OK it's a sensational headline, but an interesting article about how integrating Birkenhead and Wallasey with Liverpool, into one city spanning the Mersey, would benefit both parties and to a certain extent is already happening.

http://www.sevenstreets.com/city-living/birkenhead-must-die-seven-reasons-why/

What do the natives think?

I am a passionate Wirralian but I can see the point being made, I think it is a good idea, I would still tell people I was from Wirral though!!!!

No thanks.

i say go for it

to people who aren't from round here i would have to explain i'm from the wirral which involves far too many words than "just outside liverpool" or "basically liverpool"

i don't see why people are so het up about distancing themselves from that great city thats a mile or so away, sure we have history over here, that would still be there, but for future ideas, i see the reasons why we should join liverpool and i wholeheartedly back those ideas.

I've had that conversation many times.

Where are you from?
Birkenhead.
Where's that then?
On the river Mersey.
Isn't that, erm...?
Liverpool.
Liverpool! Of course! Ey, ey, calm down, calm down!
You are original and hilarious, now please go away.

Birkenhead died because it was forced into a marriage with Wallasey both worked well as separate entities, as far as Liverpool is concerned 1000 meters or 10000 meters, it's a good distance, happily, if we get forced to be part of Liverpool then no money will be norm, just like all the new buses and ferry boats we had in 1974 anything we have left on this side of the water will be asset stripped for Liverpool, my answer is not a cat in hells chance, one of the best things the Post Office did was to take away the Liverpool Post Code and give us a Chester one.

In the short time i have been a member this has the making of a great post.
I am just printing the story to read before making a comment
agree 1974 was a turning point.

Excellent post, well said.

Agreed. Where in many respects it seems a good idea there would however more likely to be an increase in council tax to match the Liverpool rates. Car insurance and house insurance would, no doubt increase if the posrcodes changed again and possibly rented property prices would also increase. To name a few possibilities. This has been on the cards for the last ten years and once they have all done a deal, they will no doubt make an announcement. The last government had already come up with an idea to join Wallasey and Kirkdale for voting purposes. There are so many issues surrounding such a venture. I think WMBC have fewer employees than mentioned in article, more like 7/8000 .

As an exiled Mancunian living on the Wirral - no thanks! You really want a Liverpool post code and all the insurance hikes that come with it???

Agreed

In theory it sounds a good idea. However, it could rely on wholesale structural reorganisation. It is about ensuring services are consistently well-designed and delivered by the right people to the right people but could end up becoming a closer service integration where this may not improve outcomes for local people and not ensure longer term financial sustainability. At the end of the day, where will meetings be held - Liverpool, who's jobs will be cut first (besides the fat cat ones) - the Wirral people's. What about the local spending - do you think Liverpool will want small sport centres dotted around the Wirral to be given funding - they believe a lot in privatising. Will David Lloyd invest across here? Our local councillors will be in a no-win situation, just like when they challenged the tunnel fees. Liverpool will only use the Wirral, we will not gain. Keep the CH postcodes!
Where will be go to approach the council on everyday matters - miles away in Liverpool! Its really not feasible for the citizens of the Wirral.

Birkenhead is already dieding this could be a good thing Peel holding have got some good plans for bothside of the river.With there money and both side of the mersey sticking together we can be come a good town and place to live.We could become better then them southern shandy drinkers from london and then mancs from the other side of the M62..May be living in warrington but my heart is still and alway be in Birkenhead

I just read that article; so many complex issues are raised that I really can't decide what I think about it yet. My instinctive response is that Wirral needs to stay as Wirral, as a distinct entity, but if it means withering away while other areas thrive, then the situation needs looking at. It's hard to imagine what Wirral Waters will mean for the area in the long term, or how after all this time we could join hands across the river in the way that the article suggests.

In which other major city do you have to pay to cross the river. certainly not in London

My preference would be to return to the old Cheshire boundaries.

If I wanted to live the Liverpool way I would move there.

I like it better on this side of the water thank you. Should I ever get fed up with Wirral I rather think my move would involve several hundreds of miles.

Wirral would be the minnow to Liverpool's hungry fish in a joint operation.

I haven't shopped in Liverpool for years preferring Chester or Manchester. I don't go there for recreation.

I don't know if others find this to be so but it has seemed to me that many people move from Liverpool to Wirral but not visa versa.

However, our opinions do not appear to have any effect any more. Government and Local Government just do as they please.

There's a lot of positive things to be said about Liverpool, its people, history and attractions. The same can be said of the Wirral and some of the truly beautiful open spaces we have.

