| Avon | |
|---|---|
 Avon shown within England | |
| Area | |
| • 1974 | 332,596 acres (1,345.97 km2)[1] |
| • 1994 | 134,268 hectares (1,342.68 km2)[2] |
| Population | |
| • 1973 | 914,180[3] |
| • 1981 | 900,416 |
| • 1991 | 903,870 |
| History | |
| • Origin | Bristol travel-to-work area |
| • Created | 1974 |
| • Abolished | 1996 |
| • Succeeded by | Bristol South Gloucestershire North Somerset Bath and North East Somerset |
| Status | Non-metropolitan county |
| ONS code | 08 |
| Government | Avon County Council |
| • HQ | Bristol |
 Coat of arms of Avon County Council | |
| Subdivisions | |
| • Type | Non-metropolitan districts |
| • Units | |
 | |
Avon (/ˈeɪvən/AY-vən) was anon-metropolitan andceremonial county in thewest of England that existed between 1974 and 1996. The county was named after theRiver Avon, which flows through the area. It was formed from thecounty boroughs ofBristol andBath, together with parts of theadministrative counties ofGloucestershire andSomerset.
In 1996, the county was abolished and the area split between four newunitary authorities:Bath and North East Somerset,Bristol,North Somerset andSouth Gloucestershire. The Avon name is still used for some purposes. The area had a population of approximately 1.08 million people in 2009.[4]
The port of Bristol lies close to the mouth of the River Avon which formed the historic boundary betweenGloucestershire andSomerset. In 1373, a charter constituted the area as the County of the Town of Bristol, although it continued to fall within the jurisdiction of the two counties for some purposes.[5]
The appointment of aboundaries commission in 1887 led to a campaign for the creation of a county ofGreater Bristol. The commissioners, while recommending that Bristol should be"neither in the county of Gloucester nor of Somerset for any purpose whatsoever", did not extend the city's boundaries.[6] The commission's timidity was attacked by theBristol Mercury and Daily Post, who accused them of using the"crude method of theProcrustean bed".[7] The newspaper went on to attackCharles Ritchie, thePresident of the Local Government Board, and theConservative government:
Everyone who considered the question on its merits was convinced of the justice of the demand for a Greater Bristol, but... the interests of the Tory party were put before every other consideration and we do not think there is any endeavour to conceal the fact.[8]
Under theLocal Government Act 1888 Bristol was constituted acounty borough, exercising the powers of both a county and city council. The city was extended to take in some Gloucestershire suburbs in 1898 and 1904.[9]
TheLocal Government Boundary Commission appointed in 1945 recommended the creation of a "one-tier county" of Bristol based on the existing county borough, but the report was not acted upon.[10]
The next proposals for local government reform in the area were made in 1968, when theRedcliffe-Maud Commission made its report. The commission recommended dividing England into unitary areas. One of these was a new Bristol and Bath Area which would have included a wide swathe of countryside surrounding the two cities, extending intoWiltshire and as far asFrome in Somerset.[11] Following a change of government at the1970 general election, a two-tier system of counties and districts was proposed instead of unitary authorities. In a white paper published in 1971, one of these counties, "Area 26" or "Bristol County", was based on the commission's Bristol and Bath area, but lacked the areas ofWiltshire.[12] The proposals were opposed bySomerset County Council, and this led to the setting up of a "Save Our Somerset" campaign.[13]
By the time the Local Government Bill was introduced toParliament, the county had been named "Avon".[14] The boundaries of the new county were cut back during the passage of Local Government Bill through Parliament.[15] TheLocal Government Act 1972 receivedRoyal Assent on 26 October 1972.
The county came into formal existence on 1 April 1974 when theLocal Government Act 1972 came into effect. The new county consisted of the areas of:
The county was divided into six districts:
To the north the county borderedGloucestershire, to the eastWiltshire and to the southSomerset. In the west it had a coast on theSevern Estuary andBristol Channel.
