5,500 street parties to celebrate the big day

More than 5,500 street parties will be held to celebrate the Royal Wedding - but figures released today reveal a distinct north-south divide.

While people in the south appear to be pulling out all the stops, some areas further north are not so enthusiastic, with not one application made in Glasgow. London tops the table for the number of parties, with more than 800 applications, including one for Downing Street.

In the Midlands there has been a steady but not overwhelming response to the invitation to close streets for a knees-up. Birmingham will have 25 street parties. That compares to 54 in Bristol and 52 in Cardiff. Even smaller towns like Milton Keynes and Winchester beat the Second City, with 34 and 33 respectively.

Around 40 will be held in the Black Country and south Staffordshiire, with Dudley leading the way with 14 followed by Wolverhampton with 10 and Walsall with seven. There are two in Sandwell, one in Burntwood and another in Hednesford.

The figures, released today, were compiled from LGA data and population figures from the Office for National Statistics. They reveal a national average of around one street party for every 10,000 people.

Using a rough measure of applications compared to populations to get an average, figures show London, Edinburgh and Cardiff all have higher than average numbers of street parties planned. Other patriotic spots are Hertfordshire with 298 and Surrey with 205.

But Glasgow appears to be shunning the excitement with no applications made.

Birmingham's figure translates as one party for every 41,000 residents.

The LGA said councils across the country had "pulled out all the stops" to help party organisers.