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Borough of Wigan
Geography
Status:	Metropolitan Borough
Region:	North West England
Ceremonial County:	Greater Manchester
Area: - Total	Ranked 194th 188.19 km²
Admin. HQ:	Wigan
ONS code:	00BW
Demographics
Population: - Total (2022) - Density	Ranked / km²
Ethnicity:	98.7% White
Politics
] Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council http://www.wiganmbc.gov.uk
Leadership:	Leader & Cabinet
Executive:
MPs:	Andrew Burnham, Barbara Keeley, Ian McCartney, Neil Turner

The Metropolitan Borough of Wigan is a Metropolitan Borough in the north-west of Greater Manchester, in North West England. It is named after its largest town, Wigan, and includes various other settlements including Leigh, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Ince-in-Makerfield and Hindley.

Environs

The borough is the most northwestern in Greater Manchester. Within Greater Manchester, it borders the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton to the north-east and east, and the City of Salford to the east. Outwith Greater Manchester, in the south it borders Warrington (a unitary authority in Cheshire); to the south-west it borders the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens in Merseyside. To the west it borders the West Lancashire district, and to the north it borders the Chorley borough, both in Lancashire.

History

The metropolitan borough was formed on April 1, 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972. It was formed from the county borough of Wigan along with following existing local government units from the administrative county of Lancashire.

• the Municipal Borough of Leigh
• the urban districts of Abram, Aspull, Atherton, Hindley, Ince-in-Makerfield, Orrell, Standish-with-Langtree and Tyldesley
• most of the Ashton-in-Makerfield urban district (except for the area which now forms the Seneley Green parish in St Helens)
• most of the Golborne urban district (except for the area which now forms the parish of Culcheth and Glazebury in Warrington)
• most of the Billinge-and-Winstanley urban district (except for Billinge Chapel End now in St Helens)
• the parishes of Haigh, Shevington and Worthington, from the Wigan Rural District.

Wigan's new coat of arms was based on various elements from the arms of the predecessor districts.

From 1974, local government was under a two-tier system, with Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council covering most functions, and the Greater Manchester County Council. The county council was abolished in 1986 by the Local Government Act 1985.

The population of the borough has stayed roughly static since the 1970s at around 300,000.

Politics

Parliamentary

Four parliamentary constituencies cover the borough: Wigan, Makerfield, Leigh, and Worsley. Worsley also covers parts of Salford. New constituencies boundaries recommended by the Boundary Commission will see the link to Salford broken, and part of the borough (the Atherton ward) included in the Bolton West constituency. All four seats are considered safe seats for the Labour Party, and they or predecessors have returned Labour members consistently since the Second World War.

Local government

The first elections to the borough council were held on May 10, 1973. Each ward has three councillors, and elections are by third, with one councillor from each ward up for re-election in each election year. The 2004 election was for all seats, as ward boundaries had changed. The next elections are planned for 2008.

The borough council has a leader and cabinet system. The current leader is Peter Smith, who also sits in the House of Lords as a Labour Party life peer, under the title Lord Smith of Leigh. He first became leader in 1991.. The council rejected the idea of a directly-elected mayor following a consultation in 2001.

Wigan is traditionally a Labour stronghold - the council has been Labour Party-controlled since its creation. The local elections in 1998 resulted in a council with only 2 non-Labour members.

Labour have a majority with 43 seats as of the 2006 election. The second largest party on the council is the local Community Action Party, also active in St Helens and Warrington, which had 15 seats. Community Action first contested Wigan elections in 2002, and won 18 seats in the 2004 election following the re-warding - their councillors are for wards in the middle of the borough, between Wigan and Leigh. The Conservative Party has nine seats, and the Liberal Democrats eight.

The council uses Wigan Town Hall as its main headquarters. Leigh Town Hall is used as a secondary base.

