Avon (county) - Demise

Demise

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 House of Commons on 22 February 1995. The Order came into effect on 1 April 1996. The four authorities that replaced Avon are:

1. The City and County of Bristol
2. South Gloucestershire – formed from the Kingswood and Northavon districts.
3. North Somerset – formed from the Woodspring district.
4. Bath and North East Somerset – formed from the Bath and Wansdyke districts.

For ceremonial purposes, the post of Lord Lieutenant of Avon was abolished and 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.