Liverpool City Region population density map, 2011 census

The Liverpool City Region is a

combined authority A combined authority is a type of local government institution introduced in England outside Greater London by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. Combined authorities are created voluntarily and allow a grou ...

region of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, centred on

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, incorporating the

local authority Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

district

boroughs A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

of Halton, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens, and Wirral. The region is in the historic counties of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

and

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

. The Liverpool City Region has a population of 1.5 million. However the metropolitan reach of the city is much wider with a population of 2.2 million Since 1 April 2014, the

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (LCRCA) is the combined authority of the Liverpool City Region. The Liverpool City Region includes the City of Liverpool local authority area plus the Metropolitan Boroughs of Knowsley, St Helens, ...

has become the top-tier administrative body for the local governance of the city region. Through the combined authority, the six districts pool their responsibilities over strategic policy areas such as economic development, transport, employment and skills, tourism, culture, housing, and physical infrastructure. No significant powers were devolved from central government. The region's economic development is also supported by the Liverpool City Region

Local Enterprise Partnership In England, local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) are voluntary partnerships between local authorities and businesses, set up in 2011 by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to help determine local economic priorities and lead econo ...

(LEP), established in 2010 as the private sector-led board comprising political and business leaders from around the city region.

History

The Liverpool

city region City region is a term in use since about 1950 by urbanists, economists and urban planners to mean a metropolitan area and hinterland, often having a shared administration. Typically, it denotes a city, conurbation or urban zone with multiple admi ...

was one of eight defined in the 2004 document ''Moving Forward:

The Northern Way The Northern Way was a collaboration initiated in February 2004 between the three northern regional development agencies (RDAs), Northwest Development Agency, One NorthEast and Yorkshire Forward at the instigation of the then Deputy Prime Minist ...

'', as a collaboration between the three northern Regional Development Agencies. On 13 March 2007, local government minister

Phil Woolas Philip James Woolas (born 11 December 1959) is a British environmental consultant, political lobbyist and former television producer and politician who served as Minister of State for Borders and Immigration from 2008 to 2010. A member of the ...

announced plans to create a "cabinet" of the Leaders of the six councils (Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral) in a form of regional devolution for what was termed the "Liverpool City Region". While a report in the ''

Liverpool Daily Post The ''Liverpool Post'' was a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The newspaper and its website ceased publication on 19 December 2013. Until 13 January 2012 it was a daily morning newspaper, with the tit ...

'' newspaper on 3 June 2008 suggests a 'Super Cabinet' plan to boost economy in the city region. In January 2009 an agreement was made that the local authorities of Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral would form the Liverpool City Region, in a

Multi-Area Agreement A multi-area agreement (MAA) was an English political framework that aimed to encourage cross boundary partnership working at the regional and sub-regional levels. They were defined by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) as ...

(MAA). The agreement led to a transfer, from central government, greater responsibilities in more than 10 areas covering employment, skills, transport, regeneration, housing and planning.

Hazel Blears Hazel Anne Blears (born 14 May 1956) is a former British Labour Party politician, who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Salford and Eccles, previously Salford, from 1997 to 2015. One of 101 female Labour MPs elected at the 1997 gen ...

, the

Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government The secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, also referred to as the levelling up secretary, is a secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, responsible for the overall leadership and strategic direction o ...

said: "Today's 'Liverpool city-region' Multi-Area Agreement will mean Merseyside's six councils will no longer have to work alone on their economy, they will work from the same blueprint with more devolved powers to deliver jobs, training, welfare support and economic resilience."

Definition

The

of Liverpool City Region includes the local government districts of

, Halton, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral. Some definitions of the city region include a much wider area. The now-revoked

North West of England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,052,000 in 2011. It is the th ...

