substantial trimming from the white paper, excluding the northern and southern fringes of the area, Chester, and Ellesmere Port; and, for the first time, including Southport, whose council had requested to be included. Further alterations took place in Parliament, with Skelmersdale being removed from the area, and a proposed district including St Helens and Huyton being subdivided into what are now the metropolitan boroughs of St Helens and Knowsley.
Merseyside was established as a metropolitan county on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, as part of a major reform of local government in England and Wales.
Following the creation of Merseyside, Merseytravel expanded to take in St Helens and Southport.
Post-1974 Pre-1974 Metropolitan county Metropolitan borough County boroughs Non-county boroughs Urban districts Rural districts Knowsley Huyton with Roby • Kirkby • Prescot West Lancashire • Whiston Liverpool Liverpool Sefton Bootle • Southport Crosby Formby • Litherland West Lancashire St Helens St Helens Newton-in-Makerfield • Billinge and Winstanley • Haydock • Rainford Whiston Wirral Birkenhead • Wallasey Bebington Hoylake • Wirral
Governance At first, the county had a two-tier system of local government: the five metropolitan boroughs shared power with the Merseyside County Council, which was based in Liverpool. The first elections of the 99 members of the county council were held in April 1973, in advance of the formal establishment of the council on 1 April 1974. The body had a strategic role in areas such as transport; the boroughs had more powers than non-metropolitan districts, in that they were additionally responsible for education and social services, responsibilities allocated to county councils elsewhere.
In 1986 the county council, along with all other metropolitan county councils, was abolished under the Local Government Act 1985. Thus the boroughs are now effectively unitary authorities.
Geography
Merseyside is divided into two parts by the Mersey estuary; the Wirral is on the west side of the estuary, upon the Wirral Peninsula, and the rest of the county lies on the east side. The eastern part of Merseyside borders onto Lancashire to the north and Greater Manchester to the east, with both parts of the county bordering Cheshire to the south. The territory comprising the county of Merseyside previously formed part of the administrative counties of Lancashire (east of the River Mersey) and Cheshire (west of the River Mersey). The two parts are linked by the two Mersey Tunnels, the Wirral line of Merseyrail, and the Mersey Ferry.
Green belt
Merseyside contains green belt interspersed throughout the county, surrounding the Liverpool urban area, as well as across the Mersey in the Wirral area, with further pockets extending towards and surrounding Southport, as part of the western edge of the North West Green Belt. It was first drawn up from the 1950s. All the county's districts contain some portion of belt.
Demography
+ EthnicityEthnic Group1971 estimations1981 estimations1991 census2001 census2011 census2021 censusNumber%Number%Number%Number%Number%Number%White: Total–99.5%1,500,26798.6%1,422,45398.1%1,322,93897.1%1,305,30394.5%1,304,79791.7%White: British––––––1,297,77795.3%1,268,27791.8%1,242,32387.3%White: Irish––––––13,0051.0%13,3421.0%13,5080.9%White: Gypsy or Irish TravellerNew category created for the 2011 census––––––––4570.0%7630.1%White: RomaNew category created for the 2021 census––––––––––1,6960.1%White: Other––––––12,1560.9%23,2271.7%46,5073.3%Asian or Asian British: Total––9,0610.6%11,6240.8%16,5111.2%30,4052.2%44,4523.1%Asian or Asian British: Indian––2,2480.1%2,7400.2%3,7690.3%7,8960.6%10,6860.8%Asian or Asian British: Pakistani––7160.0%9120.1%1,5280.1%2,5660.2%4,7230.3%Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi––4890.0%7640.1%1,2660.1%2,3660.2%3,8630.3%Asian or Asian British: ChineseIn 2001, listed under the 'Chinese or other ethnic group' heading.