The Liverpool Built-up Area (previously Liverpool Urban Area in 2001 and prior) is a term used by the

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible for th ...

(ONS) to denote the

urban area An urban area, built-up area or urban agglomeration is a human settlement with a high population density and infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas are created through urbanization and are categorized by urban morphology as cities, t ...

around

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 ...

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 ...

, to the east of 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 ...

. The contiguous built-up area extends beyond the area administered by

Liverpool City Council Liverpool City Council is the governing body for the city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. It consists of 90 councillors, three for each of the city's 30 wards. The council is currently controlled by the Labour Party and is led by Mayor ...

into adjoining local authority areas, particularly parts of Sefton and Knowsley. As defined by ONS, the area extends as far east as St Helens,

Haydock Haydock is a village within the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, in Merseyside, England. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 11,416 Haydock's historic area covers the Haydock electoral ward and a section of the Blackbrook ward. Haydoc ...

, and Ashton-in-Makerfield in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

. The Liverpool Urban Area is not the same area as

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

(or Greater Merseyside), which includes areas of Wirral on the west bank of the Mersey and

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 ...

. The western extent of the

Greater Manchester conurbation The Greater Manchester Built-up Area is an area of land defined by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), consisting of the large conurbation that encompasses the urban element of the city of Manchester and the metropolitan area that form ...

is narrowly avoided as that extends as far as

Golborne Golborne (pronounced or ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies south-southeast of Wigan, northeast of Warrington and to the west of the city of Manchester. Combined with the village of Lowto ...

and

Newton-le-Willows Newton-le-Willows is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England. The population at the 2011 census was 22,114. Newton-le-Willows is on the eastern edge of St Helens, south of Wigan and north of Warrington. The ...

, with small gaps separating those towns from Ashton-In-Makerfield and Haydock.

Settlements

The Liverpool Urban Area defined by ONS covers Liverpool and its contiguous built-up areas, with a population of 864,122 a considerable increase from the 2001 census due to the rapid growth in the population of Liverpool during this period. The population of the area was 816,216 in the 2001 census,. The urban area facing Liverpool on the

Wirral Peninsula Wirral (; ), known locally as The Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide and is bounded by the River Dee to the west (forming the boundary with Wales), the River Mersey to t ...

is a separate division known as the Birkenhead Urban Area. The ONS definition is based purely on physical criteria with a focus on the presence or absence of significant gaps between built-up areas. It therefore extends as far as Ashton-in-Makerfield, but excludes some areas much closer to Liverpool which are separated from it by open spaces, notably

Kirkby Kirkby ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. The town, historically in Lancashire, has a size of is north of Huyton and north-east of Liverpool. The population in 2016 was 41,495 making it the largest ...

with a narrow gap along the

M57 motorway The M57 motorway, also known as the Liverpool Outer Ring Road, is a road in England. Designed as a Ring road for Liverpool, it is long between Tarbock Green and Switch lsland, and links various towns east of the city, as well as the M62 an ...

, and

Maghull Maghull ( ) is a town and civil parish in Sefton, Merseyside (historically a part of Lancashire). The town is north of Liverpool and west of Kirkby. The area also contains Ashworth Hospital. Maghull had a population of 20,444 at the 2011 Cens ...

. Subdivisions are not always aligned to present administrative or county borders. For example, Liverpool as designated by the ONS also containing the towns

Huyton Huyton ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. Part of the Liverpool Urban Area, it borders the Liverpool suburbs of Dovecot, Knotty Ash and Belle Vale, and the neighbouring village of Roby, with which it f ...

, Roby, and

Halewood Halewood is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley in Merseyside, England. It lies near the city of Liverpool's southeastern boundary, bordered by the suburbs of Netherley, Hunt's Cross and Woolton. Historically a part of Lancashire, ...

which are all within the neighbouring borough of Knowsley. St Helens only covers the settlement, and not the St Helens

borough 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 ...

which contains

Rainford Rainford is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England, north of St Helens. At the 2011 Census, the population was 7,779. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, the earlies ...

and Haydock. According to the ONS, the subcomponents of the Liverpool Urban Area are: Notes: *

Huyton-with-Roby Huyton with Roby Urban District was a local government district in Lancashire, England from 1894 to 1974. It consisted of the civil parish of ''Huyton with Roby'' which comprised the settlements of Huyton and Roby. It replaced the Huyton with R ...

was included as part of the Liverpool subdivision in the 2011 census. *

and Ashton-in-Makerfield were not part of the Liverpool Urban Area prior to 2011.

Greater Liverpool

Greater Liverpool is an informal term used by the Rent Service as one of its Broad Rental Market Areas (BRMA). This area includes such districts outside the

boundaries as Crosby, Maghull, Prescot and St Helens.

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 ...

include a similar greater Liverpool area for its Public Transport Map and Guide as seen on its Liverpool area map.Liverpool Area Public Transport Map and Guide
/ref>

References

{{reflist Geography of Merseyside Urban areas of England