Regional Spatial Strategy, while defining the city region for "the purposes of articulating RSS policy" as covering the six local authorities, also stated that it "extends as far as Chester, Ellesmere Port and Neston and West Lancashire". A 2011 report, ''Liverpool City Region - Building on its Strengths'', by an independent working group led by

Lord Heseltine Michael Ray Dibdin Heseltine, Baron Heseltine, (; born 21 March 1933) is a British politician and businessman. Having begun his career as a property developer, he became one of the founders of the publishing house Haymarket. Heseltine served ...

and

Terry Leahy Sir Terence Patrick "Terry" Leahy (born 28 February 1956) is a British businessman, previously the CEO of Tesco, the largest British retailer and the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues. He now lives in Cuffley, Hertford ...

, stated that "what is now called Liverpool City Region has a population of around 1.5 million", but also referred to "an urban region that spreads from Wrexham and Flintshire to Chester, Warrington, West Lancashire and across to Southport", with a population of 2.3 million. The European Union's ESPON calculated the Liverpool metropolitan area to be over 2.3 million people.

Governance

Combined authority

Since the abolition of

Merseyside County Council Merseyside County Council (MCC) was, from 1974 to 1986, the upper-tier administrative body for Merseyside, a metropolitan county in North West England. MCC existed for a total of twelve years. It was established on 1 April 1974 by the Local ...

, the councils have co-operated as permitted by the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

and required by the

Local Government Act 1985 The Local Government Act 1985 is an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. Its main effect was to abolish the six county councils of the metropolitan counties that had been set up in 1974, 11 years earlier, by the Local Government Act 1972, ...

, for example the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority and the

Merseyside Passenger Transport Authority Merseytravel is the passenger transport executive, responsible for the coordination of public transport in the Liverpool City Region in North West England. Merseytravel was established on 1 December 1969 as the Merseyside Passenger Transport ...

. Liverpool City Region's proposal to central government for a combined authority was approved by Parliamentary statutory order in late March, and it legally came into existence from 1 April 2014.

will become the top-tier administrative body of Liverpool City Region. It will be a body corporate responsible for strategic decision making. The six local authorities in the area constituting the combined authority will pool together powers over economic development, regeneration and transport policy. The combined authority comprises seven members: the council leaders of Halton, Knowsley, Sefton, St Helens and Wirral, the Mayor of Liverpool, and the chairperson, as the representative, of the local enterprise partnership. The proposed authority was known as the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority up until submission to the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Greater Merseyside Combined Authority in the published scheme. The consultation preceding the creation of the combined authority showed strong support for a name including 'Liverpool' rather than 'Merseyside', in order to capitalise and build upon Liverpool’s global ‘brand’. The name was changed to the Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, St Helens, Sefton and Wirral Combined Authority in the draft order presented to parliament. On 21 February 2014 it was decided by the constituent councils that the authority will use the public name of Liverpool City Region Combined Authority.

Local enterprise partnership

The Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership was established in 2010 and is the

local enterprise partnership In England, local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) are voluntary partnerships between local authorities and businesses, set up in 2011 by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to help determine local economic priorities and lead econo ...

(LEP) for Liverpool City Region. The LEP initiated Mersey Waters Enterprise Zone, which was set up in 2012. The enterprise zone contains two sites,

Liverpool Waters Liverpool Waters is a large scale £5.5bn development that has been proposed by the Peel Group in the Vauxhall, Liverpool, Vauxhall area of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The development will make use of a series of presently derelict dock sp ...

and

Wirral Waters Wirral Waters is a large scale £4.5bn development currently being built by the Peel Group for Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula, England. It is the sister programme of the Liverpool Waters project. Since 2012 the two projects have enjoyed ...

Members of Parliament

Population

Since its creation in 2014 the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has a population of 1.5 million which is the 4th largest Combine Authority in England.

