North West of England
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "North_West_of_England".

North West England

North West region shown within England
Geography
Status	Region
Area — Total	Ranked 6th 14,165 km² 5,469 sq mi
NUTS 1	UKD
Demographics
Population — Total — Density	Ranked 3rd 6,853,200 (2006) 475/km²
GDP per capita	£15,088 (7th)
Government
HQ	Liverpool / Manchester
Assembly — Type	North West not directly elected
Regional development	Northwest
European parliament	North West England
Website

North West England is one of the nine official regions of England. It has a population of 6,853,200¹ and comprises five counties of England – Cumbria, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire.

North West England is bounded on the west by the Irish Sea and on the east by The Pennines mountain range. The region extends from the Scottish Borders in the north to the Welsh Mountains in the south. The highest point in North West England (and the highest peak in England) is Scafell Pike, Cumbria, at a height of 3,209 feet (978 m).

Two large conurbations, centred on the cities of Liverpool and Manchester, occupy the south of the region and are its largest centres of population. The north of the region, including northern Lancashire and Cumbria, is largely rural.

Local government

The official region consists of the following subdivisions:

Key: shire county = † | metropolitan county = *

After abolition of the Greater Manchester and Merseyside County Councils in 1986, power was transferred to the Metropolitan Boroughs, effectively making them Unitary Authorities.

Demographics

Population, Density and Settlements

North West England's population accounts for just over 13% of England's overall population. 37.86% of the North West's population resides in Greater Manchester, 21.39% in Lancashire, 20.30% in Merseyside, 14.76% in Cheshire and 7.41% live in the largest county geographically, Cumbria.

Ethnicity

This data is based on 2007 estimates[1].

92.2% (6,318,650) of people in the region classified themselves as 'White' in the 2001 UK Census. 89.5% (6,113,614) of the overall regional population is White British, 1.0% (68,532) White Irish and 1.7% (116,504) White Other.

The Mixed Race population makes up 1.2% (82,238) of the region's population. There are 315,247 South Asians in the region, making up 4.6% of the population, and 1.2% Blacks (82,238). 0.7% of the population (47,972) is Chinese and 0.4% (27,413) of people classified themselves as 'Other' in the census [2].

North West England is a very diverse region, and cities such as Manchester and Liverpool are amongst the most diverse in Europe. 19.4% of Blackburn with Darwen's population are Muslim, the third highest among all local authorities in the United Kingdom and the highest outside London and a significant South Asian population of over 20%. Areas such as Moss Side in Greater Manchester are home to over a 30% Black British population. Even isolated towns such as Barrow-in-Furness (considered to be at the end of England's largest cul-de-sac) have significant and ever increasing ethnic minority populations, the town now has higher proportions of people belonging to the 'Other' ethnic group than the UK average which can only be said for a few North West towns. The town of St. Helens within Merseyside unusually for a city-area has the lowest percentage of ethnic minorities in the whole of England. The City of Liverpool is now over 800 years old, and is one of the few places in Britain where ethnic minority populations can be traced back over dozens of decades, being one of the closest English cities to Ireland it is home to a significant Irish population, and links to the British Slave Trade resulted in the city being home to one of the first ever Afro-Caribbean communities in the UK.

Summarised

• There are around 400,000 people living in the North West of any Asian ethnicity (5.8% of regions population), England average is around 9%
• Around 125,000 people from the North West are of full or partial Sub-African and/ or Caribbean descent (1.8% of regions population), England average is around 4%
• The single largest non-white ethnic group in the North West are Pakistanis, numbering 133,900

Place of birth

Please note that the list below is not how many people belong to each ethnic group (i.e. there are over 25,000 ethnic Italians in Manchester alone², whilst only 6,000 Italian born people live in the North West), please note also that due to recent immigration to the UK, the numbers below are likely to be substantially lower than the current populations, and countries such as Poland would most certainly make the top 5. The fifteen most common countries of birth in 2001 for North West citizens were as follows [3]:

• England - 6,169,753
• Scotland - 109,163
• Wales - 73,850
• Ireland - 56,887
• Pakistan - 46,529
• Northern Ireland - 34,879
• India - 34,600
• Germany - 19,931
• China and Hong Kong - 15,491
• Bangladesh - 13,746
• South Africa - 7,740
• United States - 7,037
• Jamaica - 6,661
• Italy - 6,325
• Australia - 5,880

Religion

The table below is based in the 2001 UK Census.

