Tameside

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Metropolitan Borough of Tameside
Ashton-under-Lyne town hall
Coat of Arms of the Borough Council
Motto: "Industry and Integrity"
Tameside shown within England
Coordinates: 53°29′24″N 2°05′39″W / 53.49, -2.09417
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	North West England
Ceremonial county	Greater Manchester
Admin HQ	Ashton-under-Lyne
Founded	1 April 1974
Government
- Type	Metropolitan borough
- Governing body	Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council
- Mayor	Cllr. Jack Davies
- MPs:	Andrew Gwynne (L) David Heyes (L) James Purnell (L)
Area
- Total	39.8 sq mi (103.17 km²)
Elevation	495 ft (151 m)
Population (2006 est.)
- Total	214,400 (Ranked 61st)
- Density	5,382/sq mi (2,078/km²)
- Ethnicity (2005 estimate)[1]	93.1% White 5.0% S. Asian or mixed 1.2% Black or mixed 0.6% Chinese and other
Time zone	Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0)
Postcode	OL, SK, M
Area code(s)	0161 / 01457
ISO 3166-2	GB-TAM
ONS code	00BT
OS grid reference	SJ931997
NUTS 3	UKD31
Website: www.tameside.gov.uk

The Metropolitan Borough of Tameside is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England. It has a population of 214,400^[2] and consists of the nine towns of Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden, Dukinfield, Hyde, Longdendale, Mossley and Stalybridge. Its western border is approximately four miles east of the centre of Manchester.

It was named after the River Tame, which runs through it. It borders Derbyshire to the east, the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham to the north, the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport to the south, and the City of Manchester to the west.

[edit] History

Tameside was created on 1 April 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972 as one of the ten metropolitan districts of Greater Manchester. It took over the local government functions of nine districts which were formerly in the administrative counties of Lancashire and of Cheshire.

The Lancashire districts were the municipal boroughs of Ashton-under-Lyne and Mossley and the urban districts of Audenshaw, Denton, Droylsden.

The Cheshire districts were the municipal boroughs of Stalybridge, Hyde, Dukinfield and the urban district of Longdendale.

The nine districts covered areas within in the historic county boundaries of Lancashire, Cheshire and a very small area of Yorkshire.

In 1986 Tameside effectively became a unitary authority with the abolition of the Greater Manchester County Council

[edit] Geography

Werneth Low with the Greater Manchester Urban Area in the background.

Tameside is bordered by the metropolitan boroughs of Stockport and Oldham to the south and north respectively, the city of Manchester to the west and the borough of High Peak in Derbyshire to the east. Tameside features flat lowlands in the west and highlands in the east where the western edge of the Pennines encroaches on the borough.^[3] The hills in the east include Hartshead Pike and Werneth Low which is also a country park.As well as coal measures running north-south through the centre of the borough, there are areas of peat in the north east and there are large areas of boulder clay all over Tameside.^[4] Ashton Moss is a peat bog covering about 107 hectares (260 acres) and Denton Moor is an area of about 81 hectares (200 acres) of peat.^[5]

Waterways in Tameside include the rivers Medlock and Etherow, which form parts of Tameside's western and eastern boundaries respectively, and the River Tame crosses the borough north to south, giving Tameside its name.^[5] The Ashton Canal, the Hollinwood Branch Canal, the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, and the Peak Forest Canal all run through the borough. There are also several reservoirs, including the Audenshaw Reservoirs. Greenspace accounts for 63.5% of the Tameside's total area, domestic buildings and gardens comprise 17.4%, and the rest is made up of roads and non-domestic buildings.^[6]

Localities within the boundaries of Tameside include: Ashton-under-Lyne, Audenshaw, Broadbottom, Carrbrook, Copley, Denton, Droylsden, Dukinfield, Flowery Field, Gee Cross, Godley, Godley Green, Guide Bridge, Hartshead Green, Hattersley, Haughton Green, Hazelhurst, Hollingworth, Hyde, Landslow Green, Luzley, Millbrook, Mossley, Mottram in Longdendale, Newton, Park Bridge, Roe Cross, Stalybridge, Warhill, and Woolley Bridge.

[edit] Governance

[edit] Parliamentary constituencies

The residents of the Tameside are represented in the British Parliament by Members of Parliament (MPs) for three separate parliamentary constituencies. Ashton-under-Lyne, which also includes parts of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, is represented by Mr. David Heyes MP (Labour).^[7] Denton and Reddish, which also covers parts of the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport, is represented by Mr. Andrew Gwynne MP (Labour).^[8] Stalybridge and Hyde, which is entirely within Tameside, is represented by Mr. James Purnell MP (Labour).^[9] Tameside is part of the North West England constituency in the European Parliament. North West England elects nine MEPs, as at 2008 made up of four Conservatives, three from the Labour Party, one Liberal Democrat, and one member of the United Kingdom Independence Party.^[10]

[edit] Council

As of the 2008 local elections, Tameside Council is controlled by Labour with the majority of 44 seats, second is the Conservative party with 10 seats, third is taken by 3 independents in Mossley.

The Leader of the Council is Councillor Roy Oldham CBE, who is currently the longest serving council leader in the United Kingdom. He first took up the post in 1980, a year after the Labour Party re-gained control of the council from the Conservatives. He has held the post ever since. He represents the Longdendale Ward for the Labour Party.^[11]

Civil parishes form the bottom tier of local government; the parish councils are involved in planning, management of town and parish centres, and promoting tourism.^[12] Mossley is the only civil parish in Tameside, in 2001 9,856 people lived there, 4.6% of the borough's population.^[13] Prior to becoming a civil parish, it was a Municipal Borough. The unparished areas are: Ashton under Lyne (Municipal Borough), Audenshaw (Urban District), Denton (Urban District), Droylsden (Urban District), Dukinfield (Municipal Borough), Hyde (Municipal Borough), Longdendale (Urban District), and Stalybridge (Municipal Borough). The status of each area prior to 1974 is shown in brackets. An urban district was a type of local government district which covered an urbanised area.

