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, 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.

1 History
2 Neighbouring districts
3 Unparished areas
4 Ethnic Group^[3]
5 Twin Towns
6 See also
7 References
- 7.1 Notes
- 7.2 Bibliography
8 External links

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 April 1, 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 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)

Heywood (municipal borough)
Littleborough (urban district)
Middleton (municipal borough)
Milnrow (urban district)
Rochdale (county borough)
Wardle (urban district)

Ethnic Group^[3]

White British - 174,200
White Irish - 2,700
White Other - 2,500
South Asian - 22,200
Black British - 1,500
Chinese or Other - 1,200
Mixed White and Asian - 900
Mixed White and Black - 1,100
Mixed Other - 400

Twin Towns

The Borough of Rochdale has formal twinning arrangements with four places:^[4] Two were originally twinned with a place within the Metropolitan Borough boundaries prior to its creation in 1974. In addition, Rochdale supports friendship links with Avellino (Italy), Kabernet (Kenya) and Riga (Latvia).

Country	Place	County / District / Region / State	Originally twinned with	Date
Germany	Bielefeld	North Rhine-Westphalia	County Borough of Rochdale	1953
France	Tourcoing	Nord-Pas de Calais	County Borough of Rochdale	1956
Germany	Peine	Lower Saxony	Municipal Borough of Heywood	1967
Pakistan	Sahiwal	Punjab	Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale	1988
Ukraine	Lviv	Lviv Oblast	Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale	1992

References

Notes

^ Lead View Table
^ Clark 1973, p. 101.
^ Lead View Table
^ "Town twinning". rochdale.gov.uk. Retrieved on 2008-03-01.

Bibliography

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

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Rochdale

www.rochdale.gov.uk, Rochdale Council.
www.investinrochdale.co.uk/, Rochdale Development Agency - information on the borough, its economy and regeneration.

v • d • e Ceremonial county of Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester Portal

Metropolitan districts	City of Manchester • City of Salford • Metropolitan Borough of Bolton • Metropolitan Borough of Bury • Metropolitan Borough of Oldham • Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale • Metropolitan Borough of Stockport • Metropolitan Borough of Tameside • Metropolitan Borough of Trafford • Metropolitan Borough of Wigan

Cities and towns	Altrincham • Ashton-in-Makerfield • Ashton-under-Lyne • Atherton • Audenshaw • Blackrod • Bolton • Bury • Cadishead • Chadderton • Cheadle • Clifton • Denton • Droylsden • Dukinfield • Eccles • Failsworth • Farnworth • Golborne • Heywood • Hindley • Horwich • Hyde • Irlam • Kearsley • Leigh • Littleborough • Manchester • Middleton • Milnrow • Mossley • Oldham • Partington • Pendlebury • Prestwich • Radcliffe • Ramsbottom • Rochdale • Royton • Sale • Salford • Shaw and Crompton • Stalybridge • Stockport • Stretford • Swinton • Tyldesley • Urmston • Walkden • Westhoughton • Whitefield • Wigan • Worsley See also: List of civil parishes in Greater Manchester

Rivers	Beal • Bollin • Croal • Dean Brook • Douglas • Etherow • Goyt • Irk • Irwell • Medlock • Mersey • Roch • Spodden • Tame • Tonge

Topics	Castles • Churches • Demography • Geography • Grade I listed buildings • Grade II* listed buildings • Parliamentary constituencies • People • Places • Schools • SSSIs