| Borough of Bolton | |
| Settlement Type: | Metropolitan borough |
| Motto: | Latin: Supera Moras |translation=overcome delays |
| Coordinates: | 53.5775°N -2.43°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Sovereign state |
| Subdivision Name: | United Kingdom |
| Subdivision Type1: | Country |
| Subdivision Name1: | England |
| Subdivision Type2: | Region |
| Subdivision Name2: | North West |
| Subdivision Type3: | Ceremonial county and city region |
| Subdivision Name3: | Greater Manchester |
| Established Title: | Borough status |
| Established Date: | 1253 |
| Established Title1: | Incorporated |
| Established Date1: | 1 April 1974 |
| Named For: | Bolton |
| Seat Type: | Administrative HQ |
| Seat: | Bolton Town Hall |
| Government Footnotes: | [1] |
| Government Type: | Metropolitanborough |
| Governing Body: | Bolton Council |
| Leader Title: | Executive |
| Leader Name: | Leader and cabinet |
| Leader Title1: | Control |
| Leader Title2: | Leader |
| Leader Name2: | Nick Peel (L) |
| Leader Title3: | Mayor of Bolton |
| Leader Name3: | Mohammed Ayub |
| Leader Title4: | MPs |
| Unit Pref: | Metric |
| Area Rank: | |
| Population Rank: | |
| Demographics Type1: | Ethnicity (2021) |
| Demographics1 Title1: | Ethnic groups |
| Demographics Type2: | Religion (2021) |
| Demographics2 Title1: | Religion |
| Timezone1: | GMT |
| Utc Offset1: | +0 |
| Timezone1 Dst: | BST |
| Utc Offset1 Dst: | +1 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postcode area |
| Area Code Type: | Dialling code |
| Iso Code: | GB-BOL |
| Blank1 Name: | GSS code |
| Blank1 Info: | E08000001 |
The Metropolitan Borough of Bolton 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 in, making it the third-most populous district in Greater Manchester.
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.
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:[2]
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.[3] 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).[4]
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.
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.
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:
| Ethnic Group | Year | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 census[5] | 2021 census[6] | ||||
| Number | % | Number | % | ||
| White Total | 232,366 | 89% | 212,941 | 72% | |
| White: British | 227,635 | 87.2% | 203,486 | 68.8% | |
| White: Irish | 2,253 | 1,430 | 0.5% | ||
| White: Roma | 519 | 0.2% | |||
| White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller | 373 | 0.1% | |||
| White: Other | 2,478 | 7,133 | 2.4% | ||
| Asian or Asian British Total | 24,141 | 9.2% | 59,596 | 20.1% | |
| Asian or Asian British: Indian | 15,884 | 26,238 | 8.9% | ||
| Asian or Asian British: Pakistani | 6,487 | 27,897 | 9.4% | ||
| Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi | 268 | 985 | 0.3% | ||
| Asian or Asian British: Chinese | 497 | 1,123 | 0.4% | ||
| Asian or Asian British: Other Asian | 1,005 | 3,353 | 1.1% | ||
| Black or Black British: Total | 1,607 | 11,238 | 3.8% | ||
| Black or Black British: African | 689 | 9,299 | 3.1% | ||
| Black or Black British: Caribbean | 823 | 603 | 0.2% | ||
| Other Black | 95 | 1,336 | 0.5% | ||
| Mixed or British Mixed: Total | 2,542, | 6,643 | 2.2% | ||
| Mixed: White and Black Caribbean | 859 | 1,737 | 0.6% | ||
| Mixed: White and Black African | 296 | 1,242 | 0.4% | ||
| Mixed: White and Asian | 970 | 2,338 | 0.8% | ||
| Mixed: Other Mixed | 417 | 1,326 | 0.4% | ||
| Other: Total | 381 | 5,542 | 1.9% | ||
| Other: Arab | 1,812 | 0.6% | |||
| Other: Any other ethnic group | 3,730 | 1.3% | |||
| Non-White: Total | 11% | 28% | |||
| Total | 261,037 | 100% | 295,960 | 100% | |
The following table shows the religious identity of people residing in Bolton at the 2021 census.
| Religion | 2021 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Number | % | ||
| 139,144 | 47.0 | ||
| 58,997 | 19.9 | ||
| 159 | 0.1 | ||
| 5,887 | 2.0 | ||
| 219 | 0.1 | ||
| 576 | 0.2 | ||
| Other religion | 979 | 0.3 | |
| 76,244 | 25.8 | ||
| Religion not stated | 13,758 | 4.6 | |
| Total | 295,963 | 100.0 | |
The Bolton metropolitan area is served by the following railway stations:
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.[7]
Radio stations for the area are: [8]
The area is served by these local newspapers:
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.[10] 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%.[11] 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%.[12] 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.[13]
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.[14] 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.[15]
| 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 |
See main article: Bolton Council. 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.
The Metropolitan Borough of Bolton has two twin towns, one in France and another in Germany.[16]
| 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 |
| The local government districts which surround the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| align=center rowspan=2 width=25% | North-West: Borough of Chorley | align=center colspan=2 width=35% | North: Borough of Blackburn with Darwen | align=center rowspan=2 width=25% | North-East and East: Metropolitan Borough of Bury |
| align=center colspan=2 width=35% | Metropolitan Borough of Bolton | ||||
| align=center colspan=2 width=30% | South-West: Metropolitan Borough of Wigan | align=center colspan=2 width=30% | South-East: City of Salford | ||
The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Borough.