Bebington

Bebington () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England. Historically part of Cheshire, it is 5 miles (8 km) south of Liverpool, close to the River Mersey on the eastern side of the Wirral Peninsula. Nearby towns include Birkenhead and Wallasey to the north-northwest, and Heswall to the west-southwest. Bebington was an ancient parish, which included the two villages of Lower Bebington around the parish church of St Andrew's and Higher Bebington to the west, as well as several other surrounding hamlets. Following the 2021 census, the Office for National Statistics defined a Bebington built up area which had a population of 57,600. The Bebington electoral ward covers a much smaller area around the original village centres of Higher Bebington and Lower Bebington. Some definitions of Bebington include adjoining areas such as Port Sunlight (an early planned factory town), New Ferry, Spital and Storeton. The former Municipal Borough of Bebington, a local authority between 1937 and 1974, also included within its boundaries Bromborough, Eastham, Raby, Thornton Hough and Brimstage, which now fall within the electoral wards of Bromborough, Eastham and Clatterbridge. According to a 2015 study commissioned by Royal Mail from the Centre for Economic and Business Research, Bebington's postcode area, CH63, is the most desirable in England in which to live and work. The study found that the area had "the ideal balance" of housing close to places of work, good schools and high employment.