The Liverpool Built-up Area (previously Liverpool Urban Area in 2001 and prior) is a term used by the

Office for National Statistics The Office for National Statistics (ONS; ) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament. Overview The ONS is responsible fo ...

(ONS) to denote the

urban area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

around

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, to the east of the

River Mersey The River Mersey () is a major river in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it h ...

. The contiguous built-up area extends beyond the area administered by

Liverpool City Council Liverpool City Council is the Local government in England, local authority for the City status in the United Kingdom, city of Liverpool in Merseyside, England. Liverpool has had a local authority since 1207, which has been reformed on numerous ...

into adjoining local authority areas, particularly parts of Sefton and Knowsley. As defined by ONS, the area extends as far east as St Helens, Haydock, and Ashton-in-Makerfield in

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

. The Liverpool Urban Area is not the same area as

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial and metropolitan county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Greater Manchester to the east, Cheshire to the south, the Wales, Welsh county of Flintshire across ...

(or the

Liverpool City Region The Liverpool City Region is a combined authority area in North West England. It has six council areas: the five metropolitan boroughs of Merseyside (Liverpool, Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Knowsley, Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, St H ...

sometimes informally referred to as Greater Merseyside), which includes areas of Wirral on the west bank of the Mersey and

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

. The western extent of the Greater Manchester conurbation is narrowly avoided as that extends as far as

Golborne Golborne (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England. It lies south-south-east of Wigan, north-east of Warrington and to the west of the city of Manchester. Along with the neighbouring village ...

and

Newton-le-Willows Newton-le-Willows, often shortened informally to Newton, is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2021, 2021 census was 24,642. Newton-le-Willows is on the ea ...

, with small gaps separating those towns from Ashton-In-Makerfield and Haydock.

Settlements

The Liverpool Urban Area defined by ONS covers Liverpool and its contiguous built-up areas, with a population of 864,122 a considerable increase from the 2001 census due to the rapid growth in the population of Liverpool during this period. The population of the area was 816,216 in the 2001 census,. The urban area facing Liverpool on the

Wirral Peninsula The Wirral Peninsula (), known locally as the Wirral, is a peninsula in North West England. The roughly rectangular peninsula is about long and wide, and is bounded by the Dee Estuary to the west, the Mersey Estuary to the east, and Liverpo ...

is a separate division known as the Birkenhead Urban Area. The ONS definition is based purely on physical criteria with a focus on the presence or absence of significant gaps between built-up areas. It therefore extends as far as Ashton-in-Makerfield, but excludes some areas much closer to Liverpool which are separated from it by open spaces, notably

Kirkby Kirkby ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. The town, Historic counties of England, historically in Lancashire, has a size of is north of Huyton and north-east of Liverpool. The population in 2016 wa ...

with a narrow gap along the

M57 motorway The M57 motorway, also known as the Liverpool Outer Ring Road, is a motorway in England. Designed as a ring road for Liverpool, it is long between Tarbock Green and Switch lsland, and links various towns east of the city, as well as the M62 m ...

, and Maghull. Subdivisions are not always aligned to present administrative or county borders. For example, Liverpool as designated by the ONS also containing the towns

Huyton Huyton ( ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. Part of the Liverpool Urban Area, Liverpool Built-up Area, it borders the Liverpool suburbs of Dovecot, Merseyside, Dovecot, Knotty Ash and Netherley, Liverpool, ...

, Roby, and Halewood which are all within the neighbouring borough of Knowsley. St Helens only covers the settlement, and not the St Helens

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

which contains

Rainford Rainford is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, Merseyside, England, north of St Helens, Merseyside, St Helens. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census, the population was 7,7 ...

and Haydock. According to the ONS, the subcomponents of the Liverpool Urban Area are: Notes: * Huyton-with-Roby was included as part of the Liverpool subdivision in the 2011 census. *

and Ashton-in-Makerfield were not part of the Liverpool Urban Area prior to 2011.

Greater Liverpool

Greater Liverpool is an informal term used by the Rent Service as one of its Broad Rental Market Areas (BRMA). This area includes such districts outside the

boundaries as Crosby, Maghull, Prescot and St Helens.

Merseytravel Merseytravel is a public transport body and the passenger transport executive of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority responsible for delivering Public transport and other transport functions in the Liverpool City Region. It was origin ...

include a similar Greater Liverpool area for its Public Transport Map and Guide as seen on its Liverpool area map.Liverpool Area Public Transport Map and Guide
/ref>

References

{{coord, 53.409, -2.934, display=title Geography of Merseyside Urban areas of England