[edit] Curfew

In an attempt to lower the violence, crime and gang culture in parts of Tameside, the council put a short-term 21:00 (9 PM) curfew into power in the year 2006. This curfew was in force within the towns of Dukinfield and Hyde-Newton.

The idea of this curfew was to disperse any group of youths/young adults who were seen walking around the designated area after 9 pm. The groups were told they must go straight home with one fellow member maximum. The curfew only lasted for a few months before being abandoned.

[edit] Demography

As of the 2001 UK census, the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside had a total population of 213,043.^[16] Of the 89,981 households in Tameside, 35.7% were married couples living together, 31.0% were one-person households, 7.8% were co-habiting couples and 9.3% were lone parents, following a similar trend to the rest of England.^[17]

The population density was 2,065 inhabitants per square kilometre (5,348.3/sq mi)^[18] and for every 100 females, there were 94.2 males. Of those aged 16–74 in Tameside, 35.2% had no academic qualifications, significantly higher than 28.9% in all of England.^[16] 4.8% of Tameside’s residents were born outside the United Kingdom, significantly lower than the national average of 9.2%.^[19] The largest minority group was Asian, at 4.0% of the population.^[20]

[edit] Population change

Although Tameside has only existed as a Metropolitan Borough since 1974, the table below details the population change – including the percentage change since the last census 10 years earlier – in the area since 1801 using figures from the towns, villages, and civil parishes that would later become constituent parts of Tameside.

[edit] Places of interest

The Church of St Michael and All Angels, Mottram in Longdendale, is one of Tameside's Grade II* listed buildings.

View of Buckton Castle from below

In February 2001, Tameside had one Grade I listed buildings, 19 Grade II*, and 289 Grade II.^[21] The number of Grade I listed buildings in Tameside has increased to three, these are St Anne's Church in Haughton;^[22] St Michael and All Angels' Church in Ashton-under-Lyne;^[23] and Fairbottom Farm Barn, a 17th century farm building.^[24] In Tameside are three of Greater Manchester's Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Boar Flat, part of Dark Peak,^[25] the Hollinwood Branch Canal^[26] and the Huddersfield Narrow Canal. The Huddersfield Narrow Canal runs for 20 miles (32 km) from Huddersfield to Ashton-under-Lyne; it is protected for its biological interest, and is "the best example of a flowing eutrophic water system in Greater Manchester".^[27]

There are two Scheduled Ancient Monuments in the borough, Buckton Castle and Nico Ditch. Buckton Castle is a 12th century ringwork near Carrbrook. It was probably built for William de Neville and was the centre of lordship of Longdendale.^[28] The castle lay ruinous by 1360. Nico Ditch is an earthwork running from Ashton-under-Lyne in the east to Stretford, in the borough of Trafford, in the west. It was built some time between the Roman withdrawal from Britain and the Norman Conquest. It most likely acted as an administrative boundary.^[29]

• Ashton Market -- suffering a serious fire, which caused a lot of disruption in the town, has now been rebuilt.
• Astley Cheetham Art Gallery, Stalybridge
• Broad Mills, Broadbottom
• Central Art Gallery, Ashton-under-Lyne
• Hyde Hall, Denton (Grade II* Listed Building)
• Museum of the Manchester Regiment, Ashton-under-Lyne
• Park Bridge Heritage Centre
• Portland Basin Museum, Ashton-under-Lyne
• Stayley Hall, Millbrook

[edit] Education

See also: List of schools in Greater Manchester

Overall, Tameside was ranked 61st out of the all the Local Education Authoritys in SATs performance – and 5th in Greater Manchester – in 2007.^[30] Authorised absences from and unauthorised absences from Tameside secondary schools in 2006-07 were 6.0% and 0.4%, lower than the national average (7.8% and 1.4%).^[31] In 2007, the Tameside LEA was ranked 100th out of 148 in the country – and 6th in Greater Manchester – based on the percentage of pupils attaining at least 5 A*-C grades at GCSE including maths and English (41.8% compared with the national average of 46.7%).^[32]

In 2007, Audenshaw School was the most successful school in Tameside at both GCSE and A–level; 64% of the pupils gaining five or more GCSEs at A*-C grade including maths and English.^[33]

[edit] Religion

See also: List of churches in Greater Manchester

As of the 2001 UK census, 75.5% of Tameside’s residents reported themselves as being Christian, 2.5% Muslim, 1.4% Hindu, and 0.1% Buddhist. 12.1% had no religion, 0.2% had an alternative religion and 8.1% did not state their religion.^[16] Tameside is covered by the Catholic Dioceses of Shrewsbury and Salford,^[34][35] and the Church of England Diocese of Manchester.^[36]

There are two Grade I listed churches in Tameside, St Anne's Church, in Haughton, was built in 1881 in the Gothic Revival style by J Medland Taylor.^[37] St Michael and All Angels' Church in Ashton-under-Lyne is a 15th century parish church which was virtually rebuilt in the 19th century. A church on the site dates back to at least 1262.^[38][39] St Lawrence's Church, in Denton, is a Grade II* listed building and a timber framed church. It was remodelled by J Medland Taylor in 1872.^[40]

[edit] See also

North West England Portal

• Longdendale Bypass
• Tameside Council election, 2007
• Tameside local elections

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] External links

• Tameside Council
• TamesideWeb - The Online Interactive Community for Tameside
• TamesideConnect - Connecting People To Tameside

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