Kirkby


Kirkby is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it developed from the 1950s to the 1970s as a housing overspill of Liverpool. It is roughly north of Huyton and north-east of Liverpool. The population in 2011 was 40,472. It is believed to have been founded in 870 although there is archaeological evidence for settlement from the Bronze Age.

History

in Lancashire, Kirkby is believed to have been founded circa 870,
although archaeological digs have produced evidence of habitation in the Bronze Age. The name Kirk-by, from the Old Norse word elements 'kirkja' and 'byr', believed to be of Danish origin, meaning 'church' and 'settlement' or 'village'. The town's settlers arrived via Ireland around 900.
The first direct evidence of a settlement dates from 1086 and the Domesday Book, with a reference to Cherchebi – population 70.
Ownership of the land containing modern-day Kirkby – established as the West Derby Hundred in the 11th century – passed through many hands until 1596, when the Molyneux family purchased the hundred in its entirety. After a brief loss of patronage in 1737 as a result of the head of the family taking holy orders, in 1771 the Molyneux family were made Earls of Sefton and regained their lands.
Although remaining largely farmland until the mid 20th century, initial transport links to the area began in 1848 with the building of the Liverpool and Bury Railway through Kirkby. The East Lancashire Road added road connections in 1935 and industrial development was being considered prior to the outbreak of the Second World War. A Royal Ordnance filling factory – ROF Kirkby – was established in 1939 and completed in 1941. At its peak, the factory employed over 20,000 workers.
By the end of the war, Liverpool had suffered much damage from the Blitz and much of its remaining housing stock was poor and considered slums. In an effort to improve these conditions, Liverpool Corporation began a policy of buying land in the surrounding areas and moving industry and people to newly developed 'overspill' estates. This process culminated with the purchase of of land, including the land comprising Kirkby, from the Earl of Sefton in 1947 for £375,000. Kirkby would become the largest of these overspill estates for Merseyside. As development of the town grew, in 1949 Liverpool requested to have it officially designated a new town, but this proposal was rejected. Large-scale development began in February 1950 with the construction of the Southdene neighbourhood, with the first houses finished in 1952, the 5,000th in 1956 and the 10,000th in 1961. A population of 3,000 in 1951 swelled to over 52,000 by 1961, making it the fastest growing community in the UK by far. The Kirkby Urban District was created in 1958.
Such vast growth caused many problems, not the least of which was that the construction of local amenities had not kept the same pace. For example, while occupation of the council estates of Southdene had begun in 1952, the first shops were not completed until 1955 and the first public house was not open until 1959. Additionally, the people who were being moved into Kirkby during this period came from the poorest areas of Liverpool. During this time, Kirkby Industrial Estate was steadily expanding to become one of the largest in England until, at its peak in 1971, the estate provided employment for over 26,000 people.
Kirkby achieved independent Urban District status in 1958. This was then abolished and on 1 April 1974 its former area was combined with that of Huyton with Roby Urban District, Prescot Urban District, parts of Whiston Rural District and parts of West Lancashire Rural District to form the present-day Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley.

Governance

Kirkby Urban District was a local government district in the administrative county of Lancashire, England, from 1958 to 1974. From 1949 onwards, the main settlement of the district was Kirkby new town. A District Council was created in 1958. The first meeting of the District Council was held on 9 April 1958. At that meeting it was resolved that Councillor James Wylie, J.P. be appointed Chairman of the Council
In 1974 it was abolished and its former area was transferred to Merseyside to be combined with that of Huyton with Roby Urban District, Prescot Urban District, parts of Whiston Rural District and parts of West Lancashire Rural District, to form the present-day Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley
Kirkby has been represented at the Houses of Parliament by George Howarth since 1986 first as part of the Knowsley North constituency, then as part of the Knowsley North and Sefton East constituency and since 2010 as part of the Knowsley constituency. He currently holds a 44,374 majority, which makes it the safest Labour seat in the country. He was preceded by Robert Kilroy-Silk, Labour, Harold Soref, Conservative and Harold Wilson, Labour, although the representing constituency has varied due to regularly shifting boundaries. The boundaries will change once again at the next general election.
Kirkby is commonly divided into four districts: Southdene, Westvale, Northwood and Tower Hill. Its electoral wards, however, do not coincide with these divisions, and consist of Cherryfield, Kirkby Central, Northwood, Park, Shevington and Whitefield. There are 18 local councillors all of whom represent the Labour Party, who often run unopposed.

