Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale

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, and the villages of Wardle, Littleborough and Milnrow

Borough of Rochdale
Metropolitan borough
Number One Riverside, Rochdale
Coat of Arms of the Borough Council
Rochdale shown within Greater Manchester and 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
Government
• Type	Metropolitan borough
• Governing body	Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council
• Mayor	Cllr. Ian Duckworth
• MPs:	Tony Lloyd (L) Chris Clarkson (C)
• Council Leader	Cllr. Allen Brett
Area
• Total	61.4 sq mi (159 km^2)
Population  (mid-2019 est.)
• Total	222,412 (Ranked 79th)
• Density	3,521/sq mi (1,359/km^2)
• 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
Demonym(s)	Rochdalian
Time zone	UTC+0 (Greenwich Mean Time)
Postcodes	OL & M
Area code(s)	0161 / 01706
ISO 3166-2	GB-RCH
ONS code	00BQ (ONS) E08000005 (GSS)
OS grid reference	SD897133
NUTS 3	UKD32
Website	www.rochdale.gov.uk

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.

Geography

The borough lies directly north-northeast of the City of Manchester and has a population of 206,500. Although some parts are highly industrialised and densely populated, the borough has the lowest population density in Greater Manchester, with some areas of rural open space including Blackstone Edge and the Pennine hills.

History

The old Municipal Offices, demolished in 2014, which were replaced by Number One Riverside.

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.

To the north-west is the borough and non-metropolitan district of Rossendale in Lancashire and to the north-east is the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire.

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]

Rochdale(2011) - count - %

• All residents 211,699 - 100.0
• White - 172,874 - 81.7
• English/Welsh/Scottish/Northern Irish/British - 166,481 - 78.6
• Irish - 2,131 - 1.0
• Gypsy or Irish Traveller - 186 - 0.1
• Other White - 4,076 - 1.9
• Mixed/multiple ethnic groups - 3,569 - 1.7
• White and Black Caribbean - 1,057 - 0.5
• White and Black African - 601 - 0.3
• White and Asian - 1,348 - 0.6
• Other Mixed - 563 - 0.3
• Asian/Asian British - 31,630 - 14.9
• Indian - 1,105 - 0.5
• Pakistani - 22,265 - 10.5
• Bangladeshi - 4,342 - 2.1
• Chinese - 948 - 0.4
• Other Asian - 2,970 - 1.4
• Black/African/Caribbean/Black British - 2,770 - 1.3
• African - 2,131 - 1.0
• Caribbean - 285 - 0.1
• Other Black - 354 - 0.2
• Other ethnic group - 856 - 0.4
• Arab - 308 - 0.1
• Any other ethnic group - 548 - 0.3

Source: ONS - 2011 Census (KS201EW)[4]

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[5]

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.[6]

	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

Freedom of the Borough

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Borough of Rochdale.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Individuals

• Dame Gracie Fields DBE: 6 May 1937.
• Sir Cyril Smith MStJ Kt MBE DL: November 1992. (This honour was revoked by a unanimous vote of the Rochdale Borough Council on 18 October 2018).[7]
• Jim Callaghan: 3 April 1996.
• Lance Corporal Stephen Shaw MC: 17 April 2013.
• Rt. Hon. Lord Barnett PC: 22 January 2014.
• Julie Goodyear MBE: 5 October 2017.

Military Units

• The Lancashire Fusiliers: 5 June 1947.
• The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers: 4 March 1978.
• HMS Middleton, RN: 20 May 1992.

[8]

See also

• Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council elections
• List of people from Rochdale
• List of schools in Rochdale

References

Notes

1. Lead View Table
2. Clark 1973, p. 101.
3. Lead View Table
4. https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/reports/localarea?compare=E08000005
5. "Rochdale District: total population". Vision of Britain. Retrieved on 20 December 2008.
6. "Town twinning". rochdale.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 2007-10-29. Retrieved 2011-08-18.
7. https://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/123143/cyril-smith-stripped-of-the-freedom-of-borough
8. http://www.rochdale.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/mayors/Pages/Honorary-Aldermen-and-Freemen.aspx

Bibliography

• Clark, David M. (1973). "Greater Manchester Votes: A Guide to the New Metropolitan Authorities". Redrose. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

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.