Halton is a local government district in North West England, with borough status and administered by a unitary authority. It was created in 1974 as a district of Cheshire, and became a unitary authority area on 1 April 1998. It consists of the towns of Widnes and Runcorn and the civil parishes of Hale, Daresbury, Moore and Preston Brook.^[1]

Halton dates back to the 12th century (and beyond) when land on both sides of the river belonged to the Barony of Halton. The area borders Merseyside, Warrington and the shire county of Cheshire. The borough straddles the River Mersey — the area to the north (including Widnes) is historically part of Lancashire, that to the south, Cheshire.

The district was originally formed on April 1, 1974, from Runcorn urban district and part of Runcorn Rural District from Cheshire, and the borough Widnes and the parish of Hale from the Whiston Rural District in Lancashire. The unitary authority associates with the five Merseyside councils to form the "Greater Merseyside" group and is considered part of the "Liverpool city-region".^[2]

Local sites of interest

The borough is home to a large number of historic sites:

All Saints' Church, Daresbury ^[3] is a church well-known as the inspiration for Alice In Wonderland. Lewis Carroll was born in the village, and his father was rector there. The church contains a carving of a grinning cat, a play on the wildcat in the arms of a local family empowered in the Middle Ages to kill poachers by hanging or garrotting (giving them a "permanent grin").

Economy

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Halton and Warrington at current basic prices published (pp.240-253) by Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling.

includes hunting and forestry

includes energy and construction

includes financial intermediation services indirectly measured

Components may not sum to totals due to rounding

Demographics

The population of Halton in 2004 was 118,915 and it is the most densely populated district in Cheshire at 15.01 persons per hectare (3,890.2/sq mi).^[4] The change in population during the 20th century is shown in the following table.

In 2003 Halton had the largest proportion of the population in Cheshire in the age groups under 5, 5 to 15 and 16 to pension age and, at 16.1% the lowest proportion of people at pension age or older. At 1.2% the proportion of non-white ethnic groups in 2001 equalled the lowest in all local authorities in Cheshire. At 11.5 per 1,000 population, the live birth rate in Halton and Warrington, is the highest in the county. At 121 the standardised mortality ratio and at 21.5% the percentage of persons with limiting long-term illness are considerably the highest in Cheshire.^[6]

There has been an increase in the number of households from 47,214 in 1991 to 52,501 in 2006. The average household size has reduced from 2.70 in 1991 to 2.44 in 2001. 89.8% of houses had central heating in 2001 compared with 75.8% in 2001. The type of housing has also changed with an increase from 15.5% to 19.2% in detached houses from 1991 to 2001, an increase over the same years in semi-detached houses from 30.0% to 33.0% and a corresponding decrease in terraced houses from 44.0% to 37.5%.^[7] The percentage of dwellings in council tax bands A-B is, at 69% the highest in any Cheshire local authority while the percentages in bands E-F (8%) and G-H (1%) are the lowest.^[6]

There has been a shift in employment from manufacturing to service industries. In 1991 34% worked in the manufacturing sector and 61% were in the service sector. By 2004 17% were in manufacturing jobs and 78% were in service jobs.^[7]

Education

Performance table

The following table shows the percentage of pupils gaining five GCSE A*–C level grades, including and excluding English and Maths in 2007.^[8]

Council political composition

Twin towns

• Marzahn-Hellersdorf, Germany
• Leiria, Portugal
• Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic
• Tongling City, China

Notes

See also

• Listed buildings in Daresbury, Cheshire
• Listed buildings in Moore, Cheshire
• Listed buildings in Preston Brook, Cheshire
• Listed buildings in Runcorn, Cheshire
• Listed buildings in Widnes, Cheshire

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