Geography

Kirkby lies north-east of Liverpool and lies within Merseyside in North West England. It is north-west of London, north-west of Huyton, the borough administrative headquarters.
The River Alt flows through the extreme south west of the town, with the Kirkby Brook tributary passing through the centre.

Climate

Due to its position near the north-west coast of England, Kirkby has a temperate maritime climate: its Köppen climate classification is Cfb. Its mean annual temperature of is similar to that experienced throughout the Mersey basin and slightly cooler than the English average. Average sunshine hours at 1394.6 are slightly above the average for the UK of 1339.7. January is the coldest month with an average mean temperature of while July is the hottest at. Rainfall at is slightly lower than the England average of and much lower than the UK average of. October is the wettest month with an average rainfall of and April is the most dry with of rain. The nearest weather station of the Met Office is at Manchester Airport.

Demography

The population of the town stood at 42,744 at the 2011 census. This represented just over a quarter of the total population of the borough of Knowsley and was down from its peak of 52,207 in the 1961 census, largely due to falling birth rates and the slow decline of the industrial estate, which forced workers to move elsewhere seeking employment. Housing demand has increased in recent years, however, with significant developments being built across the town. This demand can somewhat be attributed to the demolition of high-rise flats and maisonettes – built during the 1960s, but fallen into disrepair – on a town-wide basis, and the resultant need for replacement housing stock.
According to statistics of the British Government, the borough of Knowsley, including Kirkby, had a population of 145,900 at the 2011 census, with a balance of 52.6% female and 47.4% male. This is down from 150,459 recorded in the 2001 census.
The borough is overwhelmingly of a white ethnic background at 98.42%, against a national average of 90.9%. In order of population size, other ethnic groups are represented as multiracial at 0.83%, Chinese at 0.24%, other Asian at 0.23% and black at 0.22%. A high proportion of the town are of Irish Catholic descent as a result of historical emigration into Liverpool.
The borough is mostly Christian at 85.63%, compared to the national average of 71.74%, with the next most significant grouping at 5.84% describing themselves as non-religious. Just 0.17%, 0.11%, 0.07% and 0.03% would describe themselves as Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Jewish, respectively.

Population change

Below is a table outlining population change in the town since 1861. As can be seen, the population of the town had been on a gradual downward trend from 1861 to 1931 before beginning to soar when Liverpool Corporation began to develop the area on a mass scale. The annualised growth rate from 1951 to 1961 was over 30%, making it by far the fastest growing town in the country. The total population of Kirkby peaked in 1971 at 59,917, and has since seen a steady decline. Recently the town's population has been growing, though, and the town was estimated by the NHS to total around 44,120 as of 2006.

Economy

Kirkby Industrial Estate, formerly ROF Kirkby, still employs many of the town's workers; the town's industrial heritage, however, has largely faded away, with service industries moving in to replace the factories. Major employers currently active in the town include QVC and Barclaycard, with several other call centre companies also based in Kirkby.

Economic output

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Kirkby at current basic prices by the Office for National Statistics with figures in millions of pounds sterling.
YearRegional Gross Value AddedAgricultureIndustryServices
19952,370171,1451,208
20003,060121,1741,873
20033,564141,3062,243

Regeneration efforts

Kirkby has seen considerable regeneration efforts in recent years. The Kirkby Sports Centre, one of the main athletic and cycling centres in the region, was demolished in 2007 and replaced by a new leisure facility.
In December 2006, a proposal was made by Tesco and Everton F.C. for an extensive redevelopment of the town centre, including a new 50,000-seater stadium for the football team and associated retail developments. The proposals also include a hotel, leisure and retail facilities. It has also been stated therein that the town's public amenities would be increased to include a walk-in health centre. But this would be at the cost of losing one of the largest open public green spaces in the town.
Kirkby Market underwent redevelopment as part of regeneration plans, and reopened on 26 April 2014. The redeveloped market is fully covered and contains a cafe. The redevelopment of the market was viewed as a big step forward in the redevelopment of Kirkby town centre as a whole by residents.
In 2015 the area of the town centre previously owned by Tesco was bought and taken over by St Modwen in a £35.8m deal. St Modwen revealed expanded plans for the regeneration of the town centre, including a cinema and a new supermarket as well as parking and leisure development. This led to reports that two supermarkets were competing to build a store in the town, and it was rumoured that one of those stores was ASDA, who by coincidence were the previous major supermarket in Kirkby, closing in the late 1970s, Kirkby has as a consequence been without a major supermarket for around 40 years. A major public consultation was held with local businesses, shopkeepers and residents in October 2016. In response to this St Modwen submitted a revised application for the town centre regeneration scheme to include the requirements of the foodstore anchor Morrisons who were revealed to be the winning bid to build a store in the town.