Language and dialect

Up until the 12th Century, Cumbric (a Celtic language), was spoken throughout Northwest England. This language was gradually replaced by Old/Middle English, but the language still survives in various placenames throughout the North West, and reconstructions of the language are being attempted. In modern times, English is the most spoken language in the North West, with a large percentage of the population being fluent in it, and close to 100% being conversational in it. To the north-east of the region, within the historic boundaries of Cumberland, the Cumbrian dialect is dominant. The historical county of Lancashire covered a vast amount of land, and the Lancashire dialect and accent is still predominant throughout the county, and stretches as far north as Furness in South Cumbria to Manchester to the very south of the region. One of the regions most distinctive accents in the Scouse accent which originates from the Merseyside area. The region's English accents are among those referred to as 'Northern English'.

Large immigrant populations in the North West result in the presence of significant immigrant languages. South Asian languages such as Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi are considerably widespread, with the largest amount of speakers resideing in Preston, Blackburn and Manchester. The Chinese once made up the largest minority in the region, and still do to the far north where Chinese is spoken by small but significant communities. Since the expansion of the EU over 1 million Poles have immigrated to the UK, with a large amount settling in the North West, places such as Crewe alongside the larger cities make Polish written information available for the public, to much controversy. Other immigrant languages with a presence in the North West are Spanish, mainly amongst the Latin American communities in Barrow-in-Furness, Lancaster, Liverpool and Manchester, as well as various other Eastern European and Asian languages.

The most taught languages in schools across the North West are English, French and German. Spanish and Italian are available at older levels, and in cities such as Manchester and Liverpool, even Urdu and Mandarin are being taught to help maintain links between the local minority populations.

Important cities and towns

• GM = Greater Manchester, ME = Merseyside, CU = Cumbria, LA = Lancashire, CH = Cheshire

Manchester City Centre

Liverpool skyline across the River Mersey

Salford Skyline

Blackpool seen along the Irish Sea Coast

Oldham town centre

Lancaster city centre across the River Lune and Millennium Bridge

Chester city centre with medieval buildings

Blackburn townscape

Preston skyline viewed from the east

Metropolitan areas

• See also List of North West England cities and metropolitan areas by population

The five largest metropolitan areas in the North West are as follows:

• Greater Manchester - population 2,240,230
• Greater Liverpool Urban Area - 1,365,900
• Greater Preston - 335,000
• Wigan Urban Area - 166,840
• Macclesfield Urban Area - 150,500
• The Manchester - Liverpool Megapolis which is a more or less constant corridor of population is home to 4,209,132 people

The Greater Manchester metopolitan area is by far the region's most populated metropolitan area, and is one of Europe's largest. It encompases Manchester itself and many other cities and towns

Elected regional assembly

Proposed flag for the region designed by Peter Saville.

It is one of the two regions (along with Yorkshire and the Humber) that were expected to hold a referendum on the establishment of an elected regional assembly. However, when the North East region of England rejected having an elected regional assembly in a referendum, further referendums where cancelled and the proposals for elected regional assemblies in England put on hold. The regional leaders forum, 4NW, an unelected quango, is based on Waterside Drive in Wigan.

European Parliament

The North West England European Parliament constituency has the same boundaries as the Region.