––4,7190.3%5,8950.4%8,1290.6%11,5540.8%13,1940.9%Asian or Asian British: Other Asian––8890.1%1,3130.1%1,8190.1%6,0230.4%11,9860.8%Black or Black British: Total––8,3440.5%9,9140.7%6,8380.5%14,5521.1%21,9021.5%Black or Black British: African––2,6300.2%3,0930.2%3,7220.3%9,7920.7%16,0911.1%Black or Black British: Caribbean––1,8900.1%2,2080.2%1,6000.1%2,0660.1%2,3640.2%Black or Black British: Other Black––3,8240.3%4,6130.3%1,5160.1%2,6940.2%3,4470.2%Mixed: Total––––––13,1891.0%20,9541.5%30,4952.1%Mixed: White and Black Caribbean––––––3,9180.3%6,3950.5%7,2800.5%Mixed: White and Black African––––––3,1570.2%4,8940.4%7,0210.5%Mixed: White and Asian––––––2,7140.2%4,6380.3%7,6660.5%Mixed: Other Mixed––––––3,4000.2%5,0270.4%8,5280.6%Other: Total––4,5310.3%5,7130.4%2,5500.2%9,9750.7%21,6401.5%Other: Arab––––––––6,3790.5%10,0860.7%Other: Any other ethnic group––––––2,5500.2%3,5960.3%11,5540.8%Non-White: Total–0.5%21,9321.4%27,2471.9%39,0882.9%75,8865.5%118,4898.3%Total–100%1,522,199100%1,449,700100%1,362,026100%1,381,189100%1,423,286100%
Identity Ipsos MORI polls in the boroughs of Sefton and Wirral in the 2000s showed that in general, residents of these boroughs identified slightly more strongly to Merseyside than to Lancashire or Cheshire respectively, but their affinity to Merseyside was more likely to be "fairly strong" than "very strong".Sefton poll , where 51% residents belonged strongly to Merseyside, and compared with 35% to Lancashire; Wirral poll , where 45% of residents belonged strongly to Merseyside; compared with 30% to Cheshire. In both boroughs, "very strongly" ratings for the historic county were larger than that for Merseyside, but "fairly strongly" was lower.
Local government Metropolitan boroughs Merseyside comprises the metropolitan boroughs of Liverpool, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral.
Combined authority
The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, which includes the five boroughs of Merseyside and the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, oversees functions given to it under the area's devolution deal with the UK government, such as transport, housing, innovation, employment, energy, tourism, and trade, and some responsibilities relating to crime and justice.
The combined authority is led by the Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotheram, who was elected in 2017 and re-elected in 2021 and in 2024.
County-level functions Following the abolition of the county council, some local services are run by joint-boards of the five metropolitan boroughs; these include the:
Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner and Merseyside Police Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority Merseyside Pension Scheme, administered by Wirral Council, with offices in Liverpool
Healthcare
The planning and commissioning of care within Merseyside is the responsibility of an integrated care system, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, which covers NHS and other care services within the Cheshire and Merseyside areas. It also oversees Cheshire and Merseyside Health and Care Partnership. NHS Cheshire and Merseyside serves a combined population of 2.7 million . Economy
+ GVA and GDP by local authority district in 2021 District GVA (£ billions) GVA per capita (£) GDP (£ billions) GDP per capita (£) Knowsley £4.0 £25,927 £4.6 £29,407 Liverpool £14.3 £29,489 £15.9 £32,841 St Helens £2.8 £15,448 £3.4 £18,803 Sefton £4.6 £16,275 £5.4 £19,418 Wirral £5.6 £17,527 £6.6 £20,688 Merseyside £31.3 £22,000 £36.0 £25,281
Transport
Road
Merseyside is served by six motorways: the M58 to the north, M56 to the south, M6 & M62 to the east and M53 to the west. The M57 acts as an outer ring road and bypass for the city of Liverpool itself. The River Mersey is crossed by Queensway Tunnel and Kingsway Tunnel, which link Liverpool to Birkenhead and Wallasey respectively, and by the Silver Jubilee Bridge and Mersey Gateway Bridge, which link Runcorn and Widnes. The Mersey Gateway Bridge opened in 2017 and is designed to improve transport links between Widnes and Runcorn and other key locations in the vicinity.