Cheshire West and Chester | |
|---|---|
 Chester, the county town of Cheshire and the largest settlement in Cheshire West and Chester | |
 Cheshire West and Chester shown withinCheshire | |
| Coordinates:53°12′47″N2°54′07″W / 53.213°N 2.902°W /53.213; -2.902 | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Country | England |
| Region | North West |
| Ceremonial county | Cheshire |
| Incorporated | 1 April 2009 |
| Administrative HQ | The Portal,Ellesmere Port |
| Government | |
| • Type | Unitary authority |
| • Body | Cheshire West and Chester Council |
| • Executive | Leader and cabinet |
| • Control | No overall control |
| • Leader | Louise Gittins (Lab) |
| • Chairman | Robert Bisset (Lab) |
| • MPs | |
| Area | |
• Total | 363 sq mi (941 km2) |
| • Land | 360 sq mi (920 km2) |
| • Rank | 31st |
| Population (2024)[3] | |
• Total | 371,652 |
| • Rank | 25th |
| • Density | 1,050/sq mi (404/km2) |
| Ethnicity(2021) | |
| • Ethnic groups | |
| Religion(2021) | |
| • Religion | List
|
| Time zone | UTC+0 (GMT) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (BST) |
| Postcode areas | |
| Dialling codes |
|
| ISO 3166 code | GB-CHW |
| GSS code | E06000050 |
| Website | cheshirewestandchester |
Cheshire West and Chester is aunitary authority area withborough status inCheshire, England. It was established on 1 April 2009 as part of the2009 local government changes, by virtue of an order under theLocal Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.[5] It superseded the boroughs ofEllesmere Port and Neston,Vale Royal and theCity of Chester. The remainder of theceremonial county of Cheshire is composed ofCheshire East,Halton andWarrington. Cheshire West and Chester has three key urban areas:Chester,Ellesmere Port andNorthwich/Winsford.[according to whom?]
The decision to create the Cheshire West and Chester unitary authority was announced on 25 July 2007 following a consultation period, in which a proposal to create a single Cheshire unitary authority was rejected.[6]
The council is a unitary authority, being a district council which also performs the functions of a county council. Full council meetings are held at Wyvern House inWinsford and the council has its main offices at The Portal in Ellesmere Port.[7][8]
As of 2019, the borough is divided into forty-five wards:[9]
There are ninety-sevenparish councils in the borough,[10][11] despite there being a total of 166civil parishes before a community governance review was undertaken by the borough council in 2014[12] under section 82 of theLocal Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007.[13]
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| Ethnicity | Percent(%) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| White | 95.3% | |||
| Asian | 2.0% | |||
| Mixed | 1.5% | |||
| Black | 0.6% | |||
| Other | 0.6% | |||
In line with nearly everylocal government district inEngland and Wales, the majority of the population describe themselves as 'white'. The exact figure – 95.3% – is comparable withmetropolitan counties such asMerseyside,non-metropolitan counties such asCumbria andprincipal areas throughoutWales. This would suggest that the figure is not a significant outlier nationwide.
The next largest ethnic group in the borough is Asian, who along with other ethnic minorities are supported by the Cheshire Asian & Minority Communities Council, aregistered charity headquartered inChester.
| Religion | Percent(%) | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Christian | 54.5% | |||
| No religion | 37.8% | |||
| Undeclared | 5.5% | |||
| Muslim | 1.0% | |||
| Hindu | 0.4% | |||
| Other | 0.3% | |||
| Buddhist | 0.3% | |||
| Jewish | 0.1% | |||
| Sikh | 0.1% | |||
The main religion in Cheshire West and Chester isChristianity, with a percentage figure above the average for England (46.3%,2021).[16] The single largest church is theChurch of England, with the borough being served by theChester Archdeaconry, with six deaneries and an average of twentyparish churches in each deanery.Roman Catholicism also has a significant presence across the borough, with all its churches located in theDiocese of Shrewsbury.
Methodist churches in the borough form groups averaging ten, known as 'circuits' (the four in Cheshire West and Chester are all part of the Chester andStoke-on-Trent District). More marginal churches includeAssemblies of God,Baptist Union,Elim Pentecostal,United Reformed and theEnglish Presbyterian Church of Wales in Chester.
Aside from churches, there are twomosques in Cheshire West and Chester – one each in Chester andEllesmere Port – which were subjected to property theft[17] and racially aggravated disorder[18] respectively in 2014.
| Local authority | In relation to the district |
|---|---|
| City of Liverpool | North (over the river) |
| Halton | North |
| Warrington | North east |
| Cheshire East | East |
| Newcastle-under-Lyme | South |
| Wrexham | South west |
| Flintshire | West |
| Wirral | North west |
Cheshire West and Chester Council maintains sixLocal Nature Reserves: Burton Mill Wood, Helsby Quarry, Marshall's Arm, Rivacre Valley, Stanney Wood, and Whitby Park.[19]
There are no passenger airports in the borough; only a grass airfield exists inLittle Budworth, with the nearest beingLiverpool John Lennon Airport andManchester Airport.
National routes which pass through the borough includeNCR5,NCR45 (Mercian Way),NCR56, NCR562, NCR563, NCR568 and NCR573. Regional routes include 70 (Cheshire Cycleway) and 71.
Three disused railways in the borough have been converted to off-road cycleways, including:
TheShropshire Union Canal towpath betweenWaverton and theNational Waterways Museum is paved with asphalt; it is a shared-use route between cyclists and pedestrians for a distance of 12.5 miles (20.1 km).