Both also have large pockets of poverty and issues which need addressing, preferably locally and as soon as possible.

Liverpool is huge compared to Wirral. If we joined forces and the going gets tougher than it is now there's a danger that Wirral will be sidelined and become a big district of poverty stricken wilderness.

Before anybody thinks I'm being dramatic, can I just remind you of our last really bad winter 2009, when a lot of the main roads in Wallasey weren't gritted (I can only speak for Wallasey). Mill Lane where the Fire Station is and which the Ambulances use to get to APH wasn't gritted and neither were the car parks at APH???

BUT even the pavements were gritted in Liverpool City Centre, with grit that came from Wirral.

I rest my case your honour

I think you could be right Zubee. Liverpool are very good at spending money to improve the city centre , for the beneit of tourists and what the eye can see but travel a mile or two in the direction of Toxteth and Smithdown Road. You would see there,that little has been done to improve those areas. They still look neglected and run down. I can't see that Birkenhead and surrounding areas would benefit in any way other than maybe for the tourist. Lots of eating places and river views but forgetting the inhabitants. Plus, the businesses on this side of the river would probably, by that point, be owned by people from Liverpool, certainly not the Wirral inhabitants. It is my opinion would be another quick fix to get us out of the sh1t!
Liverpool's Coast And Country ! That's how they like to think of us.

I am all for a 'Republic Of Wallasey'.

Burn the bridges !!

Blow up the tunnels. Cannons to right of us, cannons to left of us. Tally ho!

Once more into Seacombe my friends !

Sounds good granny - but an awfully long way to drive if you are going to Scotland. Via Runcorn?
I want a DUKW!!!

You need to pay to cross the Tyne. Although residents get a 10% discount (don't know if they need to buy a permit first though). The cars are £1.60 since this month to cross. Think they are holding this price until 2014.

Looks as if we will all be heading for the hills, Ponytail, if this should happen!! I'll go south to Wales, it's still free to walk the Dee.

New York. Probably many others too.

That Liverpool place taking over the Wirral? - how dreadful !

I say my fine fellow, where do you live ?

Ermmm.. the Caldy/Norris Green area actually.

Granny, can you walk on the Mersey too? I know we all could in days gone by!!

You just know that we will be subsidising Liverpool Council, everything will be increased and we'll be given crumbs. They will promise the opposite of course, they always do. I'm ok because I'm in my dotage. Even now I have to go to Aintree for hospital appointments and that is a bit of a drag believe me. There will be no good coming of this for Birkenhead.

The more I think about this the better it sounds ......... sacrifice local identity for the sake of the wider "brand" that attracts inward investment and boosts the local economy!

As the premier northwest city for driving investment is clearly Manchester, maybe the Liverpool brand should die too, and the whole of the northwest could be re-designated as "Manchester City Region"?

I am sure nobody from Liverpool would be petty enough to wish to cling onto an unnecessary identity for reasons of tradition only, and would willingly be prepared to be re-branded under the banner of their larger, more successful neighbour for reasons of economic pragmatism......... or would they?

Liverpool has already been 'branded'. The Wirral is in the process with becoming a 'golfing destination'. It depends upon where your pragmatism lies - would all of Merseyside see just one conception or will the powers in Liverpool lead to a rationalistic speculation that we should unite and give power to the Liverpool council?

Birkenhead is Wirral,and Wirral is not Liverpool and never will be.

Yes,they did what a good memory you have, Snowshoes!

Can't walk on water yet but, practising hard.
Does anybody remember when they changed Wirral from Cheshire to Merseyside? It was almost WWIII.

To Granny.
don t you mean softshoes?
Yes,they did what a good memory you have, Snowshoes!

I differ in that I don't mind being described as a person from Merseyside. (I live that close to the River Mersey that I could probably tee off a golf ball from my drive and it would land in the Mersey-on a good day *cough* ahem* )

Cheshire-to me summons up visions of leafy, affluent suburbs-nothing like North Wirral!! Alderley-Edge, that type of place.

I love Wirral but I love Liverpool too (the central tourist 'city bit' with its Historic and Cultural Delights).

I believe though that we should remain 'seperate' from Liverpool. The poorer half of Wirral get a poor deal with regards to Expenditure etc so God knows how much worse it could be if North Wirral were competing with North Liverpool.

Wirral doesn't need liverpool for investment: expansion of Levers, recent announcement of the investment in Birkenhead for the motor industry etc....

