Levenshulme - Governance

Governance

Manchester and its districts had developed into what were referred to as the "Thirty Townships". Levenshulme was one of them and in 1865 got its own 'board' which shortly thereafter developed into an urban district council. Prior to the turn of the 20th century West Levenshulme was considered to be a "dormitory" for Manchester. This description eventually changed to one of "residential suburb" a decade or so later, but East Levenshulme was still primarily industrial in nature consisting mostly of print works, bleach works, dye works and mattress works. In spite of the preponderance of industrial works there were also several farms, and the area around what is now Levenshulme High School was considered to be semi-rural until the 1920s.

Until the late 19th century Manchester's outlying townships had to supply their own amenities. This was becoming increasingly difficult for the urban councils to do and as a result there was a considerable difference in prices charged to the residents compared to the prices charged by Manchester itself. Manchester refused to alleviate these difficulties unless townships agreed to come under its control. As a result the townships slowly began to amalgamate into Manchester's rule. Along with Withington, Levenshulme protested at the discrepancy of prices for gas in the city and for the outlying townships that were already supplied by Manchester. Nevertheless many of those townships arranged to get their electricity from Manchester, possibly in the hope that they would benefit from the city's plans to electrify the tram system when the existing lease with the Manchester Carriage and Tramways Company was due to end in 1901. Along with Gorton, Levenshulme joined Manchester in 1909. The tramways were extended to serve Levenshulme before the start of World War I in 1914.

The ward boundaries of Levenshulme have been moved in recent ward reorganisations, and as a result large areas in the north and east of Levenshulme are now officially in the ward of Gorton South, to the confusion and irritation of local residents. To the west areas historically regarded as Fallowfield are now officially part of Levenshulme and Rusholme. The Levenshulme ward is represented in Manchester City Council by James Hennigan Liberal Democrat), and Aftab Ahmed and Nasrin Ali (both Labour).

Levenshulme forms part of the wider Manchester Gorton UK Parliamentary constituency and is represented by Gerald Kaufman (Labour), who has held the seat since 1983.

Although there is some commercial expansion and increasing numbers of entertainment establishments, in some ways Levenshulme is still declining, an example being the reduction of publicly funded leisure facilities. As of September 2007, other than four parks (Greenbank Fields, Chapel Street Park, Cringle Park and Highfield Country Park) there is only a library and swimming pool that is council run.

Levenshulme also houses the consulate of the Netherlands located at Apex House, 266 Moseley Road.