History

Ten English regions were established by the government in 1994. At that time, Merseyside, which already had its own Government Office, formerly the Merseyside Task Force, was regarded as a separate region. In 1998, Merseyside was merged into the North West region. This action was controversial in some quarters.^{citation needed}

Transport

Road

The M6 motorway is one of the North West's primary roads

Regionwide

Regionwide the principal road link is the M6, this runs all the way from Carlisle and Scotland in the north to Warrington in the south, connecting such towns and cities as Penrith, Kendal, Lancaster, Preston, Liverpool and Manchester. The M6 intersects many of the North West's motorways and A-roads, and carries almost 120,000 vehicles per day (41,975,000 per year).³

Old meets new at the Stockport Viaduct.

Greater Manchester and Merseyside

The Greater Manchester and Merseyside areas are home to almost 4 million people, and over half the region's population. The road networks intertwining these metropolitan areas are extremely important to the economy and are largely motorway, including the M62 which crosses the entire country (east to west – Hull to Liverpool), this motorway directly connects the cities of Manchester and Liverpool. The M62 sees 78,000 vehicles using the motorway in the North West per day.⁴ The Merseyside-Manchester region has many motorways, that serve many millions on a daily basis, other include the M61 which connects Manchester to Preston, the M56 which runs south of Manchester to Cheshire and Wales, The M57 and M58 motorways run north of Liverpool, and connect towns such as St Helens and Wigan. The M60 is Manchester's ring road, the M67 and M66 motorways run east and north respectively, both of these motorways are under 10 miles (16 km) and link Manchester to smaller outlying settlements. On top of this there are countless numbers of A-roads, B-roads and minor roads which circle, entwine and serve these two major metropolises. For more information, see: Transport in Manchester.

A sign marking entry to Scotland located on the A74, a major road crossing the border.

Cumbria

In Cumbria the M6 runs all the way down the east of the county connecting the very north of England to the Lancashire border. The A590 links Barrow-in-Furness to Kendal with around 14,000 vehicles per day.⁵ The A595 runs all the way along the West Cumbrian coast beginning near Barrow and ending in Carlisle, linking towns such as Whitehaven and Workington. The A591 road runs from Kendal to the centre of the county connecting Lake District settlements like Windermere, Ambleside and Keswick. Other important A-roads include the A5092, A66, A596 and A74 (connecting Carlisle and the M6 to Scotland and the major A74 road).

Lancashire

The Lancashire economy relies strongly on the M6 which also runs from north to south (Lancaster to Chorley). Other motorways in the region include the fairly short M55 which connects the cities of Preston and Blackpool at 11.5 miles (18.3 km) in length. The M65 motorway runs from east to west starting in the town of Colne, running through Burnley, Accrington, Blackburn, Preston and entering Merseyside linking the M6 to the M58. Lancashire is home to many A-roads. The Lancaster-Morecambe area is served by the A683 and A589 roads, the Blackpool-Fylde-Fleetwood area is home to the A587, A584, A583 and A585 roads. The city of Preston and its surroundings are served by the A6, A59, A583, A582 and to the very south-east, the M61 motorway. To the east of the county are the A59, A6119, A677, A679, A666, A680, A56, A646 and A682.

Cheshire

In Cheshire there are three motorways the M6, the M56 (linking Chester to the east), the M53 (linking Chester to Birkenhead) and the M62, which runs just along the county's northern border with Merseyside and Greater Manchester. The Cheshire road system is made up of 3417 miles (5500 km) of highway, and the principal one (M6) carries 140,000⁶ vehicles in the county daily, linking the North West to the West Midlands. The county town of Chester is served by the A55, A483 and A494 roads which lead to all directions of the UK including Wales, which part of the city lies in. To the west of the M6, Crewe, Northwich and Sandbach are served by the A54, A51, A49, A533 and A530 roads, these all eventually link up connecting the towns to the larger cities, including Stoke-on-Trent to the south. To the east of the M6 in Cheshire lies the Peak District, and towns such as Macclesfield and Congleton which are served by the A6, A537, A536, A34, A523 and A566 roads.

