was a
Non-metropolitan County of
England from
April 1 ,
1974 until
April 1 ,
1996 . It was composed of two halves either side of the
Humber estuary, created using part of the
East and
West Riding s of
Yorkshire and
Lincolnshire, Parts Of Lindsey . Its county town was
Beverley and its largest settlement and only city
Kingston Upon Hull .
It was divided into several
Non-metropolitan District s –
Beverley ,
Boothferry ,
Cleethorpes ,
East Yorkshire ,
Glanford ,
Great Grimsby ,
Holderness and
Scunthorpe .
It bordered
North Yorkshire to the north and west,
South Yorkshire and
Nottinghamshire to the south-west, and
Lincolnshire to the south. It faced east towards the
North Sea .
As a county it was abolished on ,
North East Lincolnshire ,
Kingston Upon Hull and
East Riding Of Yorkshire . The name has continued in use as a geographic term and in names of institutions such as
Humberside Police and
BBC Radio Humberside (which predated the county). In its time it was credited as being the country's most efficiently run county.
It was created by the
Local Government Act 1972 on
April 1 ,
1974 . It was the latest of the new counties then created to be established because of local resentment to the choice of county town as
Kingston Upon Hull , not starting up until
April 1 1976 with the county town of
Beverley . It covered the former
County Borough s of
Grimsby and
Kingston Upon Hull . From Lindsey it incorporated the boroughs of
Cleethorpes ,
Scunthorpe the urban districts of
Barton-upon-Humber and
Brigg , and the
Rural District s of
Glanford Brigg ,
Grimsby and
Isle Of Axholme . From the East Riding it took the boroughs of
Beverley ,
Bridlington ,
Hedon the urban districts of
Driffield ,
Haltemprice ,
Hornsea and
Withernsea , and the
Rural Districts of
Beverley ,
Bridlington (part),
Driffield ,
Holderness ,
Howden ,
Pocklington . From the West Riding it took both the borough of
Goole and the rural district of
Goole .
In the
Redcliffe-Maud Report no directly analogous area had been proposed, with the part north of the Humber constituting of one unitary authority, and the part south of it constituting another. The White Paper as proposed did not include a cross-Humber authority, either. Humberside finally emerged in the Local Government Bill as introduced to Parliament, which also gave it its name for the first time.
At this time, there was very little connecting its two parts, aside from ferries and a circuitous journey via Goole (a road journey from Grimsby to Beverley, the headquarters, being something just under 100 miles). It was promised by the government that the
Humber Bridge would make it a more viable unit. The opening of the Bridge on
24 June ,
1981 provided a permanent link between North and South (and cut the journey from Grimsby to Beverley to a mere 30 or so miles) but did not secure Humberside's future.
Humberside was not well-loved, and to quote and
South Humberside as postal counties, which actually made things worse, increasing the local resentment.
The Local Government Boundary Commission reviewed the existence of Humberside in 1985, but found that "that Humberside County Council could not be shown to have failed". The
Secretary Of State For The Environment called for a further review in 1989, which ultimately resulted in a proposal made in November 1990, to transfer the four districts south of the Humber to the non-metropolitan county of Lincolnshire (which would have left the remaining part north of the Humber free to change its name to include Yorkshire).
However, before this could be implemented, a general
Local Government Review for England was announced. This was being conducted with an eye to creating unitary authorities, and Humberside was one of the areas that the Commission was expecting "early wins" in, and was in the first tranche of reviews. The Commission recommended it and its districts be abolished and replaced with four unitary authorities, which the government accepted. The Order to do so was debated in the
House Of Commons on
February 28 ,
1995 , and in the
House Of Lords on
March 6 ,
1996 , and came into effect on
April 1 ,
1996 .
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This resulted in four successor
Unitary Authorities :
There was some debate as to whether the Goole area (historically part of the West Riding) should continue with the East Riding authority or whether it should be joined with possibly the
Metropolitan Borough Of Doncaster or the
District Of Selby . There were also questions raised by the Opposition about whether the boundaries of Hull should be expanded from their present boundaries (which had been set many decades ago and not altered, despite continuous urbanisation outside these borders).
Michael Brown the Conservative MP for
Brigg And Cleethorpes , was particularly vociferous in support of the Order, saying 'I want to see the word "Humberside" expunged from the English language' in the debate regarding its abolition.
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There were to be heard few voices in its defence.
Elliot Morley , Labour MP for
Glanford And Scunthorpe claimed that 'young people who were born in Humberside and have an affinity with Humberside identify with it', although he agreed that the council was a 'flawed idea'.
The office of
Lord Lieutenant Of Humberside was also abolished. The Yorkshire part became the
Ceremonial County of the East Riding of Yorkshire (which includes Hull); the Lincolnshire part reverted to Lincolnshire for ceremonial purposes.
As the name 'Humberside' is a traditional name for the area surrounding the
Humber river, and despite the abolition of the administrative area, the term 'Humberside' has not fallen out of use as a general geographic designation. There is still a
Humberside Police , a
Humberside Airport (roughly halfway between
Scunthorpe and
Grimsby ), a
Humberside Fire Service and
BBC Radio Humberside .
The whole of the area once covered by the former non-metropolitan county of Humberside, including the Lincolnshire parts, is part of the
Government Office Region of
Yorkshire And The Humber (originally 'Yorkshire and Humberside').
