Greater Manchester
| Greater Manchester | |
|---|---|
| Geography | |
| Status: | Ceremonial County |
| Region: | North West England |
| Area: - Total | Ranked 39th 1,276 km² |
| ONS code: | 2A |
| NUTS 2: | UKD3 |
| Demographics | |
| Population: - Total (2002 est.) - Density | Ranked 3rd 2,513,468 1,970 / km² |
| Ethnicity: | 91.1% White 5.6% S.Asian 1.2% Afro-Carib. |
| Politics | |
| Members of Parliament | |
| Andrew Bennett, Hazel Blears, Keith Bradley, Graham Brady, Andrew Burnham, Patsy Calton, David Chaytor, Ann Coffey, David Crausby, Jim Dobbin, Lorna Fitzsimons, Paul Goggins, David Heyes, Beverley Hughes, Brian Iddon, Gerald Kaufman, Ruth Kelly, Ivan Lewis, Terry Lewis, Tony Lloyd, Ian McCartney, Michael Meacher, James Purnell, Ian Stewart, Graham Stringer, Andrew Stunell, Neil Turner, Phil Woolas | |
| Districts | |
It borders onto the ceremonial counties of Cheshire (inc. Warrington), Derbyshire, West Yorkshire, Lancashire (inc. Blackburn with Darwen) and Merseyside.
It is made up of ten Metropolitan boroughs - Bolton, Bury, Manchester proper, Oldham, Rochdale, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford and Wigan. These pool certain resources to run several Greater Manchester-wide services, including:
- Greater Manchester Police Authority
- Greater Manchester County Fire Service
- Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive
Greater Manchester is not entirely built-up. Although Manchester forms a conurbation along with Salford, Trafford and Stockport, other boroughs, such as Wigan and Bury are clearly seperate.
Before 1974 the area of Greater Manchester was split between Cheshire and Lancashire with numerous parts being independent county boroughs. The area was informally known as 'SELNEC', for 'South East Lancashire North East Cheshire'. Also small parts of the West Riding of Yorkshire (around Saddleworth) and Derbyshire were covered.
SELNEC had been proposed by the Redcliffe-Maud Report of 1969 as a 'metropolitan area'. This had roughly the same northern boundary as today's Greater Manchester, but covered much more territory in north-east Cheshire - including Macclesfield and Warrington. It also covered Glossop in Derbyshire.
In 1969 a SELNEC Passenger Transport Authority was set up, which covered an area smaller than the proposed SELNEC, but different to the eventual Greater Manchester.
Although the Redcliffe-Maud report was rejected by the Conservative Party government after it won the 1970 general election, it was committed to local government reform, and accepted the need for a county based on Manchester. Its original proposal was much smaller that than the Redcliffe-Maud Report's SELNEC, but further fringe areas such as Wilmslow, Warrington and Glossop were trimmed from the edges and included instead in the shire counties.
It was initially administered by the "Greater Manchester County Council" but this was abolished in 1986, along with the other metropolitan county councils and the Greater London Council, with most functions being devolved to the metropolitan boroughs.
It is possible that Greater Manchester will have a small expansion in coming years. If the 2004 referendum on devolution produces a "yes" vote for the North-West, and a vote for option 2 in Cumbria and Lancashire, then part of the West Lancashire district will be annexed to the metropolitan borough of Wigan.
Towns and villages
History
Places of interest