Metropolitan Borough of Bolton

Borough of Bolton
Metropolitan borough
Bolton Town Hall, the seat of Bolton's borough council
Coat of Arms of the Metropolitan Borough Council
Motto: "Supera Moras" (Latin: "Overcome delays")
Bolton shown within Greater Manchester
Coordinates: 53°34′53″N 2°25′47″W / 53.58139°N 2.42972°W / 53.58139; -2.42972
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	North West England
Ceremonial county	Greater Manchester
Admin HQ	Bolton Town Hall
Founded	1 April 1974
Government
• Type	Metropolitan borough
• Governing body	Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council
• Mayor:	Guy Harkin
• Leadership:	Leader & Cabinet
• Leader:	Cllr. Cliff Morris (L)
• MPs:	David Crausby (L) Yasmin Qureshi (L) Chris Green (C)
Area
• Total	53.98 sq mi (139.80 km2)
Population (mid-2014 est.)
• Total	280,439 (Ranked 43rd)
• Density	4,860/sq mi (1,877/km2)
Time zone	Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0)
Postcode areas	BL1-BL7, M26
Area code(s)	01204, 01942, 0161
ISO 3166-2	GB-BOL
ONS code	00BL (ONS) E08000001 (GSS)
OS grid reference	SD715095
NUTS 3	UKD32
Website	www.bolton.gov.uk

The Metropolitan Borough of Bolton ⁱ/ˈboʊltən/ is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Bolton, but covers a far larger area which includes Blackrod, Farnworth, Horwich, Kearsley and Westhoughton, and a suburban and rural element from the West Pennine Moors. The borough has a population of 276,800, and is administered from Bolton Town Hall.

The boundaries the Bolton metropolitan district were set as part of the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972, and cover an amalgamation of eight former local government districts; seven Urban Districts from the administrative county of Lancashire, and the County Borough of Bolton. The metropolitan districts of Bury, Salford and Wigan lie to the east, south and west respectively; and the non-metropolitan districts of Blackburn with Darwen and Chorley in Lancashire lie to the north and north-west.

History

The metropolitan borough was formed on 1 April 1974, by the merger of the County Borough of Bolton and the following districts from the administrative county of Lancashire:

• the Municipal Borough of Farnworth
• the Urban District of Horwich
• the Urban District of Westhoughton
• the Urban District of Blackrod
• the Urban District of Kearsley
• the Urban District of Little Lever
• the southern part of the Urban District of Turton, specifically the villages of Bradshaw, Bromley Cross, Dunscar, Egerton and Harwood. This area is now known as South Turton.

Bolton Council unsuccessfully petitioned Elizabeth II for the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton to be granted city status in 1992 (the Queen’s 40th year as monarch), in 2000 (for the Millennium celebrations), in 2002 (Queen’s Golden Jubilee), and 2012 (Queen's Diamond Jubilee).^[1]

Parishes

Horwich, Westhoughton and Blackrod are now constituted as civil parishes. There are three town councils in the metropolitan borough, Westhoughton Town Council, Horwich Town Council and Blackrod Town Council. The rest of the metropolitan borough, Bolton, Farnworth, Kearsley, Little Lever, and South Turton, have remained unparished areas since 1974.

Demographics

According to the 2009 estimates,^[2] of the 265,100 people living in Bolton Metropolitan Borough, the following ethnicities have been recorded:

• 88.0% White
  • 85.9% White British
  • 1.2% Other White
  • 0.8% White Irish

• 9.3% South Asian
  • 5.9% Indian
  • 2.7% Pakistani
  • 0.5% Other South Asian
  • 0.2% Bangladeshi

• 1.2% Mixed Race
  • 0.5% White and Asian
  • 0.4% White and Black Caribbean
  • 0.2% White and Black African
  • 0.2% Other Mixed

• 1.0% Black
  • 0.6% Black African
  • 0.4% Black Caribbean
  • 0.1% Other Black

• 0.6% Other
  • 0.3% Chinese
  • 0.3% Other

Population change

The table below details the population change since 1801, including the percentage change since the last available census data. Although the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton has only existed since 1974, figures have been generated by combining data from the towns, villages, and civil parishes that would later be constituent parts of the borough.

Transport

The Bolton metropolitan area is served by the following railway stations:

• Bolton Trinity Street - a town-centre transport interchange
• Bromley Cross
• Hall i' th' Wood
• Blackrod
• Horwich Parkway (for the Macron Stadium - Bolton Wanderers FC)
• Lostock
• Westhoughton
• Moses Gate
• Farnworth
• Kearsley
• Daisy Hill

Education

In 2007, Bolton was ranked 69th out of the 149 Local Education Authorities — and sixth out of ten in Greater Manchester — for its National Curriculum assessment performance.^[4] Measured on the percentage of pupils attaining at least 5 A*–C grades at GCSE including maths and English, the Bolton LEA was 111th out of 149: 40.1% of pupils achieved this objective, against a national average of 46.7%.^[5] Unauthorised absence from Bolton's secondary schools in the 2006/2007 academic year was 1.4%, in line with the national average, and authorised absence was 6.0% against the national average of 6.4%.^[6] At GCSE level, Bolton School (Girls' Division) was the most successful of Bolton's 21 secondary schools, with 99% of pupils achieving at least 5 A*–C grades at including maths and English.^[7]

The University of Bolton is one of Greater Manchester's four universities. In 2008, The Times Good University Guide ranked it 111th of 113 institutions in Britain.^[8] There are 4,440 students (83% undergraduate, 17% postgraduate); 2.6% come from outside Britain. In 2007 there were 8.8 applications for every place, and student satisfaction was recorded as 74.4%. It is one of Britain's newest universities, having been given this status in 2005.^[9]

GCSE Examination Performance 2009

• The table on the left shows the percentage of students gaining five A* to C grades, including English and Maths, for secondary schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton.
• The table on the right shows the Average Total Point Score per Student for secondary schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton.
• Schools highlighted in yellow are above the LEA average; those highlighted in orange are below the average.
• Another secondary school, Bolton Muslim Girls' School, has opened since January 2007; no results are available.
• Source: Department for Children, Schools and Families

Leaders of Bolton Council

Twin towns

The Metropolitan Borough of Bolton has two twin towns, one in France and another in Germany.^[10]

	Country		Place		County / District / Region / State	Originally twinned with	Date
	France		Le Mans		Pays de la Loire	County Borough of Bolton	1973
	Germany		Paderborn		Nordrhein-Westfalen	Metropolitan Borough of Bolton	1975

Neighbouring districts

See also

• Bolton local elections
• List of Mayors of Bolton
• List of people from Bolton

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bolton.

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Bolton.

Districts of North West England Cheshire Cheshire East Cheshire West and Chester Halton Warrington Cumbria Allerdale Barrow-in-Furness Carlisle Copeland Eden South Lakeland Greater Manchester Bolton Bury Manchester Oldham Rochdale Salford Stockport Tameside Trafford Wigan Lancashire Blackburn with Darwen Blackpool Burnley Chorley Fylde Hyndburn Lancaster Pendle Preston Ribble Valley Rossendale South Ribble West Lancashire Wyre Merseyside Knowsley Liverpool St Helens Sefton Wirral

Coordinates: 53°34′39″N 2°25′48″W / 53.57750°N 2.43000°W / 53.57750; -2.43000