Southport
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- This article is about the English town of Southport. For other uses, see Southport (disambiguation)
Template:GBmap Southport is a seaside town on the north-west coast of England, to the north of Liverpool and the south of Preston. It is part of the borough of Sefton in the ceremonial county of Merseyside, and it also lies within the boundaries of the traditional county of Lancashire.
Southport has a population of around 100,000 people, with approximately 40% of the population over 55 years old and around 55% defined as social class ABC1.
Southport has many tourist attractions including the longest overland pier in Great Britain. A recent restoration project worth over £7m has helped bring the pier up to date with improved access, lighting and a pier train.
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History
Southport, in its present form, was founded by William Sutton in 1798. However, there have been settlements in the area for much longer than that: the northern part of the town around St Cuthbert's Church (in the part of the parish of North Meols now known as Churchtown), was mentioned in the Domesday book, and some areas of the town have names of Viking origin.
Southport grew quickly in the 19th Century as it gained a reputation for being a more refined seaside resort than its neighbour-up-the-coast Blackpool. Southport is a busy and friendly resort.
Southport's suburbs are built around, and still named after, the old villages of the area. From north to south, the districts are: Crossens, Marshside, Churchtown, Blowick, Birkdale, Ainsdale, and Woodvale; home to RAF Woodvale. The town of Formby is south of Southport, with Liverpool further southward.
Administration
Southport was part of the traditional county of Lancashire, and was adminstered by Lancashire County Council until 1905 when it became a county borough. This lasted until April 1st, 1974, when under local government reforms Southport became part of the metropolitan county of Merseyside. Originally it had been excluded, but Southport Borough Council requested to be amalgamated with Bootle; together, they now form the borough of Sefton, one of the five metropolitan boroughs of Merseyside. As Merseyside has a Lord-Lieutenant, Southport is also part of the ceremonial county of Merseyside.
Public services such as local transport and the emergency services are provided from Merseyside; others are provided from the Sefton borough council on a more local level.
Economy
Image:Pleasureland, Southport.jpg Tourism still plays a large part of the economic make-up of Southport but its reputation of being a nice place to live brings in wealthy families commuting to Liverpool, Preston, Manchester and further afield. Its location, reputation and range of expensive houses also brings in a variety of footballers from local teams.
As a seaside resort, its main attraction are the miles of sandy beach and recently restored seafront, a Victorian pier, Pleasureland amusement park, six golf courses and the wide boulevard, Lord Street, in the town centre. Its shopping, restaurants and bars are worth a visit. Louis Napoleon briefly lived in Southport in 1838 and allegedly his experience of Lord Street became the inspiration for the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
Southport also hosts varied events including an annual air show [2] and flower show, an open air classical music concert concluded with a fireworks display, a jazz festival, and the turning on of the pleasant town centre Christmas lights. During the summer there is an Orangemen's March, which is one of the busiest days of the year. Southport hosts the annual musical fireworks championships, and The Open Championship at the Royal Birkdale Golf Club course. It is also home to the "Southport Weekender" [3], an annual dance event.
Transport
Road
Image:Southport Marine Way Bridge.JPG
Due to its position by the coast, Southport is a linear settlement and as such can only be approached in a limited number of directions by road.
The main roads entering Southport are:
- the A59 (from Preston to the north-east),
- the A570 (from Ormskirk and St Helens to the south-east),
- the A565 (from Bootle and Formby to the south).
There is no direct connection to the motorway from Southport; the nearest connections are:
- from the south - junction 3 of the M58 (on the A570, twelve miles)
- from the north - junction 1 of the M65 (on the A582/A59, nineteen miles)
An east-west bypass for the A570 at Ormskirk is planned [4] to relieve congestion on Southport's main access route to the motorway network.
Several areas within Southport town centre have recently undergone major road redevelopment; the largest scheme was the construction of the Marine Way bridge (opened May 2004), which connects the Lord Street shopping district with the new seafront developments. The 50m high structure is thought to have cost in the region of £5m. [5]
Rail
Present
Southport has a railway station with a frequent service of electric trains to Liverpool and a regular service to Wigan, Bolton, Manchester and Rochdale.
Past
The Liverpool line was originally built by the Liverpool, Crosby and Southport Railway in 1848. It was followed on 9 April 1855 by the Manchester and Southport Railway with a line to Manchester via Wigan.
