Metropolitan Borough of Bolton

For the main settlement, see Bolton.

The Metropolitan Borough of Bolton (/ˈboʊltən/ ^ⓘ BOHL-tən) is a metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England, named after its largest town, Bolton, but covering a larger area which includes Blackrod, Farnworth, Horwich, Kearsley, Westhoughton, and part of the West Pennine Moors. It had a population of 298,903 in 2022, making it the third-most populous district in Greater Manchester.^[3]

Borough of Bolton
Metropolitan borough
Bolton Town Hall, the seat of Bolton Council
Coat of arms
Motto(s):  Latin: Supera Moras, lit. 'overcome delays'
Bolton shown within Greater Manchester
Coordinates: 53°34′39″N 2°25′48″W
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Country	England
Region	North West
Ceremonial county and city region	Greater Manchester
Borough status	1253
Incorporated	1 April 1974
Named after	Bolton
Administrative HQ	Bolton Town Hall
Government [1]
• Type	Metropolitan borough
• Body	Bolton Council
• Executive	Leader and cabinet
• Control	No overall control
• Leader	Nick Peel (L)
• Mayor of Bolton	Mohammed Ayub
• MPs	3 MPs Phil Brickell (L) Kirith Entwistle (L) Yasmin Qureshi (L)
Area [2]
• Total	50 sq mi (140 km2)
• Rank	170th
Population  (2022)[3]
• Total	298,903
• Rank	48th
• Density	5,540/sq mi (2,138/km2)
Ethnicity (2021) [4]
• Ethnic groups	List 71.9% White 20.1% Asian 3.8% Black 2.2% Mixed 1.9% other
Religion (2021) [4]
• Religion	List 47.0% Christianity 25.8% no religion 19.9% Islam 2.0% Hinduism 0.2% Buddhism 0.1% Sikhism 0.1% Judaism 0.3% other 4.6% not stated
Time zone	UTC+0 (GMT)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+1 (BST)
Postcode area	BL1–7 M26 M46
Dialling code	01204 0161 01942
ISO 3166 code	GB-BOL
GSS code	E08000001
Website	bolton.gov.uk

The borough is in the historic county of Lancashire, and was created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the area of seven former local government districts and part of an eighth; being seven urban districts from the administrative county of Lancashire, and the County Borough of Bolton. The metropolitan districts of Bury, Salford and Wigan lie to the east, south and west respectively; and the unitary authority of Blackburn with Darwen and the non-metropolitan district of Chorley in Lancashire to the north and north-west.

History

Bolton Metropolitan Borough was formed on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the combined areas of seven former local government districts and part of an eighth, which were all abolished at the same time:^[5]

• Blackrod Urban District
• Bolton County Borough
• Farnworth Municipal Borough
• Horwich Urban District
• Kearsley Urban District
• Little Lever Urban District
• Turton Urban District (southern part; remainder became parish of North Turton in Blackburn district.)
• Westhoughton Urban District

As a county borough, the old borough of Bolton had been administratively independent from any county council, but was deemed part of Lancashire for ceremonial purposes.^[6] The other seven districts had all been part of the administrative county of Lancashire prior to 1974, with Lancashire County Council serving as their upper tier authority. When the metropolitan borough of Bolton was created in 1974 it was transferred to the new metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, with Greater Manchester Council providing county-level services. The Greater Manchester Council was abolished in 1986, after which Bolton became a unitary authority, providing all local government services.

Bolton Council unsuccessfully petitioned Elizabeth II for the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton to be granted city status in 1992 (the Queen's 40th year as monarch), in 2000 (for the Millennium celebrations), in 2002 (Queen's Golden Jubilee), and 2012 (Queen's Diamond Jubilee).^[7]

Parishes

Horwich, Westhoughton and Blackrod are now constituted as civil parishes, each having a town council: Westhoughton Town Council, Horwich Town Council and Blackrod Town Council. The rest of the metropolitan borough, covering the town of Bolton itself, Farnworth, Kearsley, Little Lever, and South Turton, have remained unparished areas since 1974.

