Yes, Southport comes under Merseyside which is a metropolitan county made up of multiple metropolitan boroughs, one of which is Sefton.
The borough of Sefton comes under the administrative control of Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council.
Click here to see the Sefton Council website
Historically Southport was a part of Lancashire but due to the growth of the town during the Victorian era the population swelled in excess of 50,000 people.
Why Southport is part of Merseyside
Governments work by representatives of the people created rules for us all to live by. These rules are then filtered for administration by councils throughout the regions of the UK.
As the population of Southport grew, the need for better administration of the region led to Southport becoming a county borough in 1915 with the areas of Birkdale and Ainsdale being added in 1912.
Changes to the way regions of the UK were governed locally in 1971 would have meant that Southport would have lost some of the control it had over it’s education and social service administration.
To prevent this, the Southport governing corporation decided to merge with Bootle (part of Liverpool) to make up the numbers required to become a part of the metropolitan county of Merseyside.
To form a metropolitan county a minimum population of 250,000 is required and Southport did not have this amount of residents, hence the decision to merge with Bootle and keep the control of local education and social services.
This decision has caused local controversary ever-since, probably for a number of reasons.
When was the Liverpool city region formed?
The Liverpool City Region was officially formed on 1 April 2014 after an agreement was reached between the local authorities of Halton, Knowsley, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and The Wirral as a part of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 act of parliament.
This was formed because of a consensus that devolved powers from the UK government work better and a local governance has a better understanding of the local needs of the people within the region.
Southport, which has been part of Sefton since 1974, became part of the devolved region.
Click here to see the Liverpool City Region website