Formerly, Southport was also served by two further railway lines:
- From 1882 the West Lancashire Railway operated from Southport Derby Road station to Preston Fishergate. This line was shut in 1964, however. Nowadays, the towns of Southport and Preston are linked only by the (largely dual-carriageway) A565 and A59 roads.
- In 1884, another line from Southport to Liverpool was opened: the Cheshire Lines Committee's North Liverpool Extension Line from Liverpool Central to Southport Lord Street. The West Lancashire Railway sponsored the Liverpool, Southport and Preston Junction Railway to provide a connection to the CLC line, joining it at Altcar and Hillhouse [6]. These lines ultimately proved uncompetitive, however, and the Southport services were withdrawn in 1952.
Politics
Politically, Southport is a stronghold of the Liberal Democrats with the Conservative Party also strong in some areas. John Pugh is Southport's current Member of Parliament [7]
Southport Out Of Sefton
In the past decade, a recurring local political issue has been the cross-party movement campaigning for Southport to opt out of Sefton and form its own unitary authority, perhaps adjoined to the neighbouring West Lancashire authority. Support for this has been seen amongst Liberal Democrat (UK) [8] councillors and within the Southport Conservative Party (UK) [9], [10].
In 1993, a cross-party initiative submitted a 23,000 name petition to the Boundary Commission (United Kingdom) asking for a review of the local administrative boundaries [11], but the request was turned down [12] (the Electoral Commission (United Kingdom) must request such a review).
In 2002, a local independent party calling themselves the Southport Party was established, with a main policy of "Southport out of Sefton" [13], [14]. Three council seats were won in the 2002 local elections, but the following year there were no gains and a drop in the number of votes for the party.
To date, there have been no official moves to change Sefton's boundaries, but the Boundary Commission indicated in 2004 that a future review is possible:
- "whether or not structural change takes place in accordance with our recommendations, the boundaries between or within Sefton and West Lancashire could be reviewed at a later stage to address these long-standing boundary concerns."[15]
Sport
Southport is somewhat lesser known for its sporting prowess, but being surrounded by other North-West cities this is understandable. The eastern side of town towards Blowick and Kew is home to the "Sandgrounders" - Southport FC, a club with a long football league history and common FA Cup giantkillers, they play at Haig Avenue and currently find themselves in the Nationwide Conference league. There is also a league for local amateur football teams. Southport is also home to a rugby union club, Southport RUFC [16], who play at the Recreational Ground on Waterloo Road, Hillside.
The junior section of Southport RUFC are known as the Southport Sharks [17], have sides that range from 7 years old upwards. They also play on the same grounds, and train every sunday 10am-12pm.
Image:Southport Marine Lake.JPG
However, the town is probably best known for golf; the Royal Birkdale Golf Club situated in the dunes to the south of the town is one of the venues on The Open Championship rotation and has hosted two Ryder Cups. Nearby Southport and Ainsdale Golf Club is also a two time Ryder Cup venue. Many smaller links courses also surround the town.
Southport's location by the coast also lends itself to some more specialised sporting activities - Ainsdale Beach south of the town is popular for kite sports, including kite-surfing. The Marine Lake [18] lies nestled between the town centre and the sea and is used for a variety of watersports including waterskiing, sailing and rowing.
The flat and scenic route alongside the beach is very popular with cyclists, and is the start of the Trans Pennine Trail, a cycle route running across the north of the country to Selby in North Yorkshire.
Famous people
- Marc Almond, lead singer of Soft Cell.
- Robin Askwith, actor.
- Dora Bryan, actress.
- Alan Hansen, footballer.
- Steve Jones, photographer.
- Arthur Richardson, VC.
- Miranda Richardson, actress.
- Adrian Scott Stokes, painter.
- A.J.P. Taylor, historian (born in Birkdale)
- Edmund Taylor Whittaker, mathematician.
- Jim Beglin, footballer, Liverpool FC.
- Ronnie Whelan, footballer.
- Kenny Dalglish, footballer.
- Lee Mack, comedian & presenter of They Think It's All Over
- Derek Acorah, medium.
Guy Faaaaarrrqharson Preston. AKA Fergal Farkey. World renouned for his award winning plate of blind scouse and ability to steal all the hubcaps from a moving car in under 10 seconds.
External links
- Southport Tourism's Official Site
- Southport's Unique Shopping Experience
- Southport FC
- Pleasureland Amusement Park Southport
- Southport Flower Show
- Details of schools in Southport
- Southport Champion (local newspaper)
- Southport Community Website
- Southport Champion Charity Carnival
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