Air

The primary international airport in the region is Manchester Airport, which served 22.1 million passengers in 2007 (18.7 million of which were international) ⁷, more than some of the world's major aviation hubs, including Los Angeles International Airport. The airport is home to three terminals (plus the World Freight Terminal), which serve destinations worldwide. The largest airlines at the airport in terms of flights in 2007 were Flybe, BMI, British Airways, Jet2.com and Lufthansa, although several long-haul carriers such as American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Virgin Atlantic, Singapore Airlines and Emirates also operate from the airport.

In 2007 Manchester had a recorded 222,703 aircraft movements ⁷, the airport is also a hub for major holiday airlines such as Thomas Cook Airlines, Monarch Airlines, First Choice Airways and Thomsonfly.

The regions second largest, but fastest growing airport is Liverpool John Lennon Airport, where passenger numbers have increased from around 690,000 in 1997 to nearly 5.5 million in 2007. ⁷ The airport serves destinations primarily in the UK and Europe and is a major hub for easyJet and Ryanair.

The only other significant passenger airport in the region is Blackpool Airport, which was refurbished in 2006 and handles around half a million passengers annually. Destinations range from the Canary Islands in Spain to the Republic of Ireland.

Cheshire

• Hawarden Airport – Operated by Airbus UK, public and company use

Cumbria

• Barrow/Walney Island Airfield – Operated by BAE Systems Marine Ltd - Submarines, private use
• Carlisle Airport – Operated by Stobart Air Ltd, public use

Greater Manchester

• City Airport Manchester – Operated by City Airport Manchester Ltd, public use
• Manchester Airport – Major international airport operated by Manchester Airport Group, destinations worldwide
• Woodford Aerodrome – Operated by BAE Systems Regional Aircraft, private use

Lancashire

• Blackpool International Airport – Operated by Blackpool Airport Ltd, public use to UK and European destinations
• Warton Aerodrome – Operated by BAE Systems, private use

Merseyside

• Liverpool John Lennon Airport – International airport operated by Liverpool Airport plc, destinations worldwide
• RAF Woodvale – Operated by the Royal Air Force, military use
• Southport Birkdale Sands airstrip – Sand runway located on Southport beach (infrequent use, subject to prior permission)

Rail

Manchester's Piccadilly station is the largest train station in the region.

The main connection by train is the West Coast Main Line (Virgin Trains), connecting most of the North West. Other important lines are the Liverpool to Manchester Lines and the North TransPennine which connects Liverpool to Manchester through Warrington. East-west connections in Lancashire are carried via the Caldervale Line to Blackpool.

Sea

Sea ferries depart from Liverpool (Gladstone Dock) to Dublin (P&O Irish Sea) and to Douglas on the Isle of Man (Isle of Man Steam Packet); Birkenhead (Twelve Quays Terminal) to Belfast and Dublin (Norfolkline Irish Sea Ferries – former Norse Merchant Ferries); Fleetwood to Larne (Stena Line) in Northern Ireland; and Heysham to Douglas (Isle of Man Steam Packet).

Economy

The North West is historically linked with the textiles industry, mainly before the mid 20th century. The area's electricity, formerly looked after by MANWEB and NORWEB, is now looked after by ScottishPower Energy Networks and United Utilities respectively.

According to research by Cushman and Wakefield in 2008, Manchester is the second best city to locate a business in the UK whilst Liverpool is the eleventh best city. ⁸

Cheshire

Cheshire is linked with the salt industry. Ineos (the site was previously owned by ICI Chemicals) has a large plant in Runcorn. AstraZeneca is in Macclesfield. BNFL and its subsidiary British Nuclear Group are based in Daresbury near Runcorn, although most of BNG's operations take place at Sellafield in Cumbria. Vauxhall and Shell are in Ellesmere Port. British Salt is in Middlewich. Focus, Mornflake and Bentley Motors are in Crewe. Betfred is in Warrington.

Lancashire

The main private employer in Lancashire is BAE Systems who have two sites either side of Preston for the manufacture of military aircraft. The boiler firm BAXI originates from Preston also, and InBev have a brewery nearby in Samlesbury (former Whitbread). Leyland Trucks manufactures several highly popular truck ranges from Leyland. Whilst other brands originating from Lancashire include: TVR, Reebok, Jaguar Cars and Warburtons to name a few. Matalan is in Skelmersdale.

