Local Life - Wigan - May 2018

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accent. The people there, for example, watch Rugby
League, not Liverpool or Everton. The people in
those areas eat tripe and onions, not Scouse.”
Oakes’ speech may have seemed, in the context of
local government reorganisation, a bit bizarre. But
in fact, he was arguing that although there was
nothing wrong with those places joining together,
he did have grave reservations about them
becoming part of a greater Merseyside area.
He explained: “They talk differently, work at different
occupations. The problem is of urban renewal. That
type of problem is totally different from the problems
of Huyton, Kirkby, Halewood and Whiston, which are
new, expanding towns, where they have basically
“Totally different to the
problems of Huyton”
light industry and support Liverpool or Everton with
equal vociferousness, while poor little Huyton can
hardly get a team going at all. Sport is important in
the constitution of an area, just as important as the
problems of youth facilities, schools, social services,
and things of that kind.”
Within two years, the deed had been done. Part of
Billinge, along with Rainford, Haydock, Crank, Moss
Bank, Kings Moss and other areas, had become part
of a new St Helens borough within the County of
Merseyside.
Despite it being 44 years
since the changes, they
still rankle, especially
in Billinge where some
feel the village was
unnecessarily divided.
Many of those blame
Edward Heath’s
Government, who
were in power at the
time. However, a
dig into the archives
reveals that in fact Billinge’s administrative divorce
from Wigan predated the local government changes
of 1974 by over 100 years.
Billinge as a whole was part of the Deanery of
Wigan up until February 2, 1837, when the Wigan
Poor Law Union came into force. The law divided
Billinge into two different townships; Chapel End
and Higher End. By the end of that century, Billinge
Urban District Council had been formed. In 1927, it
joined Winstanley township to become Billinge &
Winstanley Urban District Council.
It’s important to stress though that, at this point,
they were not ‘part’ of Wigan - Billinge & Winstanley
UDC was an authority in its own right.
Fast-forward to 1974 and townships up and down
the country were allocated into different ‘new’ areas.
Some of the original suggestions survived; some
fell by the wayside (there was talk at one point of
Ashton being part of St
Helens).
Billinge & Winstanley Council’s final meeting in 1974
However, scanning the
newspaper coverage at
the time, there’s very little
in the way of any concerns
about loss of civic
identity. Indeed, local MP
Michael McGuire said in a
Parliamentary debate that
he’d had no complaints
about the situation from
constituents.