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Humberside
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{{infobox historic district|
|Name= Humberside
|HQ=
Beverley
|Status=
Non-metropolitan county
|Start=
1974
|End=
1996
|Replace=
East Riding of Yorkshire,
Kingston upon Hull Hull,
North Lincolnshire,
North East Lincolnshire
|Image=
Image:EnglandHumberside.png Humberside.
}}
Image:Humberside_arms.png thumb|100px|left|The Arms of '''Humberside County Council'''
'''Humberside''' 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 Riding of Yorkshire East and
West Riding of Yorkshire West Ridings of
Yorkshire and
Lindsey 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 districts –
Beverley (borough) Beverley,
Boothferry (district) Boothferry,
Cleethorpes (borough) Cleethorpes,
East Yorkshire (district) East Yorkshire,
Glanford,
Great Grimsby (borough) Great Grimsby,
Holderness (borough) Holderness and
Scunthorpe (borough) 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
April 1,
1996, with four unitary authorities being formed :
North Lincolnshire,
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).
Formation
It was created by the
Local Government Act 1972 on
April 1,
1996. It covered the former
county boroughs 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 districts of
Glanford Brigg Rural District Glanford Brigg,
Grimsby Rural District Grimsby and
Isle of Axholme Rural District 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 rural districts of
Beverley Rural District Beverley,
Bridlington Rural District Bridlington (part),
Driffield Rural District Driffield,
Holderness Rural District Holderness,
Howden Rural District Howden,
Pocklington Rural District Pocklington. From the West Riding it took both the borough of
Goole and the rural district of
Google Rural District 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.
Abolition
Humberside was not well-loved, and to quote
James Cran (MP for
Beverley (UK Parliament constituency) Beverley, "almost the day after the decision was announced, a campaign began to have Humberside abolished" [http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199394/cmhansrd/1994-05-26/Debate-6.html]. North Wolds District Council changed its name to East Yorkshire District 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'. The Royal Mail adopted
North Humberside and
South Humberside as postal counties.
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
1990s UK local government reform 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. [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld199495/ldhansrd/vo950306/text/50306-07.htm]
This resulted in four successor
unitary authority unitary authorities:
*
Kingston-upon-Hull
*
East Riding of Yorkshire:
Beverley (borough) Beverley,
East Yorkshire (district) East Yorkshire,
Holderness (borough) Holderness, and northern
Boothferry (district) Boothferry
*
North Lincolnshire:
Glanford (borough) Glanford,
Scunthorpe (borough) Scunthorpe and southern
Boothferry
*
North East Lincolnshire:
Great Grimsby (borough) Great Grimsby,
Cleethorpes (borough) Cleethorpes
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
Selby (district) 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 (UK politician) 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. [http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199495/cmhansrd/1995-02-28/Debate-13.html]
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
Regions of England government office region of
Yorkshire and the Humber (originally 'Yorkshire and Humberside').
References
-
spurn head the gateway to the humber
-
The Humberside (Structural Change) Order 1995 : S.I. 1995/600
-
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/ViewContentServlet?Filename=Published/EmeraldFullTextArticle/Articles/0150160702.html
Category:Former non-metropolitan counties
Category:History of Lincolnshire
Category:History of Yorkshire
de:Humberside
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