Tesco regeneration plans

According to local reports, Knowsley Borough Council hosted public consultation events about possible redevelopment options in summer 2007, which indicated most respondents showed they had reservations about the proposed football ground.
It is claimed that a majority of people support regeneration in general, but is not clear whether residents were in favour of the particular development, which would have included a Tesco superstore, new town centre shops and the a new Everton stadium. Results of the public consultations were not been released into the public domain. Reports suggest local support for the Tesco/Everton F.C. scheme appears to be tempered by concern over the effect the stadium will have on residents.
Public meetings about the Tesco development were also held by local pressure group Kirkby Residents' Action Group and in other forums. These included a public meeting in St Chad's Church, in which 500 people attended, and a public march was organised to demonstrate against the stadium proposals.
The action group was formed to campaign for a referendum of the people of the town. It appears that public opinion is not clear as to support for or opposition against the proposals for a Tesco/Everton F.C. development.
Another action group called Kirkby Residents In Support of Progress, which supports the scheme, was formed specifically to back Tesco's claims about the development. However, KRISP has not been heard of since the inquiry ended.
Knowsley MBC Planning Committee were 'minded to approve' the Tesco/Everton F.C. scheme and the decision had been made by UK Government to 'Call it in', which led to a public inquiry. All sides gave evidence and await the inspector's recommendations. The decision may not be made until November 2009.
It now seems that the majority of residents who voted to support the scheme, as all wards in Kirkby returned Labour Party candidates into office in the May 2008 local government election. Opposers of the scheme point to overall votes to other parties and claimed this as a victory; however, they counted in this a newly formed political party to fight the campaign and other parties, including the Lib-Dems and Tories. All were beaten, with 1st 4 Kirkby missing out on gaining a council seat by 16 votes. At the original planning committee, four Lib-Dem councillors voted in favour of the proposals. The majority Labour Party candidates in the town general supported the development Ultimately the Secretary of State rejected the application outright on 26 November 2009 and so ended what was known as "Destination Kirkby".
In 2012, Knowsley Council decided to close the Kirkby Civic Suite, the towns only multi-purpose venue for theatre/dance productions, conferences, marriages & other types of events. The Civic Suite was replaced by the new 'Kirkby Centre' with an investment of £5 million from Knowsley council, containing a library, Gallery and Local history archive amongst other facilities.