Greater Manchester

Kelloggs in Trafford Park (Manchester). Makro is in Eccles. JJB Sports is in Wigan. JD Sports is in Bury as is Birthdays. Scottish & Newcastle have their large Royal Brewery in Manchester. The Co-op is based in Manchester and Rochdale. Inventive Leisure is in Ashton-under-Lyne. Heinz, although based in Hayes in Middlesex, has the largest food processing complex in Europe at a 55 acre site at Kitt Green in Wigan, which produces 1.4 billion cans of food each year. MAN B&W Diesel is in Stockport. BAE Systems build aircraft in Chadderton and Woodford in Manchester, and Warton and Samlesbury near Preston. PZ Cussons, Umbro and the internet bank Smile are in Stockport. Russell Hobbs is in Failsworth.

Merseyside

Pilkington is in St Helens. Littlewoods are in Garston. Princes, the Beetham Organization, the Royal Liver Assurance and T J Hughes have their headquarters in Liverpool. Ford (and Jaguar) is in Halewood. Pontins is in Ainsdale, Sefton.

Cumbria

Royal Navy submarines and ships are made by BAE Systems in Barrow-in-Furness. The Lake District is popular with holiday makers.

Education

Main article: List of schools in the North West of England

Secondary Education

Secondary schools are mostly comprehensive, except Trafford retains a wholly selective school system, and there are some other grammar schools in Lancashire, Wirral, Liverpool and Cumbria. At GCSE, the lowest performing area by far is Knowsley, one of the worst performing in the UK. Other low performing areas in Greater Merseyside are Halton and Liverpool. Sefton performs much better than its neighbour, Liverpool. Warrington is the best performing area, followed by Wirral. In Greater Manchester, Manchester performs the worst, followed by Salford then Oldham. The best performing area is Trafford (one of the best in the UK), followed by Stockport and Bury. In the Lancashire area, Blackpool is low performing. Bury, Cheshire, Lancashire, Stockport, Trafford, Warrington and Wirral perform higher than the UK average. At A level, Trafford performs the best, and again like GCSE is one of the best areas in the UK. The lowest performing area is, again, Knowsley but followed by Rochdale. Areas performing above the UK average are Lancashire, Bury, Wigan, Blackpool, Cheshire, and Wirral. Blackpool performs not particularly well at GCSE, yet produces much better results at A level – even better than Cheshire.

Top twenty state schools in the North West (2007 A level results)

• 1. Lancaster Girls' Grammar School (1137)
• 2. Lancaster Royal Grammar School
• 3. Altrincham Grammar School for Girls
• 4. Liverpool Blue Coat School
• 5. Altrincham Grammar School For Boys
• 6. Wirral Grammar School for Girls
• 7. Winstanley College, Wigan
• 8. Clitheroe Royal Grammar School
• 9. Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School
• 10. Sale Grammar School
• 11. West Kirby Grammar School
• 12. St. Ambrose College, Altrincham
• 13. Holy Cross College, Bury
• 14. The Nelson Thomlinson School, Wigton
• 15. Canon Slade School, Bolton
• 16. Sir John Deane's College, Northwich
• 17. Calday Grange Grammar School, West Kirby
• 18. Audenshaw School
• 19. Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Penrith
• 20. Urmston Grammar School (928)

⁹

Colleges

• Blackburn College, Blackburn
• Blackpool and The Fylde College, Blackpool
• Blackpool Sixth Form College, Blackpool
• Burnley College, Burnely
• Preston College, Preston
• Runshaw College, Leyland
• Barrow-in-Furness Sixth Form College, Barrow-in-Furness
• Furness College, Barrow-in-Furness
• Kendal College, Kendal
• Hugh Baird College, Bootle
• King George V College, Southport
• Southport College, Southport
• Bolton Community College, Bolton
• The Oldham College, Oldham
• Oldham Sixth Form College, Oldham
• Hopwood Hall College, Rochdale
• Trafford College, Trafford
• St. Wilfrids C of E Sixth Form College, Blackburn
• St. Mary's Sixth Form College, Blackburn
• Bury College, Bury
• Holy Cross College (UK), Bury