Miss floss.......inside joke

i was born in liverpool and now live here after a few other places and both sides have great places and plus points, i love both side some of the most lovely people in the country live around merseyside. if they do merge wirral and liverpool they will finally have to get rid of the tax on the wirral (tunnel toll) as there cant be any justifacation for dividing a borough by a toll thats got to be a good thing for peoples pockets in this time

I moved here because of its proximity to Liverpool, not to be part of it. And like others have said, when speaking to outsiders they automatically lump Wirral as part of Liverpool. Even my own family tell others that I live at or near Liverpool, much to my shame!

Liverpool has been tarred by a certain stereotype, and it will keep that for life. I can't say I know too many people from both sides of the water but there is a distinct difference in their mentalities.

Take a look at Liverpool Echo's website for example. I don't know many other city newspapers which have such a focused link to the local football teams in such a prominent place.

Don't get me wrong, I love Liverpool. It has a wonderful waterfront, great shopping, good rail transport, superb real ale pubs (and friendly characters who drink in them) and a vibrancy that puts my home town of Sheffield to shame.

But I like the fact we have a different postcode and a nice expanse of water to keep us apart from it.

I think the Visit Wirral website shows off the area brilliantly:

http://www.visitwirral.com/

But I think we need to make more of the technicality that we're actually an island (thanks to the Shropshire Union Canal), not a peninsula!

i was born in 1947,in birkenhead.it says on my birth certificate birkenhead,CHESHIRE,not wirral i have never considered myself coming from the wirral,it was never mentioned in the old days.they even say the rovers are from the wirral,whe it was and still is,BIRKENHEAD,be proud to be birkonians as we always have been,ive never been a wirralian or whatever they call them.BIRKENHEAD LIVES.

Wirral used to be part of wales,id sooner go back to Wales then be Liverpool...wirral is not part of Liverpool,we are totally separate

When I first read this article I thought it was a great idea, because I have always felt that the although the River Mersey is a natural barrier between the Wirral and the rest of Merseyside it is artificial in that we are all basically the same people with the same problems no matter which side of the river we live on. Merging the two councils would on the face of it would make a great cost saving, maybe even enough to be able to make the tunnel free because you could not have a toll road separating the two halves of an integral area. If that were the case I would be in favour of the proposal to merge not just Birkenhead but the whole of Wirral with Liverpool. I think a more comprehensive name should be substituted for the new conurbation; my favourite for the moment is Liverpool Bay Area. This is my first reaction to the proposal on Seven Streets .com but I am sure there are many facets to the argument and I am looking forward to reading them.

I take it that you are not from these parts We are not a city We are separate entities

I live in Birkenhead and work in Chester. The natives (mates) know how to wind me up...They call me a Scouser..nuff said

Well said!

That's how we like it, we are our own unique community and would like to stay that way.

(that's not towards you rover).

Becoming a Taff would be another step too far, even though from way back I've got Welsh blood it's very, very, very diluted
Another example of what this side of the water would get is BBC Radio Merseyside, it's all Liverpool, Liverpool, Liverpool. BBC TV NW is all Manchester, Manchester, Manchester. Let's face it we are treated like country bumpkins and all we will get is the odd pat on the head and a kick up the arris the rest of the time. Oh, and it will cost us big style.

How come Liverpool want to join with us couldnt be because of all the new industry and finacial help coming soon via the new dock complex could it?

It is an alternative to sitting back and waiting for Birkenhead and Wallasey crumble into oblivion.

The alternative is to stop voting for local politicians who's idea's are past their sell by date, you get what you vote for.

Liverpool has always tried to destroy this area from doing things to help it grow, as it's a local competition which it doesn't want, look into the history books.

Don't think Peel Holdings are going to do anything for this area except to use it to make money for Peel Holdings, which I don't see as a problem except we all hope it produces jobs for the people of the area and doesn't stifle other competition.

I should think that the good people of Willaston would enjoy the idea of not being left out of the merger too.

I’m a long term resident of Wirral and love it here but I can’t see any reason for not having closer ties with Liverpool if it saved money and provided better services in the long run and got rid of the tunnel tolls.

Yes Then they can be called Birkenhead

I lived in two towns which came under Wirral council. Time and again people remarked at how the council were willing to take our council tax, but not in giving it back to investment - the towns (Leigh, Tyldesley and Atherton) were neglected in favour of Wigan.

I'd imagine that would be the same here - Liverpool would get the money but Wirral would get the scraps.

<sarc>After all, the people who run Liverpool (and Wirral) are all such snow-white, honest-as-the-day-is-long folk, how could anything POSSIBLY go wrong?</sarc>