Demographics

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 Bolton has only existed since 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 Bolton since 1801

Year Population ±% 1801 37,417 —     1811 48,996 +30.9% 1821 60,319 +23.1% 1831 75,787 +25.6% 1841 89,507 +18.1% 1851 105,957 +18.4% 1861 132,437 +25.0%	Year Population ±% 1871 158,917 +20.0% 1881 185,397 +16.7% 1891 216,792 +16.9% 1901 240,014 +10.7% 1911 265,733 +10.7% 1921 263,413 −0.9% 1931 261,119 −0.9%	Year Population ±% 1941 256,207 −1.9% 1951 251,388 −1.9% 1961 255,627 +1.7% 1971 259,993 +1.7% 1981 260,229 +0.1% 1991 262,880 +1.0% 2001 261,035 −0.7%
Pre-1974 statistics were gathered from local government areas that now comprise the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton Source: Vision of Britain[8]

Ethnicity

According to the 2021 census, of the 295,963 people living in Bolton Metropolitan Borough, the following list shows the population of Bolton by ethnicity:^[4]

Ethnic Group	Year
	2001 census[9]		2011 census[10]		2021 census[11]
	Number	%	Number	%	Number	%
White: Total	232,366	89%	226,645	81.9%	212,941	72%
White: British	227,635	87.2%	219,794	79.4%	203,486	68.8%
White: Irish	2,253		1,694		1,430	0.5%
White: Roma			214		519	0.2%
White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller					373	0.1%
White: Other	2,478		4,943		7,133	2.4%
Asian or Asian British: Total	24,141	9.2%	38,749	14%	59,596	20.1%
Asian or Asian British: Indian	15,884		21,665		26,238	8.9%
Asian or Asian British: Pakistani	6,487		12,026		27,897	9.4%
Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi	268		614		985	0.3%
Asian or Asian British: Chinese	497		1,423		1,123	0.4%
Asian or Asian British: Other Asian	1,005		3,021		3,353	1.1%
Black or Black British: Total	1,607		4,652		11,238	3.8%
Black or Black British: African	689		3,451		9,299	3.1%
Black or Black British: Caribbean	823		608		603	0.2%
Other Black	95		593		1,336	0.5%
Mixed or British Mixed: Total	2,542		4,892		6,643	2.2%
Mixed: White and Black Caribbean	859		1,576		1,737	0.6%
Mixed: White and Black African	296		678		1,242	0.4%
Mixed: White and Asian	970		1,826		2,338	0.8%
Mixed: Other Mixed	417		812		1,326	0.4%
Other: Total	381		1,848		5,542	1.9%
Other: Arab			727		1,812	0.6%
Other: Any other ethnic group			1,121		3,730	1.3%
Non-White: Total	28,671	11%	50,141	18.1%	83,019	28%
Total	261,037	100%	276,786	100%	295,960	100%

Religion

The following table shows the religious identity of people residing in Bolton at the 2021 census.

Religion	2021[4]
	Number	%
Christian	139,144	47.0
Muslim	58,997	19.9
Jewish	159	0.1
Hindu	5,887	2.0
Sikh	219	0.1
Buddhism	576	0.2
Other religion	979	0.3
No religion	76,244	25.8
Religion not stated	13,758	4.6
Total	295,963	100.0

Transport

The Bolton metropolitan area is served by the following railway stations:

• Bolton Trinity Street
• Bromley Cross
• Hall i' th' Wood
• Blackrod
• Horwich Parkway (for the University of Bolton Stadium – Bolton Wanderers)
• Lostock
• Westhoughton
• Moses Gate
• Farnworth
• Kearsley
• Daisy Hill

Media

In terms of television, the area is served by BBC North West and ITV Granada with television signals received from the Winter Hill TV transmitter near Belmont.^[12]

Radio stations for the area include BBC Radio Manchester, Heart North West, Smooth North West, Capital Manchester and Lancashire, Greatest Hits Radio Bolton & Bury, and community radio station 96.5 Bolton FM

Local newspapers are The Bolton News, Horwich Advertiser (serving Horwich),^[13] and Manchester Evening News