Wards

The borough is divided into 25 electoral wards, each of which elect three councillors. The present wards were adopted in 2003, following a review by the Boundary Commission : the previous review took place in 1979. The borough was formerly divided in 24 wards. The wards are as follows:

The previous wards were

Settlements and subdivisions

Towns and villages in the borough include Wigan itself, Abram, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Aspull, Astley, Atherton, Billinge (part only: the rest is in St Helens), Bryn, Golborne, Haigh, Hindley, Ince-in-Makerfield, Leigh, Lowton, Orrell, Pemberton, Platt Bridge, Standish, Shevington, Tyldesley and Winstanley.

The ONS identify a Wigan Urban Area in the west of the district, including Abram, Ince-in-Makerfield, Orrell, Standish and Wigan, as well as Skelmersdale from the West Lancashire district; with a population of 166,840. It considers towns in the east of the borough (that is Atherton, Hindley, Leigh and Tyldesley) to be part of the Greater Manchester Urban Area. Ashton-in-Makerfield, Aspull, Golborne and Shevington are identified as standalone urban areas.

Parishes

The borough has three civil parishes: Haigh, Shevington and Worthington, which came from Wigan Rural District. The rest of the borough is an unparished area.

Townships

Wigan Council has divided the borough into ten areas by the name of townships, with a Township Manager and a Township Forum each. . The townships are as follows:

Demographics

With a population of around 300,000, Wigan is the second most populous borough of Greater Manchester, after Manchester itself. It also has one of the lowest non-white populations, with the 2001 census repoting 98.7% of the population as white. Unemployment is around average for England and Wales. 9.5% of the population is "permanently sick or disabled" compared to an average of 5.5%.

Identity

According to an opinion poll, 26% of 299 residents surveyed felt they belonged "very strongly" or "fairly strongly" (4% very strongly) to Greater Manchester, 64% (28% very strongly) to the borough of Wigan, and 63% (31% very strongly) to Lancashire.

Transport

Several railway lines meet at Wigan. The Wigan Wallgate railway station serves trains to Southport, Kirkby, Manchester Victoria and Rochdale. The Wigan North Western railway station is on the West Coast Main Line, and also runs trains to Liverpool Lime Street and Blackpool North.

Other stations are Atherton, Bryn, Gathurst, Hindley, Ince, Orrell, and Pemberton. Appley Bridge station, serving Appley Bridge, is just outside the borough boundary.

Leigh has no railway station. One station, on the Bolton and Leigh Railway, closed in 1954. The second, on a loop of the Manchester to Wigan Line was closed in 1969.

The Leeds and Liverpool Canal passes through the borough, as does the M6 motorway, which runs to the west of the town centre, and serves Ashton-in-Makerfield (junction 24), Bryn (25), Wigan/Orrell (26) and Standish (27). The M58 motorway, to northern Liverpool, terminates at junction 26 of the M6.

Twinning

Wigan was twinned with Angers in France in 1988.

See also

Coat of arms of Wigan

References

1. Local Government Act 1972. 1972 c. 60. HMSO.
2. "Vision of Britain: Wigan District population".
3. "Greater Manchester: New Constituency Boundaries".
4. "Safe Seats analysis". Electoral Reform Society. April 28, 2005.
5. "Constitution: Part 9". Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council.
6. "Borough rejects elected mayor" (Press release). Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council. June 15, 2001.
7. ^ "Local elections: Wigan". BBC News. May 4, 2006.
8. "Labour licks wounds after polls". June 11, 2004.
9. "Wigan Town Hall". Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council.
10. "Makeover for Leigh Town Hall" (Press release). June 13, 2006.
11. Final recommendations on the future electoral arrangements for Wigan (PDF). Boundary Committee. September 2003.
12. "New Wigan Wards Map". Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council.
13. "Table KS01 Usual Resident population". ONS.
14. "Townships". Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |accessed= ignored (help)
15. "Census 2001 - Profiles - Wigan". ONS.
16. MORI local government and identity opinion poll December 2003 - February 2004
17. "Pennington Station". Sub Brit.
18. "Town Twinning". Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council.

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