St Modwen regeneration plans

Following the collapse of Tesco's plans for Kirkby Town centre, progress on the regeneration of the town halted. It was not until St Modwen, a regeneration specialist, acquired the town from Tesco in October 2015 that regeneration began to resume. St Modwen acquired the town for £35.8 million. St Modwen planned for a multi-million pound retail-led regeneration of Kirkby Town Centre spearheaded by St Modwen and carried out in partnership with Knowsley Metropolitan Borough Council. Together, they planned to develop and expand the retail centre and complement the existing offer from Tesco, as well as the provision of a significant new housing scheme on a 65-acre site situated close to the Town Centre.
Refurbishment work began in June 2016, this was planned to run for eight weeks and included a number of new lettings, as well as replace some of the worn fixtures and facings of the existing town centre.
In October 2016, St Modwen confirmed the date for Kirkby's Christmas lights switch-on, as 24 November 2016, this was the first official festive event in the town for a number of years.
X Factor finalists Reggie 'n' Bollie officially turned on the lights, ahead of a month of celebrations in Kirkby Town Centre.
The music duo was joined by boy band District 12, pop act S Club Party and girl group Tiger S.
In November 2016, Reel Cinemas agreed a deal with St Modwen to operate a 15,000sq ft, six screen Cinema in the town centre on the site of the old library, but as of August 2019 this has not come to fruition.
In February 2017, Costa Coffee agreed a deal with St Modwen to open a branch in Kirkby town centre. This was seen as a positive addition to the town centre and marked the addition of a well-known high street name to the town which is something that has not been present in the town centre prior to this addition.
In September 2017, St Modwen confirmed that Morrisons is set to open a new 45,000 sq ft supermarket in Kirkby Town Centre. This was predicted to create around 200 jobs in the town as well as a 450-space car park. It was planned that this development would be built on the site of the old 'In Shops' market and Gala Bingo hall, Coincidentally, the planned sight also incorporated the old site of the former Asda store, which closed in the late 1970s. These planned areas have been cleared in preparation for this.
In October 2017, St Modwen held an information event with the community about their proposed plans which included the Morrisons development. Alongside this event St Modwen indicated work would commence in 2018 with completion scheduled for 2019. The planning application was heard in November 2019, with planning permission being granted.
In November 2017, it was revealed that X-Factor finalists Jedward would turn on Kirkby's Christmas tree lights on 23 November 2017. This followed the success of 2016's festive events. The musical duo was joined by dance-pop group N-Trance. The performances were followed by a fireworks finale as the lights were switched on. The event was sponsored by Tisdale Demolition. 9,000 people were reported to have attended the event.
In June 2018, St Modwen reported that deals had been agreed with two major brands, Home Bargains and fast food restaurant KFC. Home Bargains were to relocate from their existing small store to occupy a larger 20,000 sq ft unit. KFC agreed a lease to a new 3,500 sq ft restaurant and with that became the first food and beverage brand to sign-up to the scheme.
In November 2018, the Kirkby Christmas lights were again turned on in a dedicated event. This year B*witched front woman, Edele Lynch, switched on the Christmas lights in the town centre on Thursday 22 November, performing some of B*witched's hits and a range of Christmas songs. There was a range of special guests from a variety of talent shows including, The Voice 2016 winner Kevin Simm, Ella Shaw, Mr Zip, Ryan Lawrie and Dene Michael's Black Lace. There were also performances from 2011 Britain’s Got Talent winner and musician, Jai McDowall, and 1990s band Dave Finnegan's Commitments performed.

Recent regeneration plans

Despite St Modwen's assurances of development and new building in the town, much of what has been confirmed by the company has failed to materialise. The town still lacks a major supermarket, the town centre lacks new parking facilities and despite being agreed in November 2016 the proposed cinema on the site of the old library has not been built.
This culminated with Knowsley council deciding to step in after developers refused to say when construction would start. Council leader Graham Morgan said in a statement reported by the Liverpool Echo "despite our best efforts, the redevelopment of the town centre still hasn't happened and it's quite clear that we need to find a different model. The people of Kirkby deserve more than this. We have worked closely to encourage St. Modwen to push on with their plans but, despite major names already being signed up, they remain extremely cautious and have still not confirmed a start date. We have waited too long and it's time to move on.”
On 19 July 2019, the council’s Cabinet endorsed the plan for the council to purchase St Modwen’s assets in Kirkby town centre. These assets include the existing shopping centre as well as other sites earmarked for development, including land south of Cherryfield Drive.
The council is buying 100 properties: 87 existing shops, 10 which are going to be built, two drive-through restaurants, and a petrol station. The council is also buying elements of St Modwen’s business. It will be taking on contracts which were negotiated by St Modwen with a large number of third parties.
Planning approval was secured on 1 November 2018 to demolish the former St Chad’s Clinic and use the site for a temporary car park. However, in view of the delays in St Modwen progressing their retail development scheme, the demolition was put on hold. Now that the council is progressing with its plans to step in to bring forward the new retail development.
As well as the deal to purchase St Modwen’s assets, the Cabinet has also agreed plans to deliver a cinema and restaurants/bars scheme and purchase the Knowsley College site on Cherryfield Drive.
The college has plans to secure accommodation closer to the town centre. The council purchasing the Cherryfield Drive site from them will enable the college to progress with their plans to relocate to new premises in the heart of the town centre.
On 29 January 2020, a ground breaking ceremony was held in Town Centre marking the council's commitment to the new redevelopment plans including a 45,000 sq ft Morrisons superstore, the site will include a petrol station, car parking, a Home Bargains and drive-thru KFC.

Transport

The M57 motorway runs adjacent to Kirkby, and the M58 connects just to the north of Kirkby. Other major routes include the A580 East Lancashire Road and the A506. The area is well served by public transport, with rail connections from Kirkby railway station to Liverpool city centre and Manchester. A second railway station, on Headbolt Lane, is planned as part of the Merseyrail extension to Skelmersdale. Stagecoach Merseyside provide the vast majority of bus routes in Kirkby and these connect Kirkby with several nearby districts of Liverpool and Merseyside. Kirkby was planned to be the terminus of the first line of the Merseytram tram service until the scheme's termination by the Government.