Economy

The Liverpool City Region is strongly established as an important driving force in the economy of

Northern England Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...

and as a strategic sea and air gateway to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. It connects to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and beyond; serving international, national and regional markets, investors and visitors. Liverpool is the UK's fastest growing economy outside

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, one of the UK's top three biomedical centres, and has the UK's second largest

wealth management Wealth management (WM) or wealth management advisory (WMA) is an investment advisory service that provides financial management and wealth advisory services to a wide array of clients ranging from affluent to high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-high- ...

industry. The city region provides some 741,000 jobs, generating GVA of £33 billion. The region is largely monocentric with Liverpool as the dominant employment centre, however economic activity is widely spread across the six districts. Broadly speaking Liverpool is the commercial, cultural and transport hub of the region, with Sefton as the base of

Seaforth Dock Seaforth Dock (also known as the Royal Seaforth Dock) is a purpose-built dock and container terminal, on the River Mersey, England, at Seaforth, to the north of Liverpool. As part of the Port of Liverpool and Liverpool Freeport, it is operated ...

and tourist resort of

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Irish ...

, Halton as the location for chemical, science, technology, logistics and distribution companies, and Knowsley, St Helens and Wirral providing key manufacturing and logistics for the area. The city of Liverpool itself has a compact

travel to work area A travel to work area or TTWA is a statistical tool used by UK Government agencies and local authorities, especially by the Department for Work and Pensions and Jobcentres, to indicate an area where the population would generally commute to a ...

reflecting its position on the North West Atlantic Seaboard and compactness of the surrounding urban area. The city region is traditionally seen as a service sector economy, with its so called

knowledge economy The knowledge economy (or the knowledge-based economy) is an economic system in which the production of goods and services is based principally on knowledge-intensive activities that contribute to advancement in technical and scientific inno ...

providing one third of the local employment base and over 40% of its total economic value. According to statistics for 2008, the

Life sciences This list of life sciences comprises the branches of science that involve the scientific study of life – such as microorganisms, plants, and animals including human beings. This science is one of the two major branches of natural science, the ...

sector accounts for almost 10% of the region's economy, over 71,000 people are employed in financial and professional services, over 34,000 in

manufacturing Manufacturing is the creation or production of goods with the help of equipment, labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of secondary sector of the economy. The term may refer to a r ...

, and almost 24,000 in the creative and digital industry. The area is strongly connected to global markets, through its ports, airports and by its many multinational companies. World companies such as

Barclays Wealth Barclays Wealth Management serves affluent and high net worth clients through offices across the UK, offering personalised banking, credit, investment management and wealth planning services. Reported client assets were £202.8 billion (as ...

Jaguar Land Rover Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC is the holding company of Jaguar Land Rover Limited (also known as JLR), and is a British multinational automobile manufacturer which produces luxury vehicles and sport utility vehicles. Jaguar Land Rover is a ...

Maersk (), also known simply as Maersk (), is a Danish shipping company, active in ocean and inland freight transportation and associated services, such as supply chain management and port operation. Maersk was the largest container shipping line a ...

Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loc ...

Santander Santander may refer to: Places * Santander, Spain, a port city and capital of the autonomous community of Cantabria, Spain * Santander Department, a department of Colombia * Santander State, former state of Colombia * Santander de Quilichao, a m ...

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professional ...

and

Unilever Unilever plc is a British multinational consumer goods company with headquarters in London, England. Unilever products include food, condiments, bottled water, baby food, soft drink, ice cream, instant coffee, cleaning agents, energy drink, t ...

, all have a major base of operation in the locality. Over the coming decades, the city region plans to deliver some of the UK's largest and most ambitious development and infrastructure schemes, representing a development value in excess of £30bn. ;Planned schemes include *

* Liverpool 2 Container Terminal *

Liverpool Cruise Terminal The Liverpool Cruise Terminal is a 350-metre-long (1,150 ft) floating structure situated on the River Mersey enabling large cruise ships to visit without entering the enclosed dock system or berthing mid-river and tendering passengers asho ...

* International Trade Centre * Commercial District Expansion * Round 2.5 and Round 3 Irish Sea offshore wind farms * Enlarging existing dock system to accommodate larger vessels. * Daresbury Science and Innovation Park * Biomass Power Stations along the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed part ...

and

Manchester Ship Canal The Manchester Ship Canal is a inland waterway in the North West of England linking Manchester to the Irish Sea. Starting at the Mersey Estuary at Eastham, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, it generally follows the original routes of the river ...

