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Metropolitan Borough of Wigan

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Template:Infobox UK District The Metropolitan Borough of Wigan is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, in North West England. It is named after its largest component town, Wigan, but covers a far larger area, which includes the towns of Leigh, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Ince-in-Makerfield and Hindley. The borough was formed in 1974 and is an amalgamation of several former local government districts and parishes. The borough has three civil parishes and lies directly to the west of the City of Salford and southwest of the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton.

Environs

The Civic Centre houses government and administrative functions for the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan.

The borough is the most north western in Greater Manchester. Within Greater Manchester, it borders the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton to the north-east and east, and the City of Salford to the east. Outwith Greater Manchester, in the south it borders Warrington (a unitary authority in Cheshire); to the south-west it borders the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens in Merseyside. To the west it borders the West Lancashire district, and to the north it borders the Chorley borough, both in Lancashire.

History

The metropolitan borough was created on April 1, 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972. It was formed from the county borough of Wigan along with following existing local government units from the administrative county of Lancashire : [1][2]

Wigan Metropolitan Borough's new coat of arms is based on various elements from the arms of the predecessor districts.

Prior to its creation, the name Wigan-Leigh was used in the Redcliffe-Maud Report. It was then suggested that the new metropolitan borough be named Makerfield (with reference to Makerfield). However borh names were rejected for Wigan, by a vote of 12 to 2.[3]

From 1974, local government was under a two-tier system, with Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council covering most functions, and the Greater Manchester County Council. The county council was abolished in 1986 by the Local Government Act 1985.

The population of the borough has stayed roughly static since the 1970s at around 300,000.[4]

Politics

Parliamentary

Four parliamentary constituencies cover the borough: Wigan, Makerfield, Leigh, and Worsley. Worsley also covers parts of Salford. New constituencies boundaries recommended by the Boundary Commission will see the link to Salford broken, and part of the borough (the Atherton ward) included in the Bolton West constituency.[5] All four seats are considered safe seats for the Labour Party, and they or predecessors have returned Labour members consistently since the Second World War. Makerfield is the only constituency to have returned Labour MPs continuously since 1906. [6]

Local government

The first elections to the borough council were held on 10 May 1973.[7] Each ward has three councillors, and elections are by third, with one councillor from each ward up for re-election in each election year.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). The next elections are planned for 2007. [8]

The borough council has a leader and cabinet system. The current leader is Peter Smith, who also sits in the House of Lords as a Labour Party life peer, under the title Lord Smith of Leigh. He first became leader in 1991.[9]. The council rejected the idea of a directly-elected mayor following a consultation in 2001.[10]

Wigan is traditionally a Labour stronghold - the council has been Labour Party-controlled since its creation. [11] The local elections in 1998 resulted in a council with only 2 non-Labour members.

Labour have a majority with 43 seats as of the 2006 election. The second largest party on the council is the local Community Action Party, also active in St Helens and Warrington, which had 15 seats. Community Action first contested Wigan elections in 2002, and won 18 seats in the 2004 election following the re-warding - their councilors are for wards in the middle of the borough, between Wigan and Leigh. The Conservative Party has nine seats, and the Liberal Democrats eight. [12][11]

The council uses Wigan Town Hall as its main headquarters.[13] Leigh Town Hall is used as a secondary base. [14]

Wards

The borough is divided into 25 electoral wards, each of which elect three councillors. The present wards were adopted in 2003, following a review by the Boundary Commission : the previous review took place in 1979. The borough was formerly divided in 24 wards.[15] The wards are as follows:[16]

The previous wards were

  • Abram
  • Ashton-Golborne
  • Aspull-Standish
  • Atherton
  • Astley
  • Beech Hill
  • Bryn
  • Hindley Green
  • Hindley
  • Hindsford
  • Hope Carr
  • Ince
  • Langtree
  • Leigh Central
  • Leigh East
  • Lightshaw
  • Newtown
  • Norley
  • Orrell
  • Swinley
  • Tyldesley East
  • Whelley
  • Winstanley
  • Worsley Mesnes

Labour Clubs

The Metropolitan Borough of Wigan has long been a heartland of the National Union of Labour & Socialist Clubs, having at one time 30 Labour Clubs in the town [citation needed]. In recent years this has gone down to about ten.[17] The NULSC has also used Haigh Hall for an annual festival.

Settlements and subdivisions

Component areas of the borough include Wigan itself, Abram, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Aspull, Astley, Atherton, Bryn, Golborne, Haigh, Higher End, Hindley, Ince-in-Makerfield, Leigh, Lowton, Orrell, Platt Bridge, Standish, Shevington and Tyldesley.

The ONS identify a Wigan Urban Area in the west of the district with a population of 166,840. It considers towns in the east of the borough to be part of the Greater Manchester Urban Area. Ashton-in-Makerfield, Aspull, Golborne and Shevington are identified as standalone urban areas.[18]

Parishes

The borough has three civil parishes: Haigh, Shevington and Worthington. The rest of the borough is an unparished area. Turning to ecclesiastical parishes, the Wigan Parishes are under the Diocese of Liverpool, although parishes in the east section of the Metropolitan Borough are under the Diocese of Manchester and the northern section under the Diocese of Blackburn.