Education

Educational services in the town are provided by the Knowsley Local Education Authority.

Primary schools

The following table shows information on the secondary schools in Kirkby.

Further education

Kirkby's further educational needs are provided by Knowsley Community College which supports the whole of Knowsley, including a main centre based in Kirkby town centre. It has a yearly intake of over 12,000. Kirkby also has two secondary schools and sixteen primary schools.

Secondary education overhaul

An extensive overhaul of primary and secondary education provision in Knowsley saw all three of Kirkby's secondary schools closing by the end of the 2008–2009 school year, being replaced by two new Learning Centres. Ruffwood and Brookfield which were due to merge in September 2009 merged a year early due to Ruffwood being branded a failing school in an Ofsted report. From this shake-up emerged a new All Saints Catholic High School and Kirkby Sports College Center for Learning. On 1 September 2013 Kirkby Sports College became an academy and from this the school was relaunched as Kirkby High School.

Religious sites

, St Michael's & All Angels RC Church, St Mark's CE Church, St Andrews CE Church, St Mary, Mother of God RC Church, Kirkby Baptist Church, St Joseph's RC Church, St Martin's CE Church, St Peter & Paul RC Church, Northwood Chapel, Lifegate Church and the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses are all within the boundaries of Kirkby.

Sports and recreation

Kirkby is home to the youth academy of Liverpool F.C.. It was also the proposed new site for the new stadium for Everton F.C. which was declined in late 2009.
In 2018 the Liverpool F.C. made plans to move the full training ground to the same location as the current Youth Academy. The team has planned to complete this by the summer of 2020. It's believed this will be postponed due to current events in the world.
The most popularly supported football teams in the town are Liverpool and Everton, although in the past the town had its own non-league team, Kirkby Town, later renamed Knowsley United before they were dissolved in 1997.
The town has also been home to a number of notable footballers, including:
Other sports figures originating from Kirkby:
Policing in Kirkby is provided by Merseyside Police. The force's Basic Command Unit in the Knowsley borough has a station in Kirkby on St Chad's Drive. Public transport is co-ordinated by the Merseyside Passenger Transport Executive. Statutory emergency fire and rescue service is provided by the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service, which has a station in Kirkby on Webster Drive.
Waste management is co-ordinated by the local authority via the Merseyside Waste Disposal Authority. Kirkby's Distribution Network Operator for electricity is United Utilities; there are no power stations in the town. United Utilities also manages Kirkby's drinking and waste water. SUEZ Recycling & Recovery UK process all of Merseyside and Halton's waste at a Rail Loading Transfer Station in Kirkby. It is transported from Kirkby to Wilton in Teesside where it is used to generate electricity. The power generated at Wilton is enough to power every home in Knowsley.
Kirkby is served by Knowsley NHS Primary Care Trust. Aintree University Hospital is the nearest hospital to Kirkby. There are nine GP surgeries and four dental practices. Ambulance services are provided by the North West Ambulance Service with a station based in Kirkby.
The British Telecom Simonswood exchange provides local telephone and ADSL internet services to the area, with a number of other companies offering services through local loop unbundling. Virgin Media services are also available to the town, providing television, telephone and cable internet.

Media

The main local newspapers are the Liverpool Echo tabloids published by the Trinity Mirror group.
There are also two main free local newspapers, the Kirkby Extra and the Knowsley Challenge.
The local BBC radio station is Radio Merseyside and the local ITV franchise holder is ITV Granada

Filmography

Kirkby served primarily as the basis for the fictional Newtown setting of the 1960s BBC TV series, Z-Cars, along with Seaforth. Z-Cars was one of the first soap operas on television, and featured Brian Blessed, Colin Welland, John Thaw, Joss Ackland and Judi Dench as well as Davy Jones of The Monkees.
"Behind the Rent Strike", a 1974 documentary by Nick Broomfield documenting the 1972 14-month-long rent strike in Kirkby by 3000 social housing tenants in protest at the poor condition of housing in the town and the rent rises brought about by the Housing Finance Act 1972.
The 1985 film Letter to Brezhnev was shot in Liverpool, including key scenes in Kirkby. The film starred Margi Clarke who was born in the town.