In 2009, Chester was awarded the status ofCycling Town byCycling England. To reflect this, a series of colour-coded signposted routes around the city were devised in 2012.[20] The total length of new signposted routes created by the project was 38 miles (61 km), bringing the overall total in the borough to 312.5 miles (502.9 km). The total funding received from the cycling town project, which ended in 2011 when Cycling England was disbanded, was £4.4 million.[21] A similar network of over 30 miles (48 km) of cycle routes branded theEllesmere Port Grenway has been proposed by the town's development board.[22]
Chester has fourpark and ride sites located adjacent to radial routes on the city's outskirts:Boughton Heath, Sealand Road,Upton and Wrexham Road; they run on two lines which intersect at Chester Bus Interchange. A fifth site is proposed nearHoole Village.
| Route | Terminus | Intermediate stop | Chester city centre | Intermediate stop | Terminus | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blue (PR1) | Upton (Zoo) | Countess of Chester Hospital | Delamere Street | Chester Bus Interchange | Foregate Street | Pepper Street | Grosvenor Road | Wrexham Road |
| Green (PR2) | Sealand Road | Sealand Road (Greyhound Park) | Canal Street | Boughton | Boughton Heath | |||
Hooton station is designated as a park and ride facility for railway services on the Wirral Line; it contains a 418-space car park.[23]
Chester railway station is the hub of the railway network in the borough, with around 4.7 million passengers annually.[24] Passenger numbers doubled to this figure in the ten years to 2015, making the station the eighth-busiest inNorth West England.[25]
Railway lines, and their associatedtrain operating companies in the borough, include:
Turquoise:Transport for Wales stations
Green:West Midlands Trains stations
Yellow:Merseyrail stations
Blue:Northern stationsThe sections of railway between Chester–Stockport and Chester–Warrington Bank Quay are proposed for electrification during the period 2019–2024.[26]
| Motorways | A roads | B roads |
|---|---|---|
|
Motorways and primary routes in the borough which are maintained byNational Highways (trunk roadsde jure) include theM6,M53,M56,A55,A483,A494,A550 and a short section of theA41 inHooton. Other primary routes which are maintained by the council (principal roadsde jure) include the A41,A49,A51,A54,A56, A483,A530,A533,A534,A556,A5115,A5116,A5117 andA5268.
Chester and Ellesmere Port – bothprimary route destinations – form the hub of the road network in Cheshire West and Chester, with routes of national importance carrying traffic in all directions to locations includingFlintshire,Halton,Wirral andWrexham.
European RouteE05 is routed via the M6, carrying international traffic betweenScotland,North West England, theWest Midlands andFrance viaSouthampton.European route E22 is routed via the A494 and M56, carrying international traffic betweenIreland (the route in fact begins at thePort of Holyhead),North Wales, North West England,Yorkshire and theNetherlands. Both routes meet atLymm Interchange, which lies in neighbouring Cheshire East.
Three Roman roads exist in Cheshire West and Chester:
The section of the A51 between its western terminus and the B5132 was named as one of the most congested roads in the United Kingdom byINRIX in August 2015.[27]
Three localMPs –Graham Evans,Justin Madders andChris Matheson – raised safety concerns about the M56 between J12 and J14 inparliament after more than 160 incidents were recorded since 2011. In response,Andrew Jones, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, confirmed that an upgrade tosmart motorway will only take place after 2020.[28][29]
Navigable waterways in the borough include theManchester Ship Canal,Shropshire Union Canal,Trent and Mersey Canal and theWeaver Navigation. The latter two are connected together by theAnderton Boat Lift, near Northwich; this is the onlycaissonlift lock in the United Kingdom.
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The area is served byBBC North West andITV Granada with television signals received from theWinter Hill TV transmitter.[30]
Radio stations for the area are:[31]
Chester FC are the highest ranked club in the area and compete in theNational League North (the sixth tier ofEnglish football).Northwich has four semi-professional teams –Barnton,Northwich Victoria,Witton Albion and1874 Northwich – all of whom play in regional leagues.Winsford is also represented in the non-league pyramid byWinsford United, andEllesmere Port byVauxhall Motors FC – the former works team of theVauxhall Ellesmere Port assembly plant.
Below level ten of the English pyramid are county-wide amateur leagues, with two covering the geographic area of the borough – theCheshire Association Football League andWest Cheshire Association Football League. Although several clubs are members of the former, many more compete in the latter. Below that is the Chester & Wirral Football League, and also the Mid-Cheshire district leagues who cater for the areas of knutsford, Northwich, Middlewich and Winsford where teams representing neighbourhoods/villages and/or pubs/social clubs ('pub teams') compete.
The largestfootball stadium in Cheshire West and Chester is theDeva Stadium, home to Chester FC, although the ground famously straddles theEngland-Wales border.
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Whilst the boroughper se does not have any twinning agreements, several of its settlements have agreements predating its creation in 2009, listed below:
| Settlement(s) | Twin town(s) |
|---|---|
| Aubignan, France | |
| Chester |
|
| Ellesmere Port | Reutlingen, Germany |
| Malpas | Questembert, France |
| Northwich | |
| Tarporley | Bohars, France |
| Upton-by-Chester | Arradon, France |
| Winsford | Deuil-la-Barre, France |
Neighbouring ceremonial/preserved counties and principal areas | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Geographic | |
| Other | |