Education

See also: List of schools in Bolton

In 2007, Bolton was ranked 69th out of the 149 Local Education Authorities – and sixth out of ten in Greater Manchester – for its National Curriculum assessment performance.^[14] Measured on the percentage of pupils attaining at least 5 A*–C grades at GCSE including maths and English, the Bolton LEA was 111th out of 149: 40.1% of pupils achieved this objective, against a national average of 46.7%.^[15] Unauthorised absence from Bolton's secondary schools in the 2006/2007 academic year was 1.4%, in line with the national average, and authorised absence was 6.0% against the national average of 6.4%.^[16] At GCSE level, Bolton School (Girls' Division) was the most successful of Bolton's 21 secondary schools, with 99% of pupils achieving at least 5 A*–C grades at including maths and English.^[17]

The University of Bolton is one of Greater Manchester's four universities. In 2008, The Times Good University Guide ranked it 111th of 113 institutions in Britain.^[18] There are 4,440 students (83% undergraduate, 17% postgraduate); 2.6% come from outside Britain. In 2007 there were 8.8 applications for every place, and student satisfaction was recorded as 74.4%. It is one of Britain's newest universities, having been given this status in 2005.^[19]

GCSE Examination Performance 2009

Metropolitan Borough of Bolton GCSE performances

School	A*-C Pass Rate	Point Score
Bolton Muslim Girls' School	100%	533.1
Bolton School (Girls' Division)	98%	546.7
Canon Slade C of E School	93%	508.5
Lord's Independent School	93%	401.5
St Joseph's RC High School	85%	426.6
Madrasatul Imam Muhammed Zakariya	79%	347.3
Al Jamiah Al Islamiyyah at Mount St Joseph's Convent	79%	327.9
Ladybridge High School	78%	437.6
Turton School	76%	396.1
Sharples School	74%	414.1
Westhoughton High School	67%	424.0
Rivington and Blackrod High School	69%	456.7
Essa Academy	67%	383.7
Smithills School	66%	400.8
Little Lever School	61%	442.7
Mount St Joseph School	61%	422.7
Harper Green School	59%	384.7
George Tomlinson School	55%	307.4
Bolton School (Boys' Division)	52%	240.4
Average for Metropolitan Borough of Bolton	71.4%	422.5
Average for England	70.0%	413.5

• Schools highlighted in yellow are above the LEA average; those highlighted in orange are below the average.
• Another secondary school, Bolton Muslim Girls' School, has opened since January 2007; no results are available.
• Source: Department for Children, Schools and Families^{[permanent dead link]}

Governance

Main article: Bolton Council

For historical political control and leadership, see Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council elections.

The local authority is Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council, which styles itself "Bolton Council". Since 2011 it has been a constituent member of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, providing strategic co-ordination of local government across the ten metropolitan boroughs of Greater Manchester. Since 2017 the combined authority has been led by the directly-elected Mayor of Greater Manchester.

Twin towns

The Metropolitan Borough of Bolton has two twin towns, one in France and another in Germany.^[20]

Place	Country	County / District / Region / State	Originally twinned with	Date
Le Mans	France	Pays de la Loire	County Borough of Bolton	1973
Paderborn	Germany	Nordrhein-Westfalen	Metropolitan Borough of Bolton	1975

Neighbouring districts

The local government districts which surround the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton
North-West: Borough of Chorley	North: Borough of Blackburn with Darwen		North-East and East: Metropolitan Borough of Bury
	Metropolitan Borough of Bolton
South-West: Metropolitan Borough of Wigan		South-East: City of Salford

Freedom of the Borough

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

Individuals

• William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme: 10 November 1902.
• John Pennington Thomasson: 10 November 1902.
• Andrew Carnegie: 29 September 1910.
• Field Marshall Lord Montgomery : 5 November 1949.
• Nat Lofthouse: 2 December 1989.
• Robert Howarth: 16 June 2001.
• Sir Jason Kenny: 16 March 2022.^[21]

Military units

• 253rd Regiment Royal Artillery (TA): 18 April 1964.
• 5th Battalion Loyal Regiment (North Lancashire) (TA): 18 April 1964.
• HMS Dido, RN: 14 April 1973.
• 216 (The Bolton Artillery) Battery 103rd (Lancashire Artillery Volunteers) Regiment Royal Artillery: 18 May 1994.
• 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment: 14 March 2009.

^[22]

See also

• Bolton local elections
• List of Mayors of Bolton
• List of people from Bolton