Townships

Wigan Council has divided the borough into ten areas by the name of townships, with a Township Manager and a Township Forum each. [19]. The townships are as follows:

Township Wards
Ashton-in-Makerfield / Bryn Ashton; Bryn
Atherton Atherton
Hindley / Abram Abram; Hindley; Hindley Green
Leigh Atherleigh; Leigh North; Leigh South; Leigh West
Lowton / Golborne Golborne and Lowton West; Lowton East
Orrell / Higher End / Winstanley Orrell; Winstanley; Billinge Higher End
Standish / Aspull / Shevington Aspull-New Springs-Whelley; Shevington with Lower Ground; Standish with Langtree
Tyldesley / Astley Astley-Mosley Common; Tyldesley
Wigan North Ince; Wigan Central; Wigan West
Wigan South Douglas; Pemberton; Worsley Mesnes

Demographics

With a population of around 300,000, Wigan is the second most populous borough of Greater Manchester, after Manchester itself. It also has one of the lowest non-white populations, with the 2001 census reporting 98.7% of the population as white. Unemployment is around average for England and Wales. 9.5% of the population is "permanently sick or disabled" compared to an average of 5.5%.[20]

Crime

Crime in the borough has continued to fall in recent years, and is now statistically the safest borough in Greater Manchester.[citation needed]

Identity

According to an opinion poll, 26% of 299 residents surveyed felt they belonged "very strongly" or "fairly strongly" (4% very strongly) to Greater Manchester, 64% (28% very strongly) to the borough of Wigan, and 63% (31% very strongly) to Lancashire. [21]

Transport

Several railway lines cross the borough. Wigan Wallgate railway station is served by trains to Southport, Kirkby, Manchester Victoria and Rochdale. Wigan North Western railway station is located on the West Coast Main Line and trains run from there to Liverpool Lime Street and Blackpool North.

Other stations are Atherton, Bryn(Ashton in Makerfield), Gathurst(Shevington), Hindley, Ince, Orrell, and Pemberton.There is also a long running campaign for Golborne railway station to be re-opened.

Leigh is the largest town in the UK whitout a railway station. One station, on the Bolton and Leigh Railway, closed in 1954. The second, on a loop of the Manchester to Wigan Line was closed in 1969.[22]

The Leeds and Liverpool Canal passes through the borough, as does the M6 motorway, which runs through the west of the borough, and serves Ashton-in-Makerfield (junctions 23 and 24 (north only) and 25 (south only)), Wigan 25 (south only), Wigan and Orrell (26) and Standish (27). The M58 motorway, to northern Liverpool, terminates at junction 26 of the M6 (Orrell). The A580 (East Lancashire Road), Liverpool to Manchester link, passes through the south of the borough.

Twinning

Wigan was twinned with France Angers in France in 1988.[23]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c. 60. HMSO.
  2. ^ Local Government (Successor Parishes) Order 1973. 1973/1110. HMSO.
  3. ^ Clark 1973, p. 101.
  4. ^ "Wigan District population". Vision of Britain. University of Portsmouth. Retrieved 2007-02-11.
  5. ^ "Greater Manchester: New Constituency Boundaries". Martin Baxter. Retrieved 2007-02-11.
  6. ^ "Safe Seats analysis". Electoral Reform Society. 2005-04-28. Retrieved 2007-02-11.
  7. ^ "Three major parties find cause for satisfaction in local election results despite low poll". The Times. 1973-05-12.
  8. ^ The Borough of Wigan (Electoral Changes) Order 2004. Her Majesty's Stationery Office.
  9. ^ "Constitution: Part 9". Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council.
  10. ^ "Borough rejects elected mayor" (Press release). Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council. 2001-06-15. Retrieved 2001-06-15.
  11. ^ a b "Local elections: Wigan". BBC News. 2006-05-04. Retrieved 2007-02-11.
  12. ^ "Labour licks wounds after polls". BBC News. 2004-06-11. Retrieved 2004-06-11.
  13. ^ "21st century Town Hall" (Press release). Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council. 2006-08-07. Retrieved 2007-02-11.
  14. ^ "Makeover for Leigh Town Hall" (Press release). 2006-06-13. Retrieved 2007-02-11.
  15. ^ Final recommendations on the future electoral arrangements for Wigan (PDF) (PDF). Boundary Committee. 2003. Retrieved 2007-02-11. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  16. ^ "New Wigan Wards Map". Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council.
  17. ^ Google Local, retrieved March 20, 2007
  18. ^ "Table KS01 Usual Resident population" (XLS (Excel spreadsheet)). Office for National Statistics. {{cite web}}: Text "accessdate-2007-02-11" ignored (help)
  19. ^ "Townships". Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 2006-11-06.
  20. ^ "Census 2001 - Profiles - Wigan". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 2007-02-11.
  21. ^ "MORI local government and identity opinion poll December 2003 - February 2004" (PDF) (PDF). The Boundary Committee for England. Retrieved 2007-02-11.
  22. ^ "Pennington Station". Disused Stations. Subterranea Britanica. Retrieved 2007-02-11.
  23. ^ "Town Twinning". Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council. Retrieved 2007-02-11.

Bibliography

  • Clark, David M. (1973), Greater Manchester Votes: A Guide to the New Metropolitan Authorities, Redrose
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