Greater Manchester
| Greater Manchester |
|---|
 | EnglandGreaterManchester.png |
|
| Geography |
|---|
| Status: | Ceremonial and Metropolitan county (no county council) |
| Origin: | 1974 |
| Region: | North West England |
Area:
- Total | Ranked 39th
1,276 km² |
| ONS code: | 2A |
| NUTS 2: | UKD3 |
| Demographics |
|---|
Population:
- Total ()
- Density | Ranked
/ km² |
| Ethnicity: | 91.1% White
5.6% S.Asian
1.2% Afro-Carib. |
| Politics |
|---|
| Arms of Greater Manchester |
|
| Members of Parliament |
|---|
| Hazel Blears, Graham Brady, Andrew Burnham, David Chaytor, Ann Coffey, David Crausby, Jim Dobbin, Paul Goggins, Andrew Gwynne, David Heyes, Beverley Hughes, Mark Hunter, Brian Iddon, Gerald Kaufman, Barbara Keeley, Ruth Kelly, John Leech, Ivan Lewis, Tony Lloyd, Ian McCartney, Michael Meacher, James Purnell, Paul Rowen, Ian Stewart, Graham Stringer, Andrew Stunell, Neil Turner, Phil Woolas |
| Districts |
|---|
 | GreaterManchesterNumbered.png |
#City of Manchester#Stockport#Tameside#Oldham#Rochdale#Bury#Bolton#Wigan#City of Salford#Trafford |
Greater Manchester is a
metropolitan county in
North West England which came into existence in
1974 after the passage of the
Local Government Act 1972. The area roughly encompasses the
conurbation surrounding the
City of Manchester. The metropolitan county consists of ten metropolitan boroughs, including the
City of Manchester and the
City of Salford.
Greater Manchester County Council was abolished in
1986, and so its districts are now effectively
unitary authorities. The county however, still exists legally, and is also a
ceremonial county.
Prior to its creation, the name
Selnec was proposed for the area, from the initials 'South East Lancashire North East Cheshire'.
Greater Manchester borders the
ceremonial counties of
Cheshire (including
Warrington),
Derbyshire,
West Yorkshire,
Lancashire (including
Blackburn with Darwen) and
Merseyside.
As well as
Manchester, the county includes major centres such as
Bolton,
Oldham,
Rochdale,
Bury,
Stockport and
Wigan. Greater Manchester is not entirely built-up. Although Manchester forms a conurbation along with
Salford,
Trafford, Oldham and Stockport, other towns, such as Bury, Rochdale and Wigan are clearly separate.
Local government is curerntly provided by ten
districts, known as
metropolitan boroughs, these are:
Bolton,
Bury, the
City of Manchester,
Oldham,
Rochdale, the
City of Salford,
Stockport,
Tameside,
Trafford and
Wigan.
For the first twelve years after the county was created in
1974, the county had a two-tier system of
local government, and the metropolitan borough councils shared power with the
Greater Manchester County Council.
However in
1986, along with the five other
metropolitan county councils and the
Greater London Council, the Greater Manchester County Council was abolished, and most of its powers were devolved to the boroughs, which effectively became
unitary authorities.
Despite the abolition of the county council, the boroughs jointly administer some services on a county-wide basis. Including:
*The
Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive, (GMPTE) which is responsible for planning and co-ordinating
public transport across the county.
*The
Greater Manchester Police, who are overseen by a joint
Police authority.
*The
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, who are administered by a joint "Fire and Rescue Authority".
*The
Greater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority, which does not include the
Metropolitan Borough of Wigan |
Greater Manchester's metropolitan boroughs and urban area |
*The Greater Manchester Ambulance Service
These are administered by joint-boards which are made up of councillors appointed from each of the ten boroughs.
The authorities of Greater Manchester cooperate through the
Association of Greater Manchester Local Authorities (AGMLA). Which meets to create a co-ordinated county-wide approach to many issues.
The boroughs jointly own the
Manchester Airport Group which controls
Manchester International Airport and several other UK airports. Other services are directly funded and managed by the local councils.
Greater Manchester is a
Ceremonial county with a
Lord-Lieutenant, and is still recognised for
statistical purposes.
Main article: History of Manchester.
The areas which were incorporated into Greater Manchester in 1974 previously formed parts of the administrative counties of
Cheshire,
Lancashire, the
West Riding of Yorkshire and of various independent
county boroughs.
Prior to the creation of Greater Manchester a comparable area had been informally known as 'SELNEC', which stood for 'South East Lancashire North East Cheshire'. 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. Compared to the Redcliffe-Maud area it excluded Macclesfield, Warrington, and Knutsford, but still including Glossop and
Saddleworth, in the
West Riding of Yorkshire. Unusually, it excluded Wigan, which was in both the Redcliffe-Maud area and in the eventual Greater Manchester.
Although the Redcliffe-Maud report was rejected by the
Conservative government after the
1970 general election, it was committed to local government reform, and accepted the need for an administrative county based on the Manchester conurbation. Its original proposal was much smaller than the Redcliffe-Maud Report's SELNEC, but further fringe areas such as
Wilmslow,
Warrington and
Glossop were trimmed from the edges and remained instead in the shire counties. Other late changes included the separation of a proposed Bury/Rochdale authority into the
Metropolitan Borough of Bury and the
Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale. Greater Manchester was eventually established in
1974.
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Greater Manchester South at current basic prices
published (pp.240-253) by
Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Agriculture | Industry | Services |
|---|
| 1995 | 15,242 | 32 | 4,077 | 11,133 |
| 2000 | 21,604 | 20 | 4,879 | 16,705 |
| 2003 | 24,950 | 26 | 4,788 | 20,136 |
This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Greater Manchester North at current basic prices
published (pp.240-253) by
Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.
| Agriculture | Industry | Services |
|---|
| 1995 | 10,126 | 27 | 4,267 | 5,833 |
| 2000 | 11,391 | 18 | 3,938 | 7,435 |
| 2003 | 13,350 | 22 | 4,185 | 9,143 |
includes hunting and forestry
includes energy and construction
includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured
Components may not sum to totals due to rounding
See the list of places in Greater Manchester.*
Buckton Castle*
Bramall Hall,
Bramhall*
Salford Quays,
Salford *
Smithills Hall,
Bolton*
Wythenshawe Hall*
Astley Cheetham Art Gallery,
Ashton-under-Lyne*
Museum of the Manchester Regiment, Ashton-under-Lyne
*
Park Bridge Heritage Centre*
Old Trafford, home of Manchester United FC
*
Old Trafford, home of
Lancashire County Cricket Club*
Imperial War Museum North*
City of Manchester Stadium, home of
Manchester City FC*
Association of Greater Manchester Local Authorities