* Environmental Technology Zone * Mersey Gateway Bridge * Expansion of the Mersey Multimodal Gateway (3MG) * New

Royal Liverpool University Hospital The Royal Liverpool University Hospital (RLUH) is a major teaching and research hospital located in the city of Liverpool, England. It is the largest and busiest hospital in Merseyside and Cheshire, and has the largest emergency department of i ...

and Bio Campus * Edge Lane Retail Park * Transformation of North Liverpool

Transport

The Liverpool City Region has a highly advanced and extensive transport network, and is extremely well connected locally, nationally, and internationally by road, rail, sea and air.

Road

The region is served by a network of 6

motorways A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

( M58 to the North, M56 to the South, M6 & M62 to the East and M53 to the west). In addition, the M57 acts as an outer ring road and bypass for the city of Liverpool itself. The area has relatively low road congestion and its central location makes it a highly efficient base from which to service the whole country. Various parts of the region are separated by the

, and as a result, Wirral is connected to the centre of Liverpool via the Queensway Tunnel and

Kingsway Tunnel The Kingsway Tunnel (or Wallasey Tunnel) is a toll road tunnel under the River Mersey between Liverpool and Wallasey. The tunnel carries the A59. It was built because the Queensway Tunnel – which was built in the 1930s to carry vehicles b ...

, whereas

Widnes Widnes ( ) is an Industrial city, industrial town in the Borough of Halton, Cheshire, England, which at the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census had a population of 61,464. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on t ...

and

Runcorn Runcorn is an industrial town and cargo port in the Borough of Halton in Cheshire, England. Its population in 2011 was 61,789. The town is in the southeast of the Liverpool City Region, with Liverpool to the northwest across the River Mersey. ...

are connected by the

Silver Jubilee Bridge The Silver Jubilee Bridge (originally the Runcorn–Widnes Bridge or informally the Runcorn Bridge) crosses the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal at River Mersey#Runcorn Gap, Runcorn Gap between Runcorn and Widnes in Borough of Halton ...

. A second six lane toll bridge under the name

Mersey Gateway The Mersey Gateway Bridge is a toll bridge between Runcorn and Widnes in Cheshire, England, which spans the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal. The crossing, which opened in October 2017, has three traffic lanes in each direction and is ...

, to relieve congestion on the ageing Silver Jubilee Bridge, opened in 2017. The bridge is designed to improve transport links between Widnes and Runcorn and other key locations in the vicinity. Merseyrail Development

Rail

Liverpool Lime Street Liverpool Lime Street is a terminus railway station and the main station serving the city centre of Liverpool. Opened in August 1836, it is the oldest still-operating grand terminus mainline station in the world. A branch of the West Coast ...

, the region's main terminal train station, is served by five train operating companies serving a wide variety of destinations, and is used by 11.8 million passengers per year. Chester railway station is the second largest station in the region with direct services to London. Both stations are on the Liverpool-centric

Merseyrail Merseyrail is a commuter rail network serving the Liverpool City Region and adjacent areas of Cheshire and Lancashire. Merseyrail operates 66 railway stations across two lines – the Northern Line and Wirral Line, which are dedicated electri ...

urban rail network. Excellent rail connectivity, particularly since the upgrade to the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

and investment in high speed

Pendolino Pendolino (from Italian ''pendolo'' "pendulum", and ''-ino,'' a diminutive suffix) is an Italian family of tilting trains used in Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the UK, the US, ...

trains, means journey time to

London Euston Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city rail ...

is within 2 hours via

Avanti West Coast Avanti West Coast is a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by FirstGroup (70%) and Trenitalia (30%) that operates the West Coast Partnership franchise. During November 2016, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced the Inter ...

East Midlands Railway Abellio East Midlands Limited, trading as East Midlands Railway (EMR), is a train operating company in England, owned by Abellio, and is the current operator of the East Midlands franchise. History In March 2017, the Department for Transport a ...

serves

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

and

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...

TransPennine Express TransPennine Express (TPE), legally First TransPennine Express Limited, is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the TransPennine Express franchise. It runs regional and inter-city rail services between the major c ...

operates daily services to

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, Hull,

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, and

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

. Northern operates to

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into ...

