DRAFT SPATIAL PORTRAIT INTRODUCTION Place Setting Wirral is a large metropolitan area The Spatial Portrait provides the covering the northern 60 square miles council with an up to date of the peninsula between the Dee and demographic and environmental Mersey Estuaries (Figure 1). Wirral is spatial analysis of the Borough. It is well known for the high quality of its intended to provide a more detailed countryside and coast and transport description of the historic, social and links to Liverpool, Chester and North economic picture of the Borough to Wales. accompany the evidence base for the Local Plan. The Spatial Portrait reviews The Borough is formed around two the existing data available and maps sandstone ridges stretching from the accessibility to key services and Wallasey through Bidston and facilities across the eight Settlement Storeton in the east and from West Areas that make up the Borough. Kirby to Heswall in the west. The remaining land is boulder clay, drained by the rivers Birket and Fender in the Figure 1 north and by the Arrowe and Dibbin Brooks, further inland and to the west. The majority of the foreshores around the coastline are of national and/or international importance for nature conservation and the Borough's coastal resorts and recreation facilities provide a regular destination for visitors from across Merseyside and beyond. The deep narrow mouth of the Mersey has the second highest tidal range in the UK and the Dee Estuary is one of the top five sites in the UK for wintering and passage wildfowl. The Borough is an area of strong contrasts. The predominantly built-up eastern area of the Borough, opposite Liverpool, forms part of the core of © Crown copyright. All rights reserved. Licence number 100019803. Published 2019 the Merseyside conurbation. Almost two thirds of the Borough's population live within the urban area to the east of the M53 Motorway, between the 1 DRAFT SPATIAL PORTRAIT coastal resort of New Brighton in the Historic Context north to the entrance of the The Borough shows evidence of Manchester Ship Canal in the south. settlement since the middle stone Birkenhead, located at the heart of age. The Borough's oldest buildings, east Wirral, is the largest town within such as Birkenhead Priory and the area, historically built around the Storeton Hall, date from 1150 and maritime trades associated with the 1360, respectively. The majority of Mersey docklands. built heritage, however, dates from the Victorian and Edwardian periods The west of the Borough is associated with the expansion of characterised by a series of largely Liverpool, the Mersey dock estates dormitory residential settlements and the railway system. The current surrounded by open countryside, of settlement pattern is, however, also which over 60 percent is still used for largely the result of significant post war farming. suburban growth in areas such as Leasowe, Moreton, Greasby, Pensby Figure 2 shows the spatial distribution Woodchurch and Eastham. of the main settlements and retail centres, key transport routes and the present boundaries to the Greenbelt, Before the industrial revolution, Wirral designated in the Unitary contained only a collection of small Development Plan for Wirral in farmsteads and fishing villages. February 2000. During the 19th Century Birkenhead grew to a sizeable town, closely Figure 2 related to the growth of Liverpool. The introduction of steam powered boats across the Mersey made Birkenhead and the surrounding countryside attractive to wealthy commuters and high quality residential developments initially spread out around Birkenhead, close to the ferry terminals or up the hills of Clifton Park, Oxton Hill and Mountwood, where the views were more expansive and the air cleaner. The establishment of William Laird's boiler works and shipyard on Wallasey Pool in the 1820s and their later transfer by John Laird to the Mersey waterfront in the mid-1850s, the 2 DRAFT SPATIAL PORTRAIT construction of the inland dock estate Budget; the Merseyside Objective One at Birkenhead, the establishment of Programme; and the Housing Market Price's Candle Works at Bromborough Renewal Initiative, which ended in in 1854 and the Levers Soap Works at March 2013. Bebington in 1888, opened up Wirral's eastern coast for industrialisation, The Borough continues to have a with a reliance on chemicals and port- legacy of vacant and underused related heavy engineering. Wirral's previously developed land, the first railway, in 1840, encouraged majority of which is focused within the further growth and the opening of the older urban areas in east Wirral, Mersey Railway Tunnel in 1886 around Birkenhead and the docks and enabled residential development to the industrial areas of Bromborough. move away from the ferry terminals. Many of Wirral's most distinctive and attractive residential areas originate from this period. Most of Wirral's oldest settlements, including the early workers village at Bromborough Pool, the early commuter