Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley

For the village within this borough, see Knowsley, Merseyside.

The Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley is a metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England. It comprises the towns of Kirkby, Prescot, Huyton, Whiston, Halewood and Cronton; Kirkby, Huyton, and Prescot being the major commercial centres. It takes its name from the village of Knowsley.

The borough was formed on 1 April 1974 by the merger of Huyton-with-Roby Urban District, Kirkby Urban District and Prescot Urban District, along with most of Whiston Rural District and a small part of West Lancashire Rural District, all from the administrative county of Lancashire.

It is famed for Knowsley Hall and has its own radio station, KCR. It includes Knowsley Safari Park.

The "ow" in the name can be pronounced as in "how" or as in "hoe", but Knowsley Village and the surrounding area usually use the latter.

The district contained the Cronton and Sutton Manor collieries, which closed in 1984 and 1991 respectively.

Steven Gerrard, a boyhood Liverpool fan, despite being pictured in an Everton FC kit as a child, was given the Freedom of the borough of Knowsley in December 2006 and is now the captain of Liverpool FC. One of his privileges after being given the Freedom is that he is allowed to drive his sheep down the main street of his home town.

Local government

As of 2008 the metropolitan borough of knowsely is governed by the Labour party the largest party represented on the council. The Liberal democrats the second largest party are currently in opposition.

Year	Labour	Liberal Democrats
2008	47	16

Parliamentary Constituencies

• Knowsley North and Sefton East

  formerly Knowsley North

• Knowsley South

Twin towns

Knowsley is twinned with

• Moers, Germany

See also

• Knowsley United F.C.

External links

• Knowsley Council
• Knowsley Online Local news,

views, etc.