Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale

Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale
—  Metropolitan borough  —
Municipal Offices, Rochdale
Coat of Arms of the Borough Council
Rochdale shown within England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	North West England
Ceremonial county	Greater Manchester
Admin HQ	Rochdale (Town Hall)
Founded	1 April 1974
Borough status
Government
- Type	Metropolitan borough
- Governing body	Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council
- Mayor	Cllr. Zulfiqar Ali
- MPs:	Simon Danczuk (L) Jim Dobbin (LC)
Population (2010 est.)
- Total	205,200 (Ranked 78th)
- Ethnicity (United Kingdom Estimate 2006) [1]	86.5% White 11.4% S.Asian or mixed 1.4% Black or mixed 0.8% Chinese or other
Time zone	Greenwich Mean Time (UTC+0)
Postcodes	OL & M
Area code(s)	0161 / 01706
ISO 3166-2	GB-RCH
ONS code	00BQ
OS grid reference	SD897133
NUTS 3	UKD32
Website	www.rochdale.gov.uk

The Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England. It is named after its largest town, Rochdale, but spans a far larger area which includes the towns of Middleton, Heywood, Littleborough and Milnrow, and the village of Wardle.

The borough was formed in 1974 as part of the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972 and is an amalgamation of six former local government districts. It was originally proposed that the borough include the neighbouring town of Bury and disclude Middleton; Bury however went on to form the administrative centre for the adjacent Metropolitan Borough of Bury.

The borough, which lies directly north-northeast of the City of Manchester, has a population of 206,500, and although most parts are highly industrialised and densely populated, contiguous with one of the United Kingdom's major cities, some of the borough consists of rural open space, for the most part due the territory in the eastern half stretching across Blackstone Edge and the Pennine hills.

History

The Municipal Offices at central Rochdale house most of the Metropolitan Borough Council.

The borough, which is the largest such borough of Greater Manchester, was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, by a merger of the former county borough of Rochdale and, from the administrative county of Lancashire, the municipal boroughs of Heywood and Middleton, along with the urban districts of Littleborough, Milnrow and Wardle.

Prior to its creation, it was suggested that the metropolitan borough be named Chadwick (with reference to Sir Edwin Chadwick), but this was rejected in favour of Rochdale.^[2]

Neighbouring districts

The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham lies to the south-east, and the Metropolitan Borough of Bury lies to the west. The City of Manchester is to the south.

Unparished areas

Showing former status (prior to 1974)

1. Heywood (municipal borough)
2. Littleborough (urban district)
3. Middleton (municipal borough)
4. Milnrow (urban district)
5. Rochdale (county borough)
6. Wardle (urban district)

Ethnic groups^[3]

• White British - 176,800
• White Irish - 2,994
• White Other - 2,097
• Asian or Asian British: Pakistani - 15,829
• Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi - 3,594
• Asian or Asian British: Other Asian - 956
• Black British - 1,571
• Chinese or Other - 1,200
• Mixed White and Asian - 900
• Mixed White and Black - 1,100
• Mixed Other - 400

Population change

The table below details the population change since 1801, including the percentage change since the last available census data. Although the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale has only existed 1974, figures have been generated by combining data from the towns, villages, and civil parishes that would later be constituent parts of the borough.

Population growth in Rochdale since 1801
Year	1801	1811	1821	1831	1841	1851	1861	1871	1881	1891	1901	1911	1921	1931	1941	1951	1961	1971	1981	1991	2001
Population	28,689	36,815	46,440	57,377	69,956	80,317	102,247	124,177	146,107	151,490	165,617	181,061	181,227	181,395	177,574	173,833	188,316	204,071	206,351	204,802	205,233
% change	–	+28.3	+26.1	+23.6	+21.9	+14.8	+27.3	+21.4	+17.7	+3.7	+9.3	+9.3	+0.1	+0.1	−2.1	−2.1	+8.3	+8.4	+1.1	−0.8	+0.2
Source: Vision of Britain[4]

Twin towns

The Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale has formal twinning arrangements with six places. Three were originally twinned with a place within the Metropolitan Borough boundaries prior to its creation in 1974.^[5]

	Country		Place		County / District / Region / State	Originally twinned with	Date
	France		Tourcoing		Nord-Pas de Calais	County Borough of Rochdale	1956
	Germany		Peine		Niedersachsen	Municipal Borough of Heywood	1967
	Germany		Bielefeld		Nordrhein-Westfalen	County Borough of Rochdale	1953
	Pakistan		Sahiwal		Punjab	Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale	1988
	Ukraine		Lviv		Lviv	Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale	1992
	Bangladesh		Sylhet		Sylhet Division	Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale	2009

See also

Greater Manchester portal

• List of people from Rochdale

References

Notes

1. ^ Lead View Table
2. ^ Clark 1973, p. 101.
3. ^ Lead View Table
4. ^ "Rochdale District: total population". Vision of Britain. http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/data_cube_table_page.jsp?data_theme=T_POP&data_cube=N_TPop&u_id=10076780&c_id=10001043&add=N.  Retrieved on 20 December 2008.
5. ^ "Town twinning". rochdale.gov.uk. http://www.rochdale.gov.uk/leisure_and_culture/tourism_and_travel/town_twinning.aspx. Retrieved 2011-08-18. 

Bibliography

• Clark, David M. (1973). Greater Manchester Votes: A Guide to the New Metropolitan Authorities. Redrose 

External links

• www.rochdale.gov.uk, Rochdale Council.
• www.investinrochdale.co.uk/, Rochdale Development Agency - information on the borough, its economy and regeneration.
• www.pennineland.co.uk Development Arm of Rochdale Development Agency (RDA) Uniting Private & Public Sector to support the Regeneration of Rochdale Borough.
• www.statsandmaps.co.uk Stats and Maps is the Rochdale Borough statistics and maps website. It is a shared evidence based that provides quick and easy on-line access to data, information, and intelligence about the borough of Rochdale, and aims to meet the needs of the local community, LSP partners, and the general public.

Coordinates: 53°37′00″N 2°09′24″W / 53.6166667°N 2.15667°W / 53.6166667; -2.15667