The was a
Non-metropolitan County and
Ceremonial County in the west of
England , named after the
River Avon which ran through it. In 1996 the county was abolished and the area split between
Bath And North East Somerset ,
Bristol ,
North Somerset and
South Gloucestershire Unitary Local Authorities . The Avon area is still used for some purposes (see "Legacy" section), and today has a population of approximately one million people.
Avon was formed under the
Local Government Act 1972 , on
1 April 1974 . It took in the areas of the former
County Borough s of
Bristol and
Bath , and areas from the administrative counties of Gloucestershire (
Kingswood ,
Mangotsfield , and the rural districts of
Warmley ,
Sodbury (most) and
Thornbury (most)), and Somerset (
Weston-super-Mare ,
Clevedon ,
Keynsham ,
Norton-Radstock ,
Portishead , and the rural districts of
Bathavon ,
Long Ashton ,
Axbridge (much), and
Clutton (much). Like most of the new counties created by the Act, its boundaries were substantially trimmed from its inception, with
Frome and
Bradford On Avon removed from the proposed area.
It had six districts.
Bristol and
Bath were taken in directly from the former county boroughs. In the north, the Gloucestershire side, the urban districts of Kingswood and Mangotsfield formed a single
Borough Of Kingswood , with the rest becoming
Northavon . In the south, there were two districts,
Woodspring , on the coast, and
Wansdyke , in the interior.
To the north it bordered
Gloucestershire , to the east
Wiltshire and to the south
Somerset . In the west it had a coast on the
Severn Estuary and
Bristol Channel .
The area of Avon was
1,347 square kilometres (520 sq mi) and its population in 1991 was 919,800. Cities and towns in Avon included (in approximate order of population)
Bristol ,
Bath ,
Weston-super-Mare ,
Yate ,
Clevedon ,
Portishead ,
Midsomer Norton &
Radstock ,
Bradley Stoke ,
Nailsea ,
Yatton ,
Keynsham and
Thornbury .
Like some other English cities such as
Liverpool ,
Plymouth and
Newcastle , Bristol developed as a port city at the mouth of a river which separated historic counties, and expanded and developed economic linkages on both sides of the traditional boundary. In these cases, nearby communities have often retained sentimental attachments to their traditional counties, rather than to those cities on the edge of the historic counties with which they were associated in terms of work, shopping and cultural facilities.
The county did however have a fairly strong rational basis, being largely conterminous with the Bristol 'Travel to Work Area' defined since the 1950s and 1960s for planning purposes. In addition, people in the new county, but beyond the Bristol City boundary, were brought within convenient travelling distance of their main county council offices for the first time.
Avon was one of the counties in the "first tranche" of reviews conducted by the
Banham Commission in the 1990s. The Commission recommended that it and its districts be abolished and replaced with four unitary authorities. The Avon (Structural Change) Order 1995 was debated in the
Commons on
22 February 1995 .
{Link without Title}
The Order came into effect on
1 April 1996 . The four authorities that replaced Avon are:
#The City and County of
Bristol
#
South Gloucestershire – formed from
Kingswood and
Northavon districts.
#
North Somerset – formed from
Woodspring district.
#
Bath And North East Somerset – formed from
Bath and
Wansdyke districts.
For ceremonial purposes, the post of
Lord Lieutenant Of Avon was abolished, Bristol regained its own Lord Lieutenant and High Sheriff, while the other authorities were returned to their traditional counties. Suggestions to alter Bristol's boundaries (either by drawing new boundaries or by merely incorporating the mostly urbanised borough of Kingswood into it) were rejected.
The demise of the County of Avon was the focus of a
BBC documentary called ''The End of Avon'', produced by Linda Orr and
Michael Lund and broadcast in 1996. In 2006 Adam Thomas (a
BBC Somerset Sound presenter) investigated why Avon refuses to die, for the
BBC One regional programme ''Inside Out West''. The county continues to be included in the databases of large corporations as part of addresses in the area, and in names such as
Avon Wildlife Trust , the
Avon And Somerset Constabulary , and
Avon Fire And Rescue Service . Representatives from the organisations said they had no plans to change their names. However, the
Royal Mail indicated that it was not necessary to include Avon as part of any address as it had abandoned the use of
Postal Counties in 1996.
Some bodies still cover the area of the former county of Avon: for example, the Avon Fire Brigade, the Avon Coroner's District, the West of England Strategic Partnership, Intelligence West, and until 2006 the Avon Ambulance Service (now merged with the " is used by some organisations to refer to the former Avon area.
The term ''CUBA'', the "County (or Councils) that Used to Be Avon", was coined to refer to the Avon area post-abolition of the county. The term north to
Aust , or from
Newport to
Chepstow . 'Greater Bristol' is also used,
Greater Bristol Strategic Transport Study although the use of this term is sometimes resented by those living in Bath, Weston-super-Mare, and other parts of historic Gloucestershire and Somerset.
The . Also, Avon County Council helped fund
Sustrans ' first cycleway, the
Bristol And Bath Railway Path .
