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 . The county council's headquarters were
County Hall at
Beverley , inherited from the East Riding, and its largest settlement and only city
Kingston Upon Hull .
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 .
In local government terms 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 The Humberside (Structural Change) Order 1995
It was created by the
Local Government Act 1972 on
April 1 ,
1974 . 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 District s 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 .
Local Government Act 1972
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, with the northern part forming an "East Yorkshire" area and the southern area forming a Lincolnshire area. Humberside finally emerged in the Local Government Bill as introduced to Parliament, which also gave it its name for the first time.''Humberside joins new county ranks.'' The Times. November 5, 1971.
Paul Bryan , the MP for
Howden moved an amendment to the Bill that would have created a county of East Yorkshire, covering the rural area of northern Humberside along with
Selby and
York (and also
Flaxton Rural District ), leaving a Humberside including Haltemprice, Hull, Grimsby, Scunthorpe and Goole, whilst Cleethorpes and
Grimsby Rural District would have been kept in Lincolnshire. The amendment was rejected by the House.
1
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 ,
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.
The county stretched from
Wold Newton in its northern tip, to
Wold Newton at its most southern point.
The county was divided into nine
Non-metropolitan District s:
Humberside County Council held a competition to design a
Coat Of Arms for the new county. The winning design was by a Mr E H Cook from
Thorngumbald and
Letters Patent granting the arms were issued by the
College Of Arms on
July 28 ,
1976 .
The shield was an heraldic map of the county: at the top was a gold ducal coronet from the arms of the city of Hull between two white Yorkshire roses, while at the bottom of the shield were two gold
Fleurs-de-lis representing Lincolnshire. Across the centre of the shield was a blue and silver wave for the River Humber.
The crest was a blue eagle taken from the East Riding County Council arms rising
Phoenix -like from flames, suggesting a new authority emerging from the ashes of the old. The eagle's wings bore gold droplets standing for
North Sea Oil and held a sword in the beak for the Scunthorpe steel industry.
The supporters on either side were: a silver dolphin bearing a terrestrial globe and supporting an anchor for world-wide trade; and
Ceres goddess of harvest, for the county's agriculture. They stood upon a compartment depicting the countryside and coastline of Humberside.
The blazon or technical description of the arms was:
''Per fess Sable and Gules on a Fess wavy Argent between in chief a Coronet Or between two Roses Argent barbed and seeded proper and in base two Fleurs de Lis Or a Bar wavy Azure and for a Crest on a Wreath Or and Gules rising from Flames proper a demi-Eagle Azure Goutté d'Or armed also Gold holding in the beak a Sword point downwards proper hilt and pommel Or.''
''And for Supporters on the dexter a Dolphin Argent finned Or charged on the shoulder with a Terrestrial Globe Azure the land masses Or supporting an Anchor proper and on the sinister a Female Figure habited representing Ceres with Cornucopia all proper upon a Compartment per pale Water barry wavy Azure and Argent and a Grassy Field proper.''
''Humberside (obsolete)'' (Civic Heraldry of England and Wales), accessed August 30, 2007
The
Motto was ''United we Flourish''.''Humberside'', The Times, July 15, 1976.
On the abolition of the county council in 1996 the arms became obsolete. However, the
Humberside Fire And Rescue Service continue to use a version of the shield as their badge.
An Introduction To HFRS, accessed August 30, 2007
Humberside was not well-loved, and to quote
James Cran (MP for
Beverley ), "almost the day after the decision was announced, a campaign began to have Humberside abolished".
2 North Wolds Borough Council changed its name to East Yorkshire Borough Council, likely to emphasise this, and Beverley Borough Council formally included 'East Yorkshire' in its name. According to Cran there was a campaign in 1987 to get Humberside County Council to change its name to something like 'East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire'.
This attitude was reported as less common in the port towns of the county - ''The Times'' noted that Hull and Grimsby "regard the advantages of unificiation as an exciting prospect".''White Rose ties hold fast despite amputations and shake-ups of boundaries''. The Times, April 1, 1974.
However, the former MP for Grimsby,
Tony Crosland reportedly stated upon the completion of the
Humber Bridge , 'that (the County of) Humberside had justified the construction of the Bridge but he hoped that the construction of the bridge would not justify the retention of the County of Humberside'
The Royal Mail adopted
North Humberside and
South Humberside as
Postal Counties . Like all postal counties, they no longer form part of any addresses.Royal Mail, ''Address Management Guide'', (2004)''South and North Humberside dropped from addresses''. Grimsby Evening Telegraph. February 13, 2001. In 2004 a Royal Mail external relations manager again confirmed this to be the case.''We make no classification''. Grimsby Evening Telegraph. October 21, 2004.
The
Local Government Boundary Commission For England advised the
Secretary Of State For The Environment ,
Michael Heseltine , in 1982 that "a review of the Humberside county boundary
warranted".Humberside split looks more likely. The Times. October 5, 1982 The Local Government Boundary Commission reviewed the existence of Humberside from 1985 to 1988, 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).[http://www.ndad.nationalarchives.gov.uk/CRDA/72/detail.html Humberside: study of attitudes and preferences 1989-1990: Aim and purpose A report prepared for the LGBC in 1990 indicated that 63% of respondents thought that the creation of Humberside was "bad", 14% that it was "good")[http://www.ndad.nationalarchives.gov.uk/CRDA/72/DD/1/1/image/scanned/p37@42.png Humberside: study of attitudes and preferences 1989-1990, page 37]
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 ,
1995 , and came into effect on
April 1 ,
1996 .
3
This resulted in four successor
Unitary Authorities :
There was some debate as to the fate of the Goole area (historically part of the West Riding). The Secretary of State (
John Gummer ) originally proposed that Goole should be "incorporated in
Selby of
North Yorkshire ",
4 but ultimately it was decided to associate it with the rest of North Humberside.
There were also questions raised as to 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 in the former urban district of
Haltemprice ).
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.
5
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.
The name 'Humberside' is a traditional name for the area surrounding the
Humber 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 (founded in 1971). A plan to merge the police forces of Yorkshire including Humberside Police, to become Greater Yorkshire Police in 2006 was cancelled despite a Home Office desire that it go ahead.
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).
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