Hereford and Worcester - Creation

Creation

See also: Evolution of Worcestershire county boundaries

The Local Government Boundary Commission in 1948 proposed a merger of the two counties – the proposals of this Commission were abandoned and not implemented. A merger of Herefordshire with South Worcestershire was again proposed by the Redcliffe–Maud Report in 1969, and was retained in the Conservative Party's February 1971 White Paper (gaining more of Worcestershire), although no name was given. Under the Local Government Bill as introduced into Parliament in November 1971, it was named Malvernshire, after the Malvern Hills, which were roughly in the geographical centre of the new county and formed the former border. The name was subject to ridicule and was altered during the Bill's passage through Parliament. The name Wyvern was also suggested, combining the names of the rivers that run through the two cities: the River Wye through Hereford, and the River Severn through Worcester. A commercial radio station for the area, Wyvern FM was set up in 1982 using this allusion, it was also used much later by the First Group who renamed their bus operations in the area First Wyvern as opposed to the more historical First Midland Red used previously.

Due to the disparity of sizes of the populations – Herefordshire had about 140,000 people, much less than Worcestershire, which had a population of about 420,000 – it was perceived by Herefordshire as a takeover rather than a merger, especially after it merged that the administrative centre was to be located to the east of Worcester city, and it never attracted the loyalties of residents. A "Hands off Herefordshire" campaign was set up, and the proposal was opposed by Herefordshire County Council.

A Hereford bull was led down Whitehall on 6 April 1972, as part of a protest, which also involved a petition handed in at 10 Downing Street calling for the preservation of Herefordshire.

Despite the opposition of a large section of the population of Herefordshire, neither of the county's two Conservative MPs opposed the merger. Parliamentary opposition had to be led from outside the county in the form of Terry Davis, MP for Bromsgrove who noted that the petition had been signed by 60,000 people. Clive Bossom, the MP for Leominster in Herefordshire, supported the merger, noting "much of South Worcestershire is very like Herefordshire".

It was originally proposed to have a single large Herefordshire district within Hereford and Worcester. This was divided, with separate Hereford, South Herefordshire and Leominster districts, and part of Herefordshire in the Malvern Hills district.