settlements and merchant estates at Oxton, Rock Park, and the later residential settlements at Caldy, Heswall, Hoylake and Mountwood, have been designated as Conservation Areas. Hamilton Square, Birkenhead Park and Port Sunlight are of national significance. The Liverpool waterfront, on the opposite bank of the Mersey, is a World Heritage Site. Following a peak in growth during the 1960s, there has been a slow decline in jobs and population. Over the last 30 years the older eastern parts of the Borough have been the subject of a series of national regeneration initiatives including the Inner Area Programme; the Merseyside Development Corporation; City Challenge; Single Regeneration 3 DRAFT SPATIAL PORTRAIT WIRRAL AREA PROFILE Whole Borough* Administrative Area 25,110 hectares (97 square miles) Borough Land Area 15,560 hectares (60 square miles) Coastline 41km (26 miles) Urban Area 8,507 hectares (55% of total land) Green Belt 7,053 hectares (45% of land area) Designated Employment Areas 1120 hectares (7% of total land area) Residential Properties 150,552 (Mid- 2017) Social Housing Properties 23,152, 15 % of total housing stock (April 2019) Population 322, 796 (ONS, 2018) Economically Active Population 155,300 (79.2%) (ONS, 2018) Jobs Density 124,000 (0.64) (ONS, 2017) Median Gross Annual work placed income £27,685 (ONS, 2018) Average Residential Property Price £160,102 (2019, Land Registry) Population within lowest 20% of IMD 2019 115,522 (35.8% of Wirral) Recreational Open Space 2,640 hectares (8.6 hectares per 1000) Publicly Accessible Open Space 1,384 hectares (4.5 hectares per 1000) Sites of Special Scientific Interest 7,216 hectares (12 Sites) (including inter-tidal areas) Conservation Areas 25 Areas (714 hectares) Listed Buildings 710 List Entries (1771 buildings or structures) Scheduled Ancient Monuments 9 Monuments (5.7 hectares) Historic Parks and Gardens 4 sites (114 hectares) * All data subject to update 4 DRAFT SPATIAL PORTRAIT Social & Economic Profile There are 323,200 people living in Wirral 48.4% Male; 51.6% Female 23% of people have - Working Age no qualifications in Population 193,665 Wirral Local Authority (60.0%) Education & compared with 22% Population - Aged 65+ 68,820 skills across England (21.3%) - Aged 0-15 60,310 (18.7%) - 95% White British (ONS 2018) 20% of children are 36% people aged 16- living in poverty in 74 are in full-time Wirral Local employment in Wirral Vulnerable Authority compared Local Authority groups with 17% across Economy compared with 39% England across England 23% of people have 28% of households a limiting long-term have no car in Wirral illness in Wirral Local Local Authority Authority compared Health & Access & compared with 26% with 18% across wellbeing transport across England England The % of people The overall crime 'satisfied with their rate is lower than the neighbourhood' Communities Crime & average across (82.2%) is higher than & safety England the average across environment England (79.3%) 5 DRAFT SPATIAL PORTRAIT Economic Context Chester, providing just over 7 percent Economic output in Wirral, measured of the Chester workforce; and 10 by GVA per head, continues to lag percent to Ellesmere Port, providing behind national, regional and sub- just over 14 percent of the workforce regional averages. Wirral is currently in in the former borough of Ellesmere the bottom 10 GVA per head in the UK Port and Neston. A further 7 percent (ONS, December 2018). Job densities travel to North Wales. and VAT registrations are also well below national and regional averages Work journey patterns also and average wages are lower than the increasingly involve longer distances, surrounding areas. to areas such as Warrington and Manchester, with implications for According to the 2011 Census, 61.1% traffic, emissions and climate change. of residents in employment work The largest flow is from western and within the borough, 6.9% had no fixed southern fringes of the Borough. place of work and the remainder commute out of the borough to work. Social Context There are strong economic linkages The Borough’s social context is closely with other areas, notably Liverpool. related to the economic fortunes of the wider subregion. The ONS identifies that across the borough, residents’ incomes are lower While the proportion of people of than national averages. Lower quartile working age, particularly of younger earnings in 2018 were £20,273, adults, is at its highest in the central compared with £21,273 across and inner areas of east Wirral, where England. Median incomes were housing is cheaper and jobs and £27,685 compared with £29,869 services are more easily accessible, across England. the proportion of older age groups is generally larger in the west. The The gap in performance has been proportion of children is also higher in attributed to low productivity, low east Wirral. rates of enterprise and a lack in the quantity and quality of available Although parts in the Borough are business space.