Merseyside is a metropolitan county in northwestern England named after the River Mersey. The estuary (mouth) of the Mersey cuts through Merseyside and empties into the Irish Sea. Merseyside was formed in 1974 as a metropolitan county—that is, an urbanized area governed by a metropolitan county council. Since 1986, government administration in the county has been distributed among five smaller metropolitan boroughs.
Merseyside is dominated by the city of Liverpool. The Merseyside region has a population of 1,423,285. It consists of the metropolitan boroughs of Knowsley, Liverpool, St. Helens, Sefton, and Wirral. The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority coordinates transportation and economic development in the metropolitan boroughs and nearby Halton.
Merseyside was governed by a metropolitan county council from 1974 to 1986, when such councils were abolished. Most of the council’s powers were distributed to the five metropolitan boroughs.