, Preston,

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

, and

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, whilst direct links to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

are possible via

West Midlands Trains West Midlands Trains (WMT) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operates passenger trains on the West Midlands franchise between London and the English Midlands under two trade names: West Midlands Railway (WMR) (within the ...

. The sub-regional rail network is operated by

Merseytravel Merseytravel is the passenger transport executive, responsible for the coordination of public transport in the Liverpool City Region in North West England. Merseytravel was established on 1 December 1969 as the Merseyside Passenger Transpor ...

, the combined

Passenger Transport Executive In the United Kingdom, passenger transport executives (PTEs) are local government bodies which are responsible for public transport within large urban areas. They are accountable to combined authorities, which were created between 2011 and 2016 ...

and

Integrated Transport Authority In the United Kingdom, passenger transport executives (PTEs) are Local government in the United Kingdom, local government bodies which are responsible for public transport within large urban areas. They are accountable to combined authorities, w ...

for Merseyside, and public sector body responsible for the coordination of public transport across Liverpool city region, except Halton.

is an urban network of vital importance to the transport infrastructure of the city region operating almost 800 trains per day carrying over 100,000 passengers, on its network of 67 stations. The Merseyrail network is the most intensively used commuter network outside London and includes five underground stations in

Liverpool City Centre Liverpool city centre is the commercial, cultural, financial and historical centre of Liverpool, England. The inner city districts of Vauxhall, Liverpool, Vauxhall, Everton, Liverpool, Everton, Edge Hill, Merseyside, Edge Hill, Kensington, Liv ...

and Birkenhead centre. The UK government has insisted that the region will benefit from Britain's new high-speed rail network, due for completion by 2032, even though the new line will not extend into the region. Journey times to London from Liverpool would be cut by 32 minutes under the proposals. Pressure is being put on the government to extend high speed rail into Liverpool's city centre.

Sea

The city region is located on the North West Atlantic Seaboard, and is one of Northern England's most vital gateways for both freight and seafaring passengers. The

Port of Liverpool The Port of Liverpool is the enclosed Dock (maritime), dock system that runs from Brunswick Dock in Liverpool to Seaforth Dock, Seaforth, Merseyside, Seaforth, on the east side of the River Mersey and the Great Float, Birkenhead Docks between ...

is one of Northern Europe's largest container ports and principal ports for trade with the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. The port handles over 33 million tonnes of freight cargo per year and serves more than 100 global destinations including

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. Imports of

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

and

animal feed Animal feed is food given to domestic animals, especially livestock, in the course of animal husbandry. There are two basic types: fodder and forage. Used alone, the word ''feed'' more often refers to fodder. Animal feed is an important input to ...

and exports of

scrap metal Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap has monetary value, especially recovered me ...

for recycling are greater than any other UK port, and traffic crossing the quays includes

timber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

, steel, coal, cocoa, crude oil, edible oils and liquid chemicals. Major investment, including a second container terminal dubbed ‘Liverpool 2' at Seaforth, will be designed to handle the largest

Post-Panamax Panamax and New Panamax (or Neopanamax) are terms for the size limits for ships travelling through the Panama Canal. The limits and requirements are published by the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) in a publication titled "Vessel Requirements". ...

vessels and will double the port's capacity. Almost three quarters of a million people travel on

Irish Sea The Irish Sea or , gv, Y Keayn Yernagh, sco, Erse Sie, gd, Muir Èireann , Ulster-Scots: ''Airish Sea'', cy, Môr Iwerddon . is an extensive body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Ce ...

ferry services from Liverpool Docks and Birkenhead's

Twelve Quays Twelve Quays is a ferry terminal and business park which is located between East Float and the River Mersey at Birkenhead, in England. Twelve Quays separates Woodside from Seacombe. History Twelve Quays is named from the quaysides which ser ...