The area of Avon was 520 square miles (1,347 km2) 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,Kingswood,Thornbury,Filton andPatchway.
Thecoat of arms created for the county featured six blue and white waves representing the river Avon and parts of the coats of arms of the incorporated areas. The shield featured a dragon from the arms of Somerset divided into gold and red by a chevron from the arms of Gloucestershire.
The crest combined the unicorn of Bristol with the sword ofSt. Paul (one of the patron saints ofBath Abbey) and the crown ofKing Edgar, who was crowned King of England bySt. Dunstan in Bath Abbey.
The sea-stags were created for Avon to represent the historic importance of the Avon ports and theRoyal Forest which covered a large part of the County. As aheraldic badge, a sea-stag continued to be used by some organisations in the geographical area.[16][17]
Avon was one of the counties in the "first tranche" of reviews conducted by theBanham Commission in the 1990s. The Commission recommended that it and its districts be abolished and replaced with fourunitary authorities. The Avon (Structural Change) Order 1995 was debated in theHouse of Commons on 22 February 1995.[18] The Order came into effect on 1 April 1996. The four authorities that replaced Avon are:
For ceremonial purposes, the post ofLord Lieutenant of Avon was abolished and Bristol regained its own Lord Lieutenant andHigh 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 aBBC documentary calledThe End of Avon, produced by Linda Orr andMichael Lund and broadcast in 1996. In 2006, theBBC Somerset presenter Adam Thomas, in aBBC One regional programmeInside Out West, investigated why Avon refuses to die. Systems inertia means that the county continues to be included in the databases of large corporations as part of addresses in the area. Some private organisations such as theAvon Wildlife Trust choose to retain their name. TheRoyal Mail indicated that it is not necessary to include Avon (or any other postal county) as part of any address as it had abandoned their use in 1996.
Some public bodies still cover the area of the former county of Avon: for example,Avon Fire and Rescue Service, the Avon Coroner's District,Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust, the West of England Strategic Partnership, Intelligence West, and until 2006 the Avon Ambulance Service, when it merged with theGloucestershire andWiltshire ambulance services to form theGreat Western Ambulance Service, which subsequently merged withSouth Western Ambulance Service. The former county and its southern neighbour form the area covered byAvon and Somerset Constabulary (governed by theAvon and Somerset Police and Crime Commissioner). Though there is no longer a single council, the four unitary authorities still co-operate on many aspects of policy, such as the JointLocal Transport Plan.[19] Currently, the term "West of England" is used by some organisations to refer to the former Avon area, such as the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership.[20] Avon continued to be used unofficially inboundary reviews forparliamentary constituencies.[citation needed]
The termCUBA, the "County (or Councils) that Used to Be Avon", was coined to refer to the Avon area after abolition of the county. The termSevernside is sometimes used as a substitute for "Avon",[21] although the term can also be used to refer to the stretch of shoreline fromAvonmouth north toAust, or fromNewport toChepstow. "Greater Bristol" is also used.[22]
TheForest of Avon is acommunity forest covering part of the area of the four local authorities. Other relics of Avon's existence include the Avon Cycleway (first designed and promoted byCyclebag), an 85-mile (137 km) circular route on quiet roads and cycle paths, which was a precursor of theNational Cycle Network. Also, Avon County Council helped fundSustrans' first cycleway, theBristol and Bath Railway Path. TheAvon Green Belt has continued in place as a jointly agreed policy in thedevelopment plans of the successor local authorities.
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In 2016 the government proposed that the four local authorities that replaced Avon come together in aWest of England Combined Authority with a "metro mayor" who would oversee a new combined authority, to create a "Western Powerhouse" analogous to the government'sNorthern Powerhouse concept.[23][24] North Somerset council rejected the proposal but the other three authorities accepted the deal; the combined authority was subsequently established in 2017, with the inauguralmayoral election taking place in the May of that year.
As of 2024, a multi-operator unlimited travel daily or weekly bus ticket called AvonRider covering the former county area was still available, supported by local councils.[25]
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