Universities

There are many universities sited across the region, with the majority being to the south around Manchester and Liverpool, every university in the North West is listed below:

• University of Manchester, Manchester - The largest single-site University in the UK with 36,907 students
• Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester - Also one of the country's largest universities with 40,420 students
• UCLAN, Preston - The University of Central Lancashire in Preston, 28,850 students
• Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool - 24,085 students
• University of Liverpool, Liverpool - 20,765 students
• University of Salford, Salford - 20,185 students
• Lancaster University, Lancaster - 17,415 students
• Edge Hill University, Ormskirk - 15,645 students
• University of Chester, Chester - 15,095 students
• University of Bolton, Bolton - 8,540 students
• Liverpool Hope University, Liverpool - 8,205 students
• University of Cumbria - The regions newest university located across Cumbria, and parts of Lancashire

Local media

Local media include:

• The North West region of BBC Television is based on Oxford Road in Manchester; it produces the North West Tonight regional programme. The north of Cumbria is covered by Look North in Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The BBC intends to move its Sport and children's television departments and Radio Five Live to Salford Quays. Granada Television is based in Manchester, and produces many ITV well-known programmes such as Coronation Street. It has the regional Granada Reports programme. Border Television is based in Carlisle, producing the regional Lookaround programme.
• BBC Radios Manchester, Merseyside, Lancashire and Cumbria.
• Several commercial radio stations including: 105.4 Century FM (Salford), 97.4 Rock FM (Preston), Smooth Radio 100.4 (Salford), 105.4 Century FM (Salford), Radio City 96.7 (Liverpool), Galaxy Manchester, Key 103 (Castlefield), Juice FM (Liverpool), The Bay (Lancaster, Barrow-in-Furness, Morecambe and other surrounding areas), CFM Radio (Carlisle), Lakeland Radio (Kendal), 107.3 Abbey FM (Barrow-in-Furness), Xfm Manchester (Salford), 107.2 Wire FM in Warrington, The Revolution (Oldham), Imagine FM (Stockport), Proud FM (Preston), Buzz 97.1 (Birkenhead), Tower FM (Bolton), Radio Wave 96.5 (Blackpool), Wish FM (Wigan), 2BR (Burnley and Pendle), and The Bee (Blackburn).
• Local newspapers in the region include:
  • Manchester Evening News, Manchester
  • Liverpool Echo, Liverpool
  • North-West Evening Mail, Barrow-in-Furness
  • Lancashire Evening Post, Preston
  • News and Star, Carlisle
  • Liverpool Daily Post, Liverpool
  • Blackpool Evening Gazette, Blackpool
  • Wigan Evening Post, Wigan
  • Oldham Evening Chronicle, Oldham
  • Chester Evening Leader, Chester
  • Lancashire Telegraph, Blackburn
  • Bury Times, Bury
  • Bolton News, Bolton
  • Westmorland Gazette, Kendal
  • See also: List of newspapers in the United Kingdom

Town and City Twinnings

Ashton-under-Lyne	Chaumont, France
Blackburn	Altena, Germany Péronne, France
Blackpool	Bottrop, Germany
Bolton	Le Mans, France Paderborn, Germany
Burnley	Vitry Sur Seine, France
Bury	Angoulême, France Datong, China Tulle, France Schorndorf, Germany Woodbury, New Jersey, USA
Carlisle	Flensburg, Germany Słupsk, Poland
Carnforth	Sailly-sur-la-Lys, France
Chadderton	Geesthacht, Germany
Chester	Sens, France
Chorley	Székesfehérvár, Hungary
Dalton-in-Furness	Dalton, Pennsylvania, USA
Denton	Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France
Droylsden	Villemomble, France
Dukinfield