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

and the

, and there is a growing number of cruise ships making day calls at the port. A new terminal at Prince's Dock is due to open in May 2012 to provide check-in, baggage drop and reclaim, as well as customs and border facilities for thousands of cruise liner passengers visiting the region, whilst

Peel Ports The Peel Group is a British infrastructure and property investment business, based in Manchester. In 2022, its Peel Land and Property estate extends to of buildings, and over of land and water. Peel retains minority stakes in its former ports ...

have also planned a second cruise terminal as part of the

project. The

Mersey Ferry The Mersey Ferry is a ferry service operating on the River Mersey in north west England, between Liverpool to the east and Birkenhead and Wallasey on the Wirral Peninsula to the west. Ferries have been used on this route since at least the 12th ...

offers regular commuter services between Wirral and

, with 684,000 passengers using the service in 2009–2010.

Air

Global air connectivity to and from the region is provided by two international airports,

Liverpool John Lennon Airport Liverpool John Lennon Airport is an international airport in Liverpool, England, on the estuary of the River Mersey south-east of Liverpool city centre. Scheduled domestic, European, North African and Middle Eastern services are operated fr ...

(LJLA), and

Manchester Airport Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2019, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest of those n ...

. Liverpool John Lennon Airport, situated 9 miles south of Liverpool City Centre, has seen massive growth over the last decade and handles well over 5 million passengers annually, making it one of the UK's top 10 busiest airports. Its two main airlines

easyJet EasyJet plc (styled as easyJet) is a British multinational low-cost airline group headquartered at London Luton Airport. It operates domestic and international scheduled services on 927 routes in more than 34 countries via its affiliate airli ...

and

Ryanair Ryanair is an Irish ultra low-cost carrier founded in 1984. It is headquartered in Swords, Dublin, Ireland and has its primary operational bases at Dublin and London Stansted airports. It forms the largest part of the Ryanair Holdings family ...

provide a wealth of low-cost air flights to and from most major European cities, and over 70 destinations are served by the airport overall, including regular flights to the

Near East The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...

and

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

. Almost all the air traffic is generated by low-cost scheduled carriers to short-haul destinations across Europe and there are currently no long haul services operating from the airport, however, up until 2012 Dutch airline

KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...

had provided a daily link to its Amsterdam hub at

Schiphol Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport ( nl, Luchthaven Schiphol, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer in the province ...

which offered a feeder service to over 650 long haul routes across the globe. Following the suspension of the service, airport bosses signalled that they will find an alternative European

hub airport An airline hub or hub airport is an airport used by one or more airlines to concentrate passenger traffic and flight operations. Hubs serve as transfer (or stop-over) points to help get passengers to their final destination. It is part of the ...

in the near future to continue to provide international connecting flights from Liverpool. This was later found in 2015 when Aer Lingus began direct flights to Dublin opening up routes to North America and Asia. As part of LJLA's Master Plan, the airport is planning for substantial expansion and is forecast to handle more than 12 million passengers by 2030, as well as targeting permanent direct long haul flights and significantly larger terminal facilities.

Television

The Liverpool City Region is covered by

BBC North West BBC North West is the BBC English Region serving Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, North Yorkshire (western Craven), West Yorkshire (western Calderdale), Derbyshire (western High Peak), Cumbria (Barrow-in-Furness and So ...

and

ITV Granada ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

. Additionally, as of late 2013 the city region, along with

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

and parts of Cheshire is covered by local TV channel

Liverpool TV Local TV Liverpool (typeset as LOCAL TV Liverpool) is a local television station serving Liverpool City Region and surrounding areas. The station is owned and operated by Local Television Limited and forms part of a group of nine LOCAL TV sta ...

. The channel broadcasts over 35 hours of local content per week, along with a range of other content from across the network. The channel is available exclusively on Freeview channel 7 in the Liverpool City region and also nationally on Sky and Virgin TV.

References

External links

Liverpool City Region Combined Authority (Official website)Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP)
{{City regions of the United Kingdom Combined authorities Local enterprise partnerships Local government in Merseyside

History

Definition

Governance

Combined authority

Local enterprise partnership

Members of Parliament

Population

Economy

Transport

Road

Rail

Sea

